DGX Gears XTRA Regulator Review
Like everything Dive Gears Express sells, DGX Gears XTRA regulators are not only a great value, but great gear. Given my experience so far, I have no hesitation recommending them to even the most demanding diver.
Tag Archives: technical diving
Dive Planning Apps For Technical Divers
Review of decompression dive planning mobile apps for technical divers Recently, I started down a path of discovery into the prehistory of technical and decompression diving. Nitrox only became acceptable in recreational diving around the mid-to-late nineties. A small group of divers, mostly in Florida, had already been experimenting with exotic gases by then. Here’s […]
My Transition to Sidemount Scuba
Sidemount Scuba When and why I became a believer in sidemount scuba. If you are thinking of making the transition to sidemount scuba, read on… It’s been several years since I first starting seeing divers using sidemount scuba. My first thought at the time was, “gee, that looks stupid.” From the beginning, I understood the […]
In-Water Recompression
In-water recompression: Good idea? Bad idea? What is it anyway? A few weeks ago I came across the following article: Take Me Back Down: One Diver’s “Over The Counter” Remedy For DCIs If you have any deep diving training at all, chances are the topic of in-water recompression has come up at least once. The concept […]
SubGravity 6mm Stainless Steel Backplate Review
As mentioned frequently, the most popular local dive spot here is Lake Tahoe. We dive others fairly frequently as well, like Donner Lake, Pyramid Lake (although I personally find Pyramid creepy), and if the planets align and we get ice, several smaller lakes come into play. What they all have in common, even in the […]
Are Welded D-Rings Really an Entanglement Hazard?
In the diving community, especially the technical diving community, there are a lot of “facts” thrown around related to best diving practices, equipment, training standards, etc. If you do a little research, much of what is stated as “fact” isn’t supported with much, if any, verifiable data. There are many examples: “Bungeed wings catch on things, […]
DUI Zip Seals on Viking Drysuit
It’s been probably 5 years since I sent my DUI CF200x drysuit to DUI to be retrofitted with Zip Seals. Since then, I’ve made about 500 dives using them. Zip Seals give you the ability to save a dive by having spare neck and wrist seals, gloves, dry hood, or whatever around in case of […]
Project Baseline
In recent months, I’ve had the good fortune to be introduced to Project Baseline. Project Baseline is a not-for-profit, conservation organization that has involved thousands of divers all over the world. One of the goals for Project Baseline is to document the condition of aquatic ecosystems over time, to chronicle changes that might be occurring. […]
Scubapro Seawing Nova Dive Fin Review
The Scubapro Seawing Nova It is with a heavy heart that I recently made my first fin change in over 20 years. For decades, I’ve been diving in what I believe is the best dive fin ever produced; the Apollo Prestige. It’s perfect in nearly every way, but when Apollo began producing their wildly popular […]
Tiny Doubles, I Second That
My first set of scuba tanks was a pair of “tiny doubles” (1800psi 38’s, or so I’m told). I suspect they are actually 45’s, and, when filled 10% over, 50’s. They were manufactured by ScubaPro in 1972, but I got them used about 10 years after that. I was really excited to get them because […]
Everybody’s an “expert” on diving message boards…
Don’t believe everything you read on scuba diving message boards I hate to be negative, but some of the most ridiculous things I have ever read about diving come from diving message boards. This is especially true at the technical level. For example, I read a lengthy thread a few nights ago where someone posted a […]
Is Diving The SS President Coolidge Safe?
I just came across a blog by a diver in Australia (Read it here). He’s an interesting guy, with obviously a lot of experience. Initially, I stumbled across it trying to find out how much actual diving experience Dave Shaw had prior to losing his life in a South African cave. Turns out, not a […]
Is Technical Diving Right For You?
Technical Diving is a Discipline Like most serious tec divers, I read everything I can get my hands on related to the topic. I comb the Internet looking for anything new that will make my own diving a little safer. revectina preço كيف تربح بالروليت Naturally, there’s no shortage of opinion, and I am often […]
Moving your dive logbook from PC to Mac
Sort out dive log computer compatibility problems and getting your old dive computer data into your new software. Tell me if this sounds familiar. You’ve been using a particular dive computer for quite a while, and have hundreds, if not thousands of dives logged using the software it came with. Now, you’ve decided to move […]
Shearwater Petrel Dive Computer
Review of the Shearwater Petrel Dive Computer I’ve owned and used a number of dive computers over the years. The most recent of these was the Subgear XP10, I bought a couple years ago as a simple Nitrox computer for sport dives. Before that, I had an old Oceanic Datamax Sport for that type of […]
Mounting a GoPro Camera to Scuba Gear
Mounting a GoPro to Scuba Gear recently got my hands on a GoPro Hero video camera. I honestly never gave GoPro much thought since I am in the media business and use a lot of high end video gear all the time. Underwater, I’ve been shooting with a slightly outdated Sony HD camera in a […]
New Free SCUBA Classified Ad Website
I’m not sure if the world needed another free classifieds website or not, but here’s one more. I mostly created joeuw.com as a test related to another project, but now that it’s finished and live, I really like the site and would like to see people use it–especially after looking around at the few scuba gear […]
Fourth Element Halo 3D Review
Over the weekend, I taught two classes, a PADI Drysuit Specialty Course and a PADI Altitude Diving Specialty Course. Being near Lake Tahoe, both are popular courses, so I spend a lot of time in Tahoe’s frigid water. On Saturday’s dives, we were fighting 80+ MPH wind gusts, and the beach looked like a hurricane […]
Apeks Tek 3 Review
Apeks Tek 3 About six months ago, I made a regulator change on my technical rig from Poseidon to Apeks. My Poseidon regs (Cyklon 300’s) are close to 25 years old, and while they’re still exceptionally good regulators, the hose routing sucks, and getting parts has become a hassle. For sport diving I use an […]
Scubapro 330M Digital Gauge
I recently had a conversation with a technical diver who explained that his “backup” depth gauge and timing device was his older sport diving computer in gauge mode, but that the screen would occasionally “go dark” during a dive. A little bit stunned and bewildered, I asked if that didn’t make him at least a […]
PADI Tec40 Course, Lake Tahoe
If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to push your diving to the next level, PADI Tec40 is the first step beyond recreational diving. The PADI Tec40 course offers an introduction to diving with redundant systems, double SCUBA cylinders, lift bags, deco bottles and gas mixes up to 50% oxygen. More importantly, PADI Tec40 takes […]
DUI Dry Gloves, Zip Glove Review
Last week, after literally thousands of dives in drysuits, I decided to buy myself a little something for my birthday; dry gloves. Specifically, I bought DUI Zip Gloves in the standard, heavy duty (blue) version. I know DUI was/is changing to black, so mine may have been hanging around the shop a while, but I […]
My New Apeks TEK3 Regulators!
These are my new Apeks Tek3 regulators fresh from the dive shop on the front seat of my truck! They’ve been tuned but the zip tie on the long hose hasn’t even been cut yet. I have been planning to get my hands on Tek3’s for several weeks so I am pretty excited to get […]
OMS BC117-K 94lb Lift BCD/Wing Review
I have been using the OMS BC117, 94 pound-lift BCD (wing) for technical diving for quite some time. I’m not very active in tech diving forums, but I do haunt them from time to time, or read a thread or two when I’m looking for information. Oddly, within certain communities, there seems to be an […]
