Picture © Aqualung / US Divers

With some type of gear I have a serious weakness: I just can’t help getting things in matching sets. This is certainly the case with diving gear where I like to keep to one brand, one design and matching colours. It usually a serious issue as the best regulator will usually come from one manufacturer while the most adequate BC jacket will come from another and so on. This time, however, I was lucky as one of my favourite brands had just come out with a clever and homogenous range of lightweight gear, the Aqualung Zuma and I just purchased every item on the list only straying to Suunto for the integrated dive computer. When they say it is lightweight, they are not joking as fins, BC jacket, regulator and mask only weigh under 6 Kg altogether, something you’ll easily carry around the world in the smallest aeroplanes. While everything worked fairly well, some extreme compromises needed to be made to save space and weight and you need to check whether those will be acceptable to your particular needs. The BC Jacket, for example, lacks a backplate and the tank is attached much lower than it normally would. Also, it is only a backpack bladder, with no flotation on the chest or belt. While I wasn’t too bothered by the difference in balance and found the jacket comfortable in the water, it annoyed me that it would push my face into the water if I inflated it on the surface, therefore being completely useless as a flotation device and forcing you to keep swimming hard to stay afloat.

The fins are called Hotshots and are shortened versions of the articulated Slingshots. They have two settings and I kept mine to the tighter one after trying both. I found them acceptable in the water and was surprised that they were found as the quickest in comparison tests but they do allow for speed at the expense of furious pedalling. They are quick, but not very efficient. Also, the articulation means you cannot use them to swim backwards, a useful ability for underwater photography. So they are light, compact and quick but tiring and not very agile but all in all, I am fairly happy with them and won’t bother to look for something else for a while.

The regulator and octopus are not really Aqualung, but Apex, a British company US Divers acquired recently. As Apex makes one of the world’s smallest and lightest regulators, it naturally became part of Aqualung’s “lightest” set. I am not too particular about regulators as long as they do the job and I liked breathing from both the regulator and the octopus. I know how the octopus works because I had a regulator malfunction: it started freeflowing after each breath. There was no way to adjust it in the field, an annoying shortcoming and I eventually learned to breath gently enough not to trigger the problem again. I like the regulator a lot, it is so light and small you barely notice it, but I will take the appropriate (and dealer only) tools to fix it with me next time or I will have to swap brands.

In conclusion, you’ll only get lighter gear if you can accept some serious compromises. I don’t mind all that much but I will certainly choose my non-travel gear with much more care.

A thing about the Suunto, since I gave it a good shake down: I like what it does but absolutely hate the way information is displayed on the screen and how you have to remember key sequences to get to essential data. I am using fifty pieces of gear with complex key sequences I have to remember, I don’t want to do it for a device my life depends upon. Everything important should be on the screen at all times. Larger, legible LCD screens where they could fit the two extra bits of data you really need are not expensive so they don’t have an excuse for keeping to the small, cramped, low contrast one they use. I loved my first Vyper but can’t wait to get rid of the Vyper III.