I'm sorry, but that doesn't make any sense. At all. I can understand the amber and blue ones lasting longer, but that is only because they absorb less sunlight that the other colors. As for color affecting accuracy or power consistency, I am quite sure you will never be able to back up that claim.
I didnt make this up from the top of my head. I know for a fact that the red rubber is not as powerful as the black rubber (at least the types I buy from my local shop) have used both, and I get way more punch out of the black rubber. As far as the yellow rubbers lasting longer I have heard this from many of the top Hawaiian spearos and witnessed it myself. My dive partner and I replaced our bands at the same time, he used the amber I used the black. We are roomates as well so our gear is stored together and we dive with each other 99% of the time. My gun had better punch but I had to change my bands within about a month due to cracking by my wishbone. His rubbers lasted almost 4 months. (I tied both sets so the wishbones were the same, the lengths and the clynch knots were the same, the only difference was the rubber.)I had gone through 3 sets of rubbers before he had to change his. I opted for the black as I felt I had more power and range. He has since changed his to the black as well.
I have also read about this on another forum here in Hawaii recently. This is one of the forum mentors talking about color of bands and the differences. Just a second opinion...
"Color changes the compund of the rubber so alot of companies jumped on the 'band wagon' in an effort to sell more. Colored bands will NOT last you as long as natural Amber bands. Adding colors changes the properties and elasticity. Some compnaies are working around this now by having the majority of the band be amber with the exterior coatig being the color. I guess it's better than the original solids, but you still have rubber degradation faster in the color portion. So quicker than a solid amber or black, you have lost some of your band diameter.
I can speak from experience as I purposely ran 1 blue band, 1 black band, and 1 amber on my my Wong Hybrid. Within 2 weeks (diving twice a week for about 6 hours at a time), the blue band was in bad shape, major loss of power and already showing cracking. The black was showing cracks, but still had decent stretch/elasticity but definitely needed to be changed after the first month. The amber lasted almost 2 months before I noticed the same difference.
I purchase alot of rubber from Primeline who is also the company that most of the shops buy from. Sure, the colors look cool, but not worth the added expense of continual replacement. Once you learn to tie your own bands, you really start noticing the loss of power more since it is actually CHEAP to put new bands on. I find myself changing my bands monthly and I am down to diving only once, rarely twice in a week. Also, band material exposed to air and lights in a dive shop can degrade as well so if can, ask for rubber that is at least hidden from light (inside the box or the other end) and not the foot long piece hanging out.
Also, remember that most bands will lose approximately 10% of their power within the first hour of diving."
(Sean Stodelle ,
Hawaii Skin Diver • View topic - help with bands)
Rubber Test6 Here is another link to a band test which clearly shows different band stretch from color to color and maker to maker.
