Apr 22, 2012 Posted by John McKenzie

Northwest Dive Show 2012: Day 1 Coverage

The following are the highlights from the show floor of the 2012 Pacific Northwest Dive & Travel Expo in Tacoma WA. Seasoft Booth: The new sales manager is really doing her job. She showed me some exciting new products from Seasoft including their “Raygun” dive light family. These are remarkably light and inexpensive 300 lumen lights starting at $99. They have wide and narrow beam versions as... read more

Jul 28, 2011 Posted by John McKenzie

Two Mares Fins: The Volo Power is still strong and the next gen X-Stream is high tech

Your impression of new pair of scuba fins, be it good or bad is completely enmeshed with what fins you had before. Be the question: “What are the best fins?” or “What fins should I buy?” or even, “Are these fins any good,” the answer is always “it depends.” Even if Spock could scan you with a tri-corder and tell you the perfect fin for you, it would still be good chance you may not like... read more

Nov 21, 2010 Posted by John McKenzie

DEMA show 2010–Trend spotting

At this years DEMA show, besides being aware that the participants and vendors seemed more upbeat and excited about their branch of the scuba business this year, we noticed the follow trends: While many vendors had something new and often interesting to show us, the new products booth did not have as many products that made us want to run right to that booth for a look. There also seemed to be more... read more

Oct 27, 2009 Posted by John McKenzie

Miflex Xtreme-hi High Pressure Hose is Here – send your rubber hoses to a SCUBA museum.

Divers can soon sit around the fire and talk about the old days when we had to use those stiff and bulky rubber hoses on our regulators. With the introduction of the new Miflex Xtreme-hi (high pressure) hose there is no longer any reason to have dangly rubber on your reg. This product line is nothing less than amazing. First there was the amazing and super flexible Miflex Xtreme LP hose (for... read more

Mar 2, 2008 Posted by Cindy Ross

A warmer way to stay wet

Mares new Isotherm semi-dry suit offers divers a second layer in critical areas under the suit, Trilastic under the arms and sides for better movement and a metal skin seal at feet, arms and neck for less water movement.  The 6.5 mm hood, that comes packaged with the suit, adds another layer of warmth to your head.   Mares understood the environments that cold water divers were diving, and beefed up the... read more