What’s New

O’Three are renowned globally for their range of neoprene drysuits, but now they have branched out into the world of trilaminate. The 90Ninety came about from the realisation that many diving holidays are effectively mini expeditions to all corners of the globe. Thus, the team at O’Three set out to develop a suit that would be the ideal travel companion wherever your diving adventures took you, from 90,0000 N to 90.0000 S (hence the name). The 90Ninety tips the scales at just over 4kg with 4mm neoprene Pivot Boot, or 3.7kg with soft boots. However, this lightweight does not mean O’Three have skimped at any stage. The 90Ninety is made from high-stretch, rip-stop trilaminate, in a front-entry full-telescopic torso design and with a YKK AquaSeal zip. It features SiTech ‘Quick’ fast-replace neck ring and KUBI Dry Glove System, which are both silicone, latex and neoprene compatible, so you will never miss another dive due to a broken seal. The suit is equipped with Apeks low-profile auto dump and swivel inlet, with a carbon hose, and a pocket on the right thigh that has a built-in slate pocket, D-rings and bungee. www.othree.co.uk

Dive lights are an essential part of a diver’s kit arsenal, from a small back-up light that can live in your BCD pocket for when it is needed, to a larger primary dive torch for night dives and inside wrecks, etc. Aqualung has got you covered with the Seaflare range, which comes in three sizes – the Seaflare Mini, Seaflare, and Seaflare Pro. All are water-resistant down to 150m, and feature an anodized finish and a hardened glass lens to protect your light against corrosion, abrasion and scratches. Large on/off buttons made from titanium are easy to operate, even wearing gloves, and these also allow you to swap between modes (low, medium and high power). Each torch also comes with a chunky elasticated lanyard. Uniquely, the Seaflare range features glow-in-the-dark beam deflectors. These are made of silicone, so soft and collapsible, and have numerous roles – they help protect the torches against impacts, they reduce light pollution so you can see what you need to without blinding your buddies, and they make you easy to spot on night dives thanks to the range of colours available (blue, yellow, pink or glacier). Each torch comes with all four colour deflectors. All three torches can be used on land as well as in the water, thanks to their electronic temperature regulation system. The Seaflare Mini has 900 lumen power, and gives a burn time of three hours on high, four hours on medium, and ten hours on low. The Seaflare has 1,300 lumen power, and gives a burn time of three hours on high, four hours on medium, and ten hours on low. The Seaflare Pro has 2,800 lumen power, and gives a burn time of three hours on high, four hours on medium, and 12 hours on low. Each torch comes with spare O-rings, and has a two-year warranty. www.aqualung.com.au

Garmin has launched the Descent MK2Sdive computer, which it describes as ‘perfect for smaller wrists’, but just as feature-rich as the Descent MK2. The Descent MK2S features a smaller 1.2-inch sunlight-readable sapphire display, 43mm case, and interchangeable bands (as per the MK2 and MK2i). It is available in three colour schemes – light gold with light sand silicone band, carbon-grey DLC with black silicone band, and mineral blue with sea foam silicone band. The Descent MK2S boasts Garmin’s full suite of diving features, as well as encompassing all of the company’s smartwatch and health features, including activity tracking, smart notifications, stress and energy tracking, menstrual and pregnancy tracking, and much more. The MK2S boasts superior battery life – up to 30 hours in dive mode, and up to seven days in smartwatch mode. www.garmin.com

Greenprene is a sustainable, insanely warm, super-stretchy, ultra-durable insulating foam that provides excellent UV resistance. Greenprene is also significantly lighter in weight than traditional neoprene materials. Greenprene is 100% neoprene-free sustainable insulating foam. It has been tested and is approved by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Bio Preferred programme as a USDA Biobased product. Greenprene is formulated from deproteinized natural insulating foam along with other natural additives such as sugar cane, plant oils and oyster shells. The result is a sustainable Bio Based insulating foam that is ultra-soft, stretchy, durable and lightweight. Greenprene wetsuits will allow you to move freely without restriction while keeping you warm and comfortable in the most demanding conditions. The recycled Aqua-Silk exterior fabric laminate is manufactured from recycled water bottles. The fabric was tested and selected for its durability, abrasion and Velcro resistance as well as its fastdrying properties. The fabric is made from 88% recycled polyester and 12% spandex, which has been tested AZO-free and Oeko-tex certified. The recycled Bio-Span interior fabric laminate is manufactured from recycled water bottles. The fabric was tested and selected for its superior comfort, warmth and ridiculous stretch. There is simply nothing else like it in the water today. The fabric is made from 88% recycled polyester and 12% Nylon, which has been tested AZO-free and is Oekotex certified. The entire Greenprene wetsuit programme has been designed to provide a fully sustainable product lifecycle. Greenprene wetsuits are packaged and shipped in recycled cardboard boxes. Each wetsuit is hand wrapped with recycled paper. Recycled cardboard cores are used to help prevent compression marks from folding and when in storage. All hangtags on the wetsuits are printed on recycled paper using soy-based inks. www.uwimages.com.au

Mark Evans: The Aldebaran sounds like some main bad guy in the next Netflix fantasy drama, or maybe that winged chap from Flash Gordon, but it is actually a 150m-waterresistant dive light from Italian firm Best Divers. At first glance it looks like a standard anodised aluminium dive torch, with a plastic lantern-style handle, but a quick look around the front at the ‘business end’ shows where this differs from other lights. There are four white LEDs spaced evenly around the outer edge of the wide lens, but right in the centre there is a red LED. This ‘colour compensation’ is designed to bring back red shades to their original colour. Now, I have yet to dive this in the tropics, but even in the depths of Vivian Quarry, when we shone the torch on some of the encrusting growth on the slate walls, and the rusting remains of some of the mining equipment, it did indeed seem to bring back some of the rich colours. It will be interesting to see how it does with corals and sponges in warmer waters – watch this space for an update when that happens! Regardless of that red LED, the torch is phenomenally bright, pumping out 3,500 lumens on full power via a 14 degree beam. You get around 120 minutes on full power, but can also drop this down to half power – and then fully off – using the sliding switch. This is quite small, but can be operated with thick neoprene or even drygloves.

There is a twist mechanism to lock the switch so that the torch cannot be accidentally turned on. This is mainly for during transportation, etc, anyway, but I’d advise setting this to open before diving, especially if you are going into cold water with gloves on, as this is decidedly awkward to turn once you are gloved-up. It comes with a plastic lantern-style handle, which comfortably sits in your hand, but if you don’t want to use this, it is easily removed and you can then hold the torch itself in your grasp. It comes in a neat bright-red padded zipped case, which holds the torch itself with its lantern handle in place, a lanyard, the two batteries, the charging station and the USB charging cable. www.bestdivers.it

Mark Evans: You can freedive and snorkel in a standard scuba diving mask, but if you want to really enjoy the freedom that breath-hold diving affords you, then you want to be in gear that is as minimalistic as possible – and that is where the Sphera X really shines. The first thing that hits you about the Sphera X is how small it is – it looks absolutely tiny alongside, say, an Apeks VX1 mask. And when you put it on your face, you almost feel as if you are not even wearing a mask at all! It is so lightweight, and it first so close to your face. That ultra-low volume comes from the unique shape of the mask, which uses Curved Lens Technology to give you 180-degree distortion-free vision through the Plexisol lenses. It is astounding just how much peripheral vision you get from this mask via those curved lens. The Plexisol lenses are reasonably robust, but these will inevitably scratch more easily than tempered glass lens, so bear that in mind if you are one of those people who flings their mask down on the beach, etc. It comes with a nifty padded zippered case to help keep those fancy lens clean and scratch-free. The lenses have supposedly got a special anti-fog coating, but I found they still needed a bit of ‘spit and polish’, or a dab of commercial anti-fog, to keep them clear during use. The super-soft silicone skirt – which uses AFT (Advanced Fit Technology) – is extremely supple and seemingly moulds into every crevice and crack on your face, eliminating leaks. That skirt also seems capable of fitting innumerable people – it was a great fit on my face, on PADI Course Director Clare Dutton (thanks for modelling, Clare!) and on my 14-year-old son Luke. We had this neat navy blue version on test, but it is available in black, clear glacier, white/black, white/ raspberry, and white/yellow colour schemes as well. www.aqualung.com.au