Mean Green Bands

[shaneshac]

Whats the deal with the Mean Green bands? Are they good or are there better 16mm bands out there (bulk rubber)

How do these compare with Rob Allen rubber, black and amber bands or other brands.

I had a friend who bought 3 different batches of mean green bands a few years ago and they were all different. The first too soft, the second too stiff and the last would snap straight away on the first load

Have they improved?

What about the blue bands on Wong guns?

Please advise

Shane

 

[samurai Jack]

Mean green are mean! Tough as hell to load, and not very springy. The rubber is to hard, the blue uv coated bands are way betta. Gettem if you can, usem on two of my guns without problems. They get punch. Aloha

 

[fuzz]

Really depends on what you want Shane.

The blue bands(white bands with uv coating as SJ mentioned) are nice and have a lot of punch; however, that punch makes the release a lot rougher. Punch = recoil. I use them on wooden or hybrids at times, but never on euros. They were even a bit much on my 55" carbon fiber hybrid(with the titanium hybrid, it was okay). I changed to the smoother blacks & found that that extra couple feet of range with the blue don't mean anything if you can't hit the fish where you want to. :naughty

I picked up 2 of Daryl Wong's new 110cm euro guns & both came with 2 black on amber 5/8inch bands. Very smooth & still have some good power to them.

Basically, the greens are nice, but the power to load versus power you get out of them is not a good ratio. Way too much work for the payoff. The blue's are nice, but for euro's or balanced guns like your totemsubs, I think you'd be throwing things out of whack.

I like using reds(red coaing on amber) for euros because of their smoothness, black for hybrids & some euros, and blues for enclosed track & other wooden guns. Everyone has their own personal preference, those are just mine

Good luck & happy hunting!

 

[shaneshac]

Thanks guys. The question was on behalf of a friend of mine who is developing prototype gun.

I like the black n amber bands a lot. They come standard on Picasso guns (20mm) and have also used Metalsub 20mm which are also black n amber and super powerful. The amber bands on standard Totem, both the 16mm and the 19mm are also real stretchy and give great range without disrupting the accuracy.

I hope Picasso produce their 21mm rubber in bulk. Those are good bands.

 

[uluapoundr]

Fuzz,
I agree with you 100% on the band selection. When I first started diving, I thought the more power the better. We all used blue bands and some of my friends couldn't hit a puffer to save their life (not that we would shoot one). They blamed it on the gun. We later realized that band selection is critical for accuracy, depending on the type of gun you shoot. I use blues on my wooden guns and enclosed tracks, and reds for my small euros. Sometimes powering down the blues on the first fin of a Riffe shaft helps with accuracy for those close shots and powering up for those longer shots and bigger fish.

So how's your Hawaii trip? Hope you speared a lot of fish. Too bad there was so much rain. Did you get to Kona? The water there was nice and way more game than Oahu. Aloha.

 

[cece]

Yes!!!!

Picasso bands are awesome... but by far too much expansive!!!

but so good... what a deal

 

[fuzz]

Sup brah, I'm still here Till next monday/tuesday

What you said about the bands is perfect - probably the most common, discouraging, and detrimental mistake beginners make when they start spearfishing. It's a shame, but it's counter-intuitive to an outsider.

Shot lots of nice fish, grab super choke tako (octopus), & plugged up my sinuses a couple times

Might try to make it out to Waikiki toay for a yak dive - it's been hit pretty hard already. They should close it for 23 months & only open up for a month or so... or just not open up at all.

Originally posted by uluapoundr
Fuzz,
I agree with you 100% on the band selection. When I first started diving, I thought the more power the better. We all used blue bands and some of my friends couldn't hit a puffer to save their life (not that we would shoot one). They blamed it on the gun. We later realized that band selection is critical for accuracy, depending on the type of gun you shoot. I use blues on my wooden guns and enclosed tracks, and reds for my small euros. Sometimes powering down the blues on the first fin of a Riffe shaft helps with accuracy for those close shots and powering up for those longer shots and bigger fish.

So how's your Hawaii trip? Hope you speared a lot of fish. Too bad there was so much rain. Did you get to Kona? The water there was nice and way more game than Oahu. Aloha.

 

[w3ac]

mean green good!

I use three mean greens on my 55 inch Wong but thats just me. Other guys that have tried my gun hate it because of the recoil but I got used to it and am comfortable shooting it. I had to cut the bands longer than usual (I think 24", 25" and 26") because like what was said earlier, they are hard to pull. They are the most explosive bands I have used thus far. I have tried the amber, black, stock white and even the Riffe white rubber. The Riffe rubber comes the closest in terms of being explosive and is smoother to load but they don't last nearly as long. The mean green does not seem to deteriorate around the wishbones like all other types of rubber do. So far I have only had one break on me and that was one of the original 3 (around 2 years old) that broke at the muzzle loop. I do put a couple of wraps of black electrical tape where I tie down the wishbones to decrease deterioration and cutting of the band. Cost wise I got around 20 plus feet of bulk mean green for free.

As far as putting it on my blue water gun, I tried and promptly took em off. They were way to gnarly for me to load even with the cheater tab on the shaft. I mean it could be done but wasn't worth the effort. Instead went with 5/8 (16 mm?) black bands. Stick five of those suckers on and no problem slinging a 5/16 inch shaft 20 feet.

This is just me and I tend to be a little different at times.

Fuzz did you check out the Iolani Invitational? Heard this team from Cali came down and wrecked everyone.

Brad

 

[icarus pacific]

Yeah, how 'bout those Cali types? :king

Blue 9/16" bands made from the stock at Hana Pa'a for everything except the serious open water gorilla guns, (58 and 67" Alexanders) and those guys get Riffe 5/8"s... 5 per.

The mean green is OK for a little rock gun like a JBL Custom for use in pokin' holes here in No Cal.

Harold, stop by Sterlings and give Kimi a little something from me.

 

[BladeRunner]

I like the Top Energy bands on my omer guns. They still keep their punch right to the end of the stretch and don't fizzle out at the end. The bands I had on my first gun a 90cm sporasub viper completely died the last third of the stretch when I shot it. I have 90cm omer and shoots a hell of alot harder than my sporasub ever did. The Omer has had alot more use than my sporasub too!

BladeRunner OUT

 

[rigdvr]

gone to black rubbers from Mori and they are sweet. Lots of smooth power.

 

[Murat]

Yes i also used top energy bands.. Good bands gives lots of power but hard to load and has lots of recoil, on the other hand new power 18 bands are awesome.Gives as much power and range as 20mm black top energy bands. Easier to load also, unfortunatelly they don't produce it bulk length so its still expensive...But you can use this band more than a year may be two...Depends on your maintaince and usage.

 

[fuzz]

W3ac, the teams they invite from Cali always whoop on the Hawaii teams during the Iolani Invitational. One year I watched my team captain (who had won States the previous year & repeated that year as well) get tech-ed by a Cali opponent. Simply amazing. :head

Sven, I'm not sure if giving Kimi something from you would be in violation of your restraining order?
rofl

 

[uluapoundr]

Fuzz,
So how was your dive at Waiks? My buddies went today and got a few nice uhu, munu, and a few tako. They said the place was swarming with divers. So sad, like you said, it'll be wiped out in no time.

 

[Jeff06]

Murat !

I love the Omer power 18 too! But its life cycle is so short :waterwork
I have heard very recently that Omer sells its power 18 bands by the meter.
I wish I will find a seller for that!

Regards,
Jeff

 

[Ozzy]

I have recently replaced teh rubbers on my guns and went to my local dive shop to get new rubber (bulk) and when I got home, I noticed the rubber was thicker than normal and it is Amber inside with a black coating on teh outside haven't seen this before, anyone else know if it's any good.

Oz

 

[cece]

I'm using those band and I think thay are the best.

Amber inside give you progressiveness and the black on give power.

Picasso used those kind of Rubber, tell me what you think but I bet you will find nthose rubbers really good.

One more thing, seller told me to use longer rubbers than usual to use them in the best conditions.

 

[Murat]

Originally posted by Jeff06
Murat !

I love the Omer power 18 too! But its life cycle is so short :waterwork
I have heard very recently that Omer sells its power 18 bands by the meter.
I wish I will find a seller for that!

Regards,
Jeff

Its good if they will sold them in europe too. They should also produce adapters for screw in muzzle. Hope to see them soon..

If you want to keep your bands life time longer, don't use shorter than standart length and don't load them to the second notch. Only switch it from first notch to the second when you see the big fish....

 

[Jeff06]

Originally posted by Murat
Its good if they will sold them in europe too. They should also produce adapters for screw in muzzle. Hope to see them soon..

If you want to keep your bands life time longer, don't use shorter than standart length and don't load them to the second notch. Only switch it from first notch to the second when you see the big fish....

Oooops!
This is exactly what I do: on my 1m length gun, I use 22cm bands... And I almost always load them to the second notch...


On the other side, I use the other bands the same way, and they last longer (except the fact that I do not use shorter band for the other brands).

@+
Jeff

 

[Ozzy]

Cece,

I have found those bands to be extremely powerful and are able to really pack a punch on my 1.4 with two wraps and only one rubber (not shortened). really happy with the performance and durability. Was thinking of adding a 16mm rubber too, but don't reckon i'd need it.......