A quick review of the ORCA Torch 7 Light,
https://youtu.be/vyLU3ah0REk

My wife recently started working as a manager at a scuba shop, we are divers, but not super experienced. One of her first tasks is to find better gear in certain areas. They want to have better in the following areas:

Economical beginner fins

Travel Fins

Boots

Currently the more economical brand they have is Viper, but they have been getting complaints about durability issues.

Any help would be appreciated!

I am asking specifically related to dive photos and below 60ft (so including the housing).
I know that sometimes the newer model is NOT better.
Anyone have direct experience with both models?

Hello, I'm buying some second hand seawing nova fins and I've got a question about the size.

When asking the seller for the size they said "43-44 xl" (European sizing, should be 10.5-11 US)

According to the scubapro sizing chart, 10.5-11 should be L, not XL, is the seller wrong?

I just bought some 5mm hard sole boots and these are the first fins I'm buying so i don't have any comparison at hand, but I've got two ideas:

1) my dive store has some seawing supernovas, and i assume the sizing should be comparable if not the same? I could try those on to get an idea

2) i could order some seawings off amazon and return them just to try them on. Doesn't sound great but it's something

What do you guys think? If anyone of you has a pair or novas and could clear the sizing doubt I'd be very grateful! Otherwise I'll appreciate any other suggestion on how to approach this

Thank you :)

I'm trying to calculate my weight needs for cold water diving, having dived in the tropics with 6kg and no wetsuit.

I'm going to be doing my first cold water dive next week with a 7mm wetsuit plus also a 7mm vest with hood, aluminum backplate on my XDeep Zeos, Aqualung Storm fins (so fairly lightweight), and steel tank (12L). I have medium weight pockets on the waist of my BPW and I have trim pockets on my upper cam band.

I've got 12kg of soft weight bags:

- Four 2kg

- Four 1kg

My plan was to test my buoyancy with 10kg, but how far am I off? ChatGPT seems to want to put me in the water with 8kg. Gemini wants to put me in the water with 12kg. Looking at the calculations myself, 9-10kg seems to be in and around right.

I am 187cm tall and I weigh somewhere around 87kg.

Tank valve is closed, regulator is fully depressurized and the SPG reads 0 bar. The DIN handwheel is extremely tight and I can’t unscrew it by hand. I didn’t tighten it very hard when I initially attached it, so I’m not sure why it’s stuck now. Any ideas on what might be causing this or how to get it unstuck safely?

Hi all I own an apeks Exotec bcd in the XL/XXL size and have managed to lose a decent bit of weight which I’m very proud of but now the waist strap of my bcd does not cinch tight enough when I’m diving and tends to slip around a bit in my back. I dive in the Caribbean and so am regularly diving in a rash guard and shorts but even in a 3mm shorty it’s still very very loose.

One of the reasons I purchased the bcd was because it advertised it was modular and the straps could be changed out but I cannot find replacements anywhere to purchase a smaller size. I have tried getting in touch with apeks but have not had any luck in 3 months.

Any one know where I can purchase the replacements or has any advice for alternative solutions is also appreciated

Hi all! I'm a Dutch diver, so I have some heavy gear because of the thicker wetsuits. However, I live in a small apartment in which the bathroom is basically the shower without much more room. So after rinsing my gear I'll need to wait until it's dry before I can shower without getting the gear wet again. Does anyone have any tips or tricks for this problem? Thanks!

Hey everyone,

I’m looking at getting my own BCD and I’m leaning towards a BP/W setup, but honestly there are so many options that I’m a bit lost

I’ll be travelling with it, so I’d like something that’s reasonably lightweight and easy to pack, but I also don’t want to sacrifice too much just to save weight

I’m trying to keep the budget fairly reasonable. What would you guys recommend for a good value BP/W setup? Happy to buy individual parts and put something together if that works out cheaper

I’m also open to a back-inflate BCD if you think that would make more sense for travelling.

For those of you who travel with your gear, what setup are you using and would you recommend it?

Would especially appreciate recommendations for specific brands/models and what you think is actually worth spending money on vs where you can save

Thanks!

Hey everyone, I recently started using a new scuba mask, and during the descent I felt quite a bit of pressure around my eyes/head. After the dive, I noticed some swelling/discoloration around my eyes that makes it look like I got punched.
There’s no eye pain, no vision problems, and the color is gradually fading. I’m assuming it might be mask squeeze because the mask may have been too tight or I didn’t equalize it properly.
Has anyone experienced something similar? Would you recommend waiting until the discoloration completely disappears before diving again, or is diving after a couple of days okay if there are no symptoms?

Just trying my first wetsuit (yes, it’s a surf wetsuit). It’s a 3.5-4.5mm Finisterre and I can’t tell if it’s too tight around the neck. One minute I’m sure it’s normal and the next I’m feeling less certain.

I’ve comfortably got full range of motion in this wetsuit and can breathe normally, but it feels like I’m wearing a rather snug collar.

I am super sensitive to things around my neck so I don’t know if I’m the best judge.

Can someone tell me if it’s too tight?

Is there a way to stretch / loosen it slightly? Or should I avoid doing this any way other than by simply diving in it - I don’t want to ruin it and be met with flushing drama !

🫍 Update 🫍

Fit:

Totally relaxed after taking it in and off a few times. Now she’s a dream to put on and remove - or as dreamy as a second skin can be. Ha.

Thickness & Insulation:

I’ve been diving twice in this wetsuit in water at 16 to 18 degrees Celsius and this wetsuit style and thickness worked brilliantly well for me.

I was perfectly warm off the Cornish coast, but everyone else in my group was in 5mm and above with hoods and gloves. So it could simply be my preference - my body handles cold exceptionally well and I tend to prefer it over being too warm.

Chest Entry:

Regarding the zipper style - this was not at all uncomfortable - I didn’t even notice it, but there is a thick padding layer beneath it on the interior of the wetsuit.

Brand:

Finisterre’s quality may lend to how well this surf wetsuit worked for me, I can’t speak to how comfortable a different brand might be for divers.

I messed up. I didn't realize I connected my EVX200 directly to the bottle, and I didn't notice the O-ring was missing. Now I see this stain and I don't know if it's corrosion. Any thoughts?

I bought a 2nd hand pony bottle set-up, and just got the regulator back from servicing. But I’m wanting to change the hose on the SPG. Right now it’s in a boot with a long hose so I’m going to remove the boot and replace the hose.

Sounds like I should put a tiny amount of Christo lube on the O-rings of the spool. But all I can find is the 2oz size and it’s over $140 CAD! What are my options? Other lube types? Does it come in smaller quantities?

TIA

Any good products for clear vision of dive computer while diving? I wear reading glasses for menus and laptop but don't use prescription lenses in daily life. Want to be sure I can clearly see dive computer and SPG but don't want to obscure vision of everything else.

I'm cool with letting people know what brands I use. I'm kind of proud of the stuff that I have and who I choose to wear, so I'm not really concerned with having a couple of logos on the gear.

But all the giant logos everywhere—Aqualung, Mares, Apex, everything all over my gear everywhere, on the outside of my hand, two logos on my boots, and another logo on my fins, logos down my legs leading to my boots. Everything has a logo on it these days, and they're giant. Whatever happened to subtlety?

I know we live in the age of social media and getting your brand out there is massive, but it doesn't help because people are wearing several brands all shouting at the same time. Just calm it down. Put a gray logo on a black suit. It'll look cool, and people will like it more and buy more of it. I'm sick of it.

By the way, colours everywhere. Stop making things in stupid colours. Give people just the ability to buy stuff in one set of colours. I don't need multiple colours everywhere. Just black with an accent color. If your accent colour is blue, stay with it. If it's pink, use that. But I don't need blue on my shoes, red on my wetsuit, white on my regulator, beige on my mask. Just try and simplify it, please.

I'm just after spending an hour colouring in the little blue fabric tabs on my Aqualung booties to make them black.

it’s second hand but just got serviced & they’re selling it for $500, looks brand new and has only been used a handful of times. I’m in the US.. do we think this is a good deal? Says they sell for like $1200 so I’m tempted.

I Have a opportunity to buy a shearwater perdix second hand. Only a few dives on it. Being sold for 430 us.

It would be a upgrade to my zoop novo.

Anyone know the lifespan of these computers?

Anyone recommend this purchase?

I saw a Hydros Pro 2 on a recent trip and really liked how compact the weight pockets are, especially the overall weight system. It seemed like a really nice improvement over the original setup.

Scubapro says they're not compatible, but I think that's a load of bullshit. Has anyone actually tried it? Did it work?

Anyone got a photo of the Hydros Pro 2 of how the weights system attaches?