Crazy Scuba has been part of the Gordonisimo site since we launched, and I was surprised to receive an email from the team there the other day to tell me the website is up for sale.

Owner Britt Ross emailed us to let us know that after 25 years as President of the company, he’s decided to sell up and go and work on the family cattle ranch in Texas.

I recently took possession of a Greenforce dive lamp for the first time and I’ve been delighted with it!

The Greenforce comes in a strong and durable briefcase, which looks something like a laptop case, and immediately became the storage space for my dive computer and log books, as well as the lamp.

The model I have is the 12 volt, 30 watt halogen lamp, and I prefer conventional lighting to LED as the light seems more natural underwater.

The Greenforce system uses a cylindrical battery pack, and the bulb head can be either attached directly to it, or via an umbilical cable, with both components coming as part of the kit.

I’ve tried both, and prefer the umbilical set up, with the battery pack attached to the cylinder – it means the lightweight head clips to my jacket and I can use it without even unclipping, as it’s exactly where I need it to be. It also puts the heaviest part of the unit onto my back which seems more stable.

In terms of lighting performance, the Greenforce is good, but not the best. My old Kowalski seemed to give a broader, brighter light – the Greenforce is a little too focused for me. It’s exceptional when looking at a specific object, but for scanning a cave or a wreck, not as good.

After more than 200 dives, my trusty wetsuit finally gave up on me. This happened on what I would describe as the “posterior” seam and caused much amusement from my buddies!

I had decided it was time to convert to a semi-dry. Although I generally dive in water that’s never cooler than about 18 degrees, my blood has been thinned by living for years in the tropics.

After some research I went for the Mares Isotherm, which comes in a 6.5MM thickness, and having completed a dozen dives I can now report my findings.

About six months ago I wrote a review of the Extreme regulator, in fact quite a glowing report. Six months down the line I am afraid it is quite a different story,

They have gone wrong no less than four times, the most recent potentially, and I don’t say this lightly, life threatening to a less experienced diver than myself.

I recently “road tested” the AV2, along with Medical Mick, and I have to tell you, it’s fantastic fun! The AV2 is not like a conventional scooter that pulls you along, you effectively “ride” it.

Once in the water, you place the Tornado upright on the sand, with the prop side down. You then “sit” on the black plastic section and grip the throttle in your hand. By gently increasing the throttle you are slowly lifted off the sea bed and start to hover. The hard bit, much like the Harrier jump jet, is the transition from hovering to forward flight. To do that you need to lean forward and allow the unit to start pushing you. Once you’ve mastered that part of it and have a bit of speed up, you can stretch out, relax and enjoy the ride, as the unit, now firmly between your legs, pushes you along.

The Dive Flag, or to use it’s full name “The hand held emergency location pinpointer” is one of those products that someone should have come up with years ago, and one which every diver simply must have.

If you’ve ever surfaced from a boat dive, in even a gentle swell, you’ll know that sickening feeling when you can’t see the boat. Equally, you’ll know how hard it can be to spot a surfaced diver, even with an SMB, from a boat.

Poseidon, mythical Greek God of the Sea, also of Earthquakes. I would like to think he was a good old boy and prevented them, however he was also known as The Earth shaker!

But do you know what? I reckon both those titles could apply to the Mk 3 Extreme deep.

As the time has finally come to change my wetsuit, I felt it would be a good moment to write about my experiences with my current suit, a standard, off the shelf 7MM budget suit manufactured by Scubapro.

Surface Supply Diving Systems.
In Oz it’s called a Hookah.

As far as kit reviews go this has to be one of the more unusual, it is without doubt a great piece of kit, but it certainly has its limits, but more of that later.

Long suffering dive partners will already know that we spend too much money on our kit! But what do you buy a diver for their birthday or for any other celebration? This list will give you some ideas, and I’ve deliberately steered clear of anything practical that we might actually need! These are things most divers would like, but which are non essential.