Sorry for the long time between posts, but it's now at the end of the season and I can safely say I have got enough time using the Seatec Gabbiano 90 to make a worthwhile review.
Firstly, the model I bought does actually have an open muzzle, even though I said I wasn't too keen on the idea, after having used it for a while I can see its merits.
It is slower to reload, but not by much, you just have to be a little more careful you don't get the line tangled on things while your doing it.
However, the lovely unobstructed line of sight down the spear makes up for the more fiddly reload. After all unless your sat in a shoal of fish (which I rarely am) I rarely need to reload in a rush anyway.
The build quality is excellent. I have big hands and the grip is nice and chunky, it also has a very wide trigger guard so you can quickly get your finger on the trigger, I can get my index finger and middle finger on the trigger at the same time, its got so much room in there, perfect for using thick gloves.
The trigger mechanism is stainless steel and looks very well made. The mechanism is held in the handle by big stainless steel screws.
It has a mount for a reel, and above that, the line release is a very simple elbow design that stays down when the spear is in the gun and flicks up when the spear travels the first 3 inches down the barrel and is no longer pressing down on it.
The barrel itself is sheathed in aerated rubber in a cuttlefish shape, it looks great and helps to cut through the water. Tracking a fish laterally is as easy as my thin little Cressi Commanche 75.
The rubbers are the stock 16mm. They offer ample power and acceleration, and as I was really looking forward to making some long shots on Sea Bass, the range of the gun has impressed me, I have made a couple of shots and scored headshots on 1 kilo bass as they swam past 6 metres from my body, so about 4.5 metres from the tip of the gun. At this range it still has plenty of power to penetrate.
The wishbone is very well made and has a nice "Seatec" inscription on it. If you turn the gun over there is a 40 cm long silver "Seatec" sticker on the underside of the barrel which looks great.
The open muzzle has an interesting feature whereby you can swap in a set of new rubbers by removing a pin and taking the whole mounting bracket out which the rubbers screw into and put a new one in with your new rubbers and replace the pin, locking them in position. I don't carry a spare set with me, but if you wanted to change rubbers halfway through a session this would be very useful. You can only fit the screw in type of rubbers, not the sling type.
The safety catch is a sliding button, push forward to make safe, back to fire, this is the only annoying thing about the gun as its very difficult to push the safety catch to fire position using only one hand, you tend to have to bring your other hand over and I usually spear in close proximity to a friend so I prefer to leave the safety on until I dive. If Seatec had made the safety push forward to fire, then this wouldn't be a problem.
I guess Valerio Grassi thought it would be safer this way.
I think that pretty much covers it, to conclude, it is very well made and sturdy, it has a good solid feel and weight to it and seems like could take a hell of a lot of abuse. Its also got excellent range and accuracy, I have been scoring headshots on 4 out of 5 shots at ranges up to 6 metres, basically in the UK waters, if I can see it, I can probably hit it using this gun.
The price on spearo.co.uk at time of writing is £165 which is very reasonable indeed, you are getting alot for your money.
I would highly recommend this gun.
