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Originally Posted by Seacidal
I have heard of the Mares DSA device, but have yet to obtain any reliable publications re. the device and its features and construction. I would greatly appreciate any reliably dated, published information you could provide.
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Hi Chip,
When my family moved from Europe to the US, in early 1980, my mom threw away my Mondo Sommerso collection (I was living in Brazil then so I couldn't defend space rights!). If she weren't my mom, I could have beaten her senseless.
Cool heads prevailed. I will see with my Italian connections if we could find this issue. Mark L mentioned having sent something to Terry, do you know what was it?
I remember the DSA very well. So far, your device is superior in all aspects, not considering the electronics limitation of the timer devised in a pre-micro-electronics era. It looked like a airline lifevest. On the bottom left there was a round box, the timer, the actuator and a CO2 capsule.
The DSA was worn over the wetsuit, but Mares stated then that it could be worn under the suit (BS, IMHO). Before diving, the diver would set the time limit. If he/she overstayed, the actuator would trigger the CO2 cartridge. Very simple.
I recall telling Scarpatti and Toschi then that unless many changes were done in the design, I didn't see spearfishers (a finnicky bunch...) ever wearing one. Presuming the timer-actuator performed flawlessly (rumor had it didn't), it would be like freediving with a old-fashion-type collar BC. I remember mentioning it had to be streamlined otherwise people would use it.
Knowledge of SWB then wasn't as deep (no pun intended) as today's. And for what I've read in Terry's piece, you've addressed the important issues.
