Mares Cyrano Evo HF 90 review

[Gazz]

Hervey Bay is real nice, i am sure you get some great diving around there, I am located in Sydney.

The small amount of oil next to the barrel/handle is normal, it is usually excess grease making its way out they was in front of the o-rings.

You can pick up cheap assos and cressi sl's that would serve as a good backup gun, and they are highly modifiable.

 

[Diving Gecko]

Here's another idea for a line release. I got it from a thread on Mizalo's designs (hope that's OK with him).

I am quite sure even the last one (positioned where the old release used to be) is passive. But just to show, it doesn't have to be more than a bent piece of metal or some rubber bands to get you shooting over X-Mas

 

[ufc1972]

Thanks for all the ideas. Mares Australia is sending me out a new gun hopefully in the next week, but I think I will make up a backup
line release just in case. The line release on the Evo HF is nice and neat and does not put much resistance on the trigger but does look hard to replace.

 

[popgun pete]

Thanks for all the ideas. Mares Australia is sending me out a new gun hopefully in the next week, but I think I will make up a backup
line release just in case. The line release on the Evo HF is nice and neat and does not put much resistance on the trigger but does look hard to replace.

Wrap the shooting line last and you will not have to worry about the line release lever being ripped off unless the sear catch fails, which would be true of any speargun with a trigger-interlocked line release lever. Don't forget to apply the trigger blocking safety when you do it.

 

[ufc1972]

Got my gun back today, they ended up replacing the line release. Will do as Popgun Pete suggests and wrap the shooting line last. Also will also back the screw off for the trigger pressure just a tiny little bit. (Anti clockwise will make the sear catch less sensitive. Please correct me if I am wrong). Also my gun came back with the bigger reel for some reason. So that was a bonus I think. Although my reel now only looks 60% full of line now.
Also as I wanted some spare parts for my gun but none were available I had to order a 110 Evo HF and that arrive today to . So very very excited to try them out. The 110 has a 25cm longer spear and me being a bit on the short side will make loading a bit of a pain till I work out what I am doing.
Will do a quick write up after I use the 110. The gun came with zero air in it and the manual says 1250 pumps to 25 bar so that will take a while.
Also I notice that the two parts of the barrel where it is wider is actually a bit bigger on the 110 then on the 90. Maybe this is to help with the balance of the gun with the longer spear. Pretty cool that they have done this.
I have attached a pic.

 

[Diving Gecko]

Not an issue really loading longer guns as long as you use an extended loader. I load my One Air 120 pretty much as easily as my Hunter 90. Maybe even easier as it has a bit less pressure in it and it feels safer as the muzzle is not just under my face as with the 90. And I am a short guy as well.

 

[ufc1972]

Didn't want to have to use the extended loader if I can help it as it looks like it may be a little slow to use and
am not sure were I can store it. But have never used it before so it might not be so bad..
Where do you store yours so you can get to it quickly.

 

[Diving Gecko]

Doesn't take as long as it might seem.
This is what I do/have done:
http://forums.deeperblue.com/threads/salvimar-vent-air-plus.96856/#post-901771
http://forums.deeperblue.com/threads/extended-loader-holder.99045/

Some folks also chuck first part under their belt.

 

[ufc1972]

Thanks heaps for that. After looking at those pics I can see how I need to modify the Mares extended loader to make it faster and easier to use.

 

[Diving Gecko]

Cool. If you come up with something smart, then take a few snaps for us. But at said, it's not nearly as slow as one might think. Surprisingly enough my new sheath is really easy and fast to use.

 

[Diving Gecko]

I also thought a lot about attaching half of one of those small plastic buckles (eg. from the waist strap of a small back pack) to the loader and the other half to the belt. But I didn't find a way where I could unclip it single handed and where the buckle wasn't in the way on the loader.

 

[ufc1972]

I used your bungee idea. The Evo HF came with two good quality bungees so I just cut the clip off them and attached them to the
standard mares extended loader that came with the gun. This is way better then the tangled mess of strings that joined them together before.
Then I put a couple of rubber bands (will need to replace often I guess) around the two loaders so they cause the two loaders to grip on to the shaft just a little so it holds itself on to the spear now. Also with the bungees it looks like I can just wrap the loader around my arm at get at it fairly quickly to. Thanks again for your help
Thanks again for your help

 

[ufc1972]

Took the Evo hf 90 out today and fired around 20 shots out of it. I rotated the shaft each time and made a point not to put
the line around the line release just to see if it would misfire again. Out of the twenty shots it did misfire once again.
It seems like the sear does not alway lock into the correct position or maybe the trigger does not fully resetting back to the correct position sometimes. The time it misfire I only rotate the shaft a few degrees and it went off. I know this is just guessing but it few like it I was to bump the gun hard enough it would have been enough to set it off. The other times I rotated the shaft both clockwise and anticlockwise a full turn and back and forth slow and fast and it would not misfire. I really want to workout what is happening so when
I get a chance i will run a heap of tests to see if there is an issue with the trigger/line release. Also used a 7.14mm shaft with a tri cut point that is about 5cm longer and 13% heavier with 1.5mm mono and Marko's new tomba slider (much better line slide then the Mares Race slider I think). On the few fish I shot the penetration seemed noticeably better. The gun is just a tiny little bit nose heavy now, but nothing like my 970 cyrano.
Tested the 110 out today and that is a really well balanced gun and will be great for the rare time the vis is good but my 90 will get used 9 out of 10 times I think.

One think I did notice today was where the muzzle had a few tiny paint chips in it there are white patches around them after only a few hours in the water.
Never noticed this on my old guns.

 

[learner]

Hi from Greece. I'm a new owner of the mares cyrano hf 90 and trying to read reviews and problems of it.
The manual says if i had to pump more air in the pneumatic gun i must first switch the power lever to HIGH and then push the air.
The problem is that the last time i fired the gun was at LOW power [i first charge it with the power selector on HIGH and then move it to LOW]. When i tried to pump the gun [50 pumps to get over the initial 22bars] i put the selector on HIGH. I would like to ask if there's any problem with and if i must exhale all the air from the gun and start again from 0 bars.
Also i would like to ask ufc1972 if there any new misfires on hf90.
Thanks

 

[ufc1972]

Hi Learner. I have not had any more misfires on my HF90 but when I rotate the shaft now I push the spear in as I do it.
Also you don't need to exhale all the air from your gun. Just select high power (which should be what the gun is on all the time when not in use) and put pump the gun up some more.

With my 110cm I went to use it the other day for the first time in close to 12 months and the gun would not fire without me pulling the trigger as hard as I could. Not sure what is going on there but will test it again next time I go out.

My 70cm has not had any problems.

 

[Gazz]

With my 110cm I went to use it the other day for the first time in close to 12 months and the gun would not fire without me pulling the trigger as hard as I could. Not sure what is going on there but will test it again next time I go out.

My 70cm has not had any problems.

The Mares guns (cyrano/sten) can have their inner barrel rotate causing trigger issues, if they are not properly assembled.
I also pump the trigger a few times before i load the gun, prior to the dive as sometimes it can stiffen up if it has been lying around for a while.
Longer guns tend to have stiffer triggers (not sure why).