what do you suggest?

[adolphin]

Hi there all,

We are having Freediving courses in Dubai in couple of months !!!! -yeah Dubais' sea bottoms wouldn't be that noisy again .. :t - so I'm on for proper freediving equipment .. what do you recommend ?
I was thinking of monofin instead of longblades .. liquid filled goggles instead of lowvolume mask .. then anyone who has tried the suunto D3 or D9 ? I know D9 is higher in its specs and all and surely in price ! but if any of you who got the chance to compare the two as for freediving, or even better to compare it with other brands .. ?

Adel

 

[geogiann]

i dont think that d9's freedive mode has differences than d3's.
in suunto's site can download demos, and see what u need.

i dont know your freedive experience you got, but isn't it better to have a good look of a fine sea bottom, istead of trying to look throu water?

 

[adolphin]

Hi there geogiann .. thanks for posting ..
Yes, I think that D3 is the one when only freediving .. after all it's a FreeDiving only computer .. but then the difference will be how deep it reads! .. D3 up to 99 meters while D9 up to 199 m !! .. I know it doesn't make any difference for a beginner like me .. .. but it remains a plus .. then since I am a SCUBA diver too with mixed gases such as Nitrox then other SCUBA diving features are only in the D9 .. .. but heeey! the price difference is soooo much !

Regarding the liquid-filled goggles .. have you tried it before? .. how does it feel ? .. it's important that the visibility becomes clear with it otherwise I could even don't wear anything instead .. though I understand your point when you can see sharp details but with distortion, which could help me when I'm doing a deep no limit dive and need to work my way down then up again using the sled and the baloon, but it wont satisfy my interest in marine life ! .. in competetion dives you don't look around at the aquatic life, all your consern is to win through maximizing your time, depth or both .. fluid filled goggles will help here to minimize the air lost in equalizing the mask .. when you free dive for recreation or spearfishing then you want to see evrything so clearly underwater, but usually within maximum 15-30 meters depth, in that case low volume mask will be ok .. now if those goggles are as clear for vision as the mask then they would help for both competitive and recreational freediving .. what do you think? ..

 

[trux]

i dont think that d9's freedive mode has differences than d3's.

I do not think D9 has a real freediving mode. Unlike Suunto Mosquito, or Suunto Stinger, according the specification it has only gauge mode. Not sure what exactly is the difference (and if there is any at all) between a freediving and a gauge mode, but it may be worth of checking out. Also, at D3 you can set periodic audible signals (i.e. each 30s) that are very helpful both when training tables, and when diving. This is not possible with Mosquito, and I am not sure about D9. Sampling rates differ at different modules too - 1s at D3, 2s at Mosquito, and it should be configurable at D9.

Yes, I think that D3 is the one when only freediving ..

Actually not. You should definitely not forget Eric Fattah's Liquivision F1 computer (I see it was renamed to X1 - I guess there were some trade mark issues with the original F1)! That's the ultimate freediving computer! Built for freedivers by an excellent freediver.

 

[geogiann]

dolphin, hi

I understand, your point,
my point of view is mainly spearfishing, freediving is a tool for me not the main idea. Of course I like going some times just for freedives, it is a sport that can take little time of the limited spare time, to make you relax.
But using floid goggles?, you realy need them?, but as i mentioned before, i dont know your freeding skills, i guess under 50m fluid goggles may do the difference.

 

[Scorp]

Hi dolphin,

A good alternativ to the D3 would be the new Cressi Edy Computer. Goes till 199m for your deeper dives :t and has all the features you need for freediving (1 sec measuring intervall, time and depht adjustable audio alarms and a lot more). In adition, its also a SCUBA Computer for air and nitrox. Just doesnt have the air sensor, which the D9 is equiped with as far as I know. The price is really ok, around 320 € here in the DeeperBlue shop for example, not even half of the D9.
Dont know anything about the fluid goggles, no idea what kind of vision they provide. Cant imagine that they give an equally clear and clean vision of the surrounding as a normal mask does. Rather I think u get kind of a tunnel view, not really what u want if spearfishing or just diving for fun. But why dont u email liquivision itself, they could tell u better.
Cheers,
Ivo

 

[geogiann]

almost 300$ !!! wow!!! for the liquivision's goggles

 

[adolphin]

I do not think D9 has a real freediving mode. Unlike Suunto Mosquito, or Suunto Stinger, according the specification it has only gauge mode. Not sure what exactly is the difference (and if there is any at all) between a freediving and a gauge mode, but it may be worth of checking out. Also, at D3 you can set periodic audible signals (i.e. each 30s) that are very helpful both when training tables, and when diving. This is not possible with Mosquito, and I am not sure about D9. Sampling rates differ at different modules too - 1s at D3, 2s at Mosquito, and it should be configurable at D9.


Actually not. You should definitely not forget Eric Fattah's Liquivision F1 computer (I see it was renamed to X1 - I guess there were some trade mark issues with the original F1)! That's the ultimate freediving computer! Built for freedivers by an excellent freediver.

Hi trux ..
Well, freediving mode is mainly how deep did you go, how long did you stay and how long was the interval between dives .. these are covered in D9 in the Gauge mode .. I agree though, there is much more to watch for in a freedive that help improving our performance such as the Audio Alarms and the countdown timers .. etc. After a second thought -specially for me as a beginner- D3, F1 and other freediving dedicated computers are more useful .. .. now regarding my comment that D3 is the one for freediving, actually I was comparing D3 to D9 when commenting on geogiann's post that's all, ofcourse other freediving computers are there, and the 400 meters F1 is a wow ! it's a "Oh my God!" when it comes to the price though ..

 

[adolphin]

dolphin, hi

I understand, your point,
my point of view is mainly spearfishing, freediving is a tool for me not the main idea. Of course I like going some times just for freedives, it is a sport that can take little time of the limited spare time, to make you relax.
But using floid goggles?, you realy need them?, but as i mentioned before, i dont know your freeding skills, i guess under 50m fluid goggles may do the difference.

50 m !! .. Hmmm! I hope I'll do it one day .. thanks for the encouragement bud ..
I didn't try them yet as well, so I don't know yet .. but yes as you go deeper it would be more helpfull.

 

[adolphin]

Hi dolphin,

A good alternativ to the D3 would be the new Cressi Edy Computer. Goes till 199m for your deeper dives :t and has all the features you need for freediving (1 sec measuring intervall, time and depht adjustable audio alarms and a lot more). In adition, its also a SCUBA Computer for air and nitrox. Just doesnt have the air sensor, which the D9 is equiped with as far as I know. The price is really ok, around 320 € here in the DeeperBlue shop for example, not even half of the D9.
Dont know anything about the fluid goggles, no idea what kind of vision they provide. Cant imagine that they give an equally clear and clean vision of the surrounding as a normal mask does. Rather I think u get kind of a tunnel view, not really what u want if spearfishing or just diving for fun. But why dont u email liquivision itself, they could tell u better.
Cheers,
Ivo

Thanks man .. .. great info .. not much specs mentioned on the Cressi website though !! .. but hey! it seems Edy is surely a great option ..

 

[adolphin]

almost 300$ !!! wow!!! for the liquivision's goggles

Yessss! .. this is a furtune .. I could buy a diving computer with this money !! .. :head

 

[osusim]

D9 is not a freediving comp. It can be used at competition as deepmeter but not during training sessions and courses. It doesn't show to you needed data like D3 or Mosquito.

 

[Scorp]

not much specs mentioned on the Cressi website though !! .. but hey! it seems Edy is surely a great option

I checked the cressi homepage just now - there is a heap of info for the EDY (interactive demonstration - gives a good impression of how the different displays look like - and u can even download the whole manual!)

 

[adolphin]

You are right Scorp .. now I saw it under the Cressi Downloads link ..
the the Edy features sound really good ! .. I just couldn't play the Interactive demonstrations on my mac .. .. but I read the manuals ..