[John63]

there are lots of questions about which is the best bit of kit to buy but I thought it might be helpful (or at least intersting) to know about what to avoid? We've all done it; seen it in the shop, thought OOOOh that looks good, must haveone of those and then found out that it's a piece of crap.

Here's a few of mine to start with:

1. buddy pocket reel - jams, tangles, and fiddly with gloves. yellow string looks nice though.

2. scabapro ratchet reel - seems to be built the wrong way around to me otherwise okay, though I loaned to to someone and it came back as a birds nest; took hours to sort.

3. Suunto triple guage console - compass great, depth guage rubbish. Scale in 0-10m range to small. Too big and heavy for travel.

4. Any number of commercial octopus holders. Bungee necklace beats them all.

5. Cheap copy oral inflate dsmb - to be fair it works a treat but even now (many dives) the red dye still leaches out onto the rest of the kit. That isn't too bad but then it staineed my wifes favourite T-shirt......

6. Mares Volo fins - great in still water but too bendy and no use whatsoever in any current at all. (Volo force/power are stiffer and better).


There are bigger and more expensive mistakes but just in case my good lady happens to read this I'd best keep quiet about those for now.

Cheers, John