SpearViews

Things I've used...

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SpearViews!

This is where you will find my opinions and reviews of guns, gear, equipment and other items (usually stuff I own since I don't rate swag yet).

Written by: Bob Diaz
Category: SpearViews
Fri21Apr2017

Reef Runner Gear Fin Skins

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Bob Diaz | SpearViews | April 21, 2017 | Print

Over the winter I looked into and purchased a couple of sets of Reef Runner Gear's fin skins. I had contemplated having my own manufactured but when I came accross these, it just didn't seem worth the hassle. You can create your own custom design for a few bucks more and although you can run into some small snags when doing so (I'll elaborate later on), Jon from Reef Runner Gear is an awesome guy to work with and he will do everything he can to make things right.

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Written by: Bob Diaz
Category: SpearViews
Thu20Apr2017

Omer Umberto Pelizzari Freediving Mask UP-M1

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Bob Diaz | SpearViews | April 20, 2017 | Print
review, mask, omer, spearviews

This review is actually long overdue as I've had this mask for well over a year now and I honestly don't know why I hadn't done it before now. After trying multiple masks over several years (and several hundred dollars), some were good (Mystic, Star, Nano), and some were bad (Zero Cubed). Before this, I had actually decided upon the Cressi Nano as "the one". I thoroughly enjoyed the fit and volume of the Nano, but there were a couple of VERY minor issues with the fit. I'm convinced that the issue has more to do with my face than the masks, but it was still enough to keep me looking for the perfect, or at least the next best fit. A couple of years ago at the Blue Wild Expo, I saw and got to try on a pre-production sample of the soon to be released Omer UP-M1 freediving mask. I immediately noticed the softness of the silicone skirt, how it conformed to my face and sealed instantly, even with a dry fit.

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Written by: Bob Diaz
Category: SpearViews
Thu29May2014

Cressi Nano Freediving Mask

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Bob Diaz | SpearViews | May 29, 2014 | Print
review, freediving, mask, zero cubed, low volume, cressi, nano

After trying and being disappointed by the Omer Zero Cubed mask last year, I picked up a couple of other masks (Mares Star and Sporasub Mystic) that fit fairly well and did not disappoint, but were not the perfect fit I've been looking for in a low volume freediving mask so I didn't feel overly compelled to write a spearview about them. In defense of these masks, they are both low volume masks that are relatively inexpensive so for the money they are great purchases. Of these two, the Sporasub Mystic is the more comfortable of the two thanks to its softer body and skirt composition. So if you're looking for a relative bargain because you don't want to lay out $80-$110 for one of the newer ultra low volume masks, I would highly recommend the Sporasub Mystic.

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Written by: Bob Diaz
Category: SpearViews
Mon30Sep2013

Omer Zero Cubed Freediving Mask

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Bob Diaz | SpearViews | September 30, 2013 | Print
review, mask, omer, zero cubed

The summer had been busier than I would have liked this year and I honestly hadn't had as many opportunities to post much less given much thought to writing a new SpearView, but after having time to really reconsider, I realized that I had actually had multiple opportunities to try out new equipment this year (not all of it successfully). Further to that point, when I took the PFI Freediver course back in March I had decided to invest in a new mask and ended up deciding on the Omer Zero Cubed freediving mask. In trying on and discussing options at the dive shop, the guys at Austin's had made it pretty clear that the mask  had not been a good fit for many of their customers. But after trying the mask on, I thought (or hoped) that I was one of those fortunate few.

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Written by: Bob Diaz
Category: SpearViews
Tue19Mar2013

PFI Level One (FreeDiver) Course Review

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Bob Diaz | SpearViews | March 18, 2013 | Print
review, freediving

PFI-LogoBack in March of 2010 I enrolled in and completed the FII Level One freediving course. I was extremely happy with the course content and the outcome (check out the SpearView). Unfortunately for me, I'm not a professional freediver, so as with many people, life gets in the way and complicated which in turn keeps you from building a true regimen that reinforces all the good behavior learned in the course. Needless to say, I forgot some of the basics, fell back into many of my old bad habits and my diving suffered as a result. I had been considering taking a refresher course for more than a year but hadn't had a chance to commit to it (like I said, life... complicated). Luckily for me, my wife is a Living Social member and a coupon came up in December for a super low rate on the comparable Freediver Level Course from Performance Freediving (PFI) being conducted at a local dive shop (Vortex Freediving), so my Christmas stocking was lined with a coupon for the class. 

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Bob Diaz - Wednesday, 08 February 2012 16:32

{sigplus link=goprohero2 index=1} {/sigplus}I finally jumped on the HD bandwagon and bought myself a Hero2 HD digital camera by GoPro. These little beauties have been around for quite a while now so hearing about them isn't exactly news. But since I finally got around to purchasing one for myself and it happens to be that the Hero2 is the biggest leap in performance that they've given these cameras since their launch, I figured I would put in my 2 cents worth.

SpearViews

Bob Diaz - Thursday, 11 February 2010 20:57

Believe it or not my latest addition to my spearguns is not one for shooting fish (well at least not shooting to kill them). But it hopefully will help others watch online what I love to do underwater. I have made a camera mount for my Riffe Euro guns. This mount will fit on any Euro that has the reel inserts (basically all of them). It was terribly simple to make. The only fairly tricky part was putting together the actual mount screw for the camera tripod mount itself.

SpearViews

Bob Diaz - Thursday, 23 June 2011 16:49

Over the 4th of July holiday I was able to break in my hawaiian sling made by HawaiianSling.net (Ray Uppstrom). I had purchased this quite some time ago in preparation for a trip to the Bahamas and I finally got to try it out in the waters around Cat Cay, South Bimini. This isn't your normal hawaiian sling. The design is completely unique and interesting in its approach compared to traditional slings. This sling is much more akin to a bow and arrow than it is to a regular sling and it looks...

SpearViews

Bob Diaz - Saturday, 28 September 2013 18:22

The summer had been busier than I would have liked this year and I honestly hadn't had as many opportunities to post much less given much thought to writing a new SpearView, but after having time to really reconsider, I realized that I had actually had multiple opportunities to try out new equipment this year (not all of it successfully). Further to that point, when I took the PFI Freediver course back in March I had decided to invest in a new mask and ended up deciding on the Omer Zero Cubed...

SpearViews

Bob Diaz - Monday, 26 July 2010 15:11

This year at The Blue Wild I was fortunate enough to meet Mike Hickey. I know of Mike from his appearances on Speargun Hunter on the Outdoor Channel with Sheri Daye. Mike was orginally a guest on the show and in later seasons participated as an underwater videographer. Mike is the USA distributor for FreeDivers ( FreeDivers USA ) spearfishing equipment. I came across his booth and after a great conversation about spearfishing, we started discussing the rising cost of spearshafts specifically....

SpearViews

Bob Diaz - Thursday, 20 April 2017 01:50

This review is actually long overdue as I've had this mask for well over a year now and I honestly don't know why I hadn't done it before now. After trying multiple masks over several years (and several hundred dollars), some were good (Mystic, Star, Nano), and some were bad (Zero Cubed). Before this, I had actually decided upon the Cressi Nano as "the one". I thoroughly enjoyed the fit and volume of the Nano, but there were a couple of VERY minor issues with the fit. I'm convinced that the...

Spearblogs

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SpearBlog 2007

Bob Diaz - Wednesday, 02 May 2007 01:21

I had to write about this weekend even though I wasn't the one that got to go spearfishing. I didn't get to record the conditions, although I know they were great. The water was still a little cool (around 76 F), but it was warm and clear out and the winds had laid down. My brother-in-law and a friend of ours decided to take advantage of a couple of days off down in the keys. They were going to try for some dolphin or blackfin tuna in the mornings and then try to get in some spearfishing at...

SpearBlog 2008

Bob Diaz - Monday, 21 July 2008 01:14

Winds: 10-15 SE Seas: 2-4 feet (sloppy) Surf Temp: +/- 80F Viz: 25-30 feet On Saturday we started out like we normally do, procrastinating about where to make the first dive. We headed out to one of our reliable spots and were able to get into a couple of decent sized mangroves before they thinned out and we moved on. From there we decided to head to a spot that has recently been a little active with bull sharks. Little did we know how active it had become. In the first 45 minutes of the dive...

SpearBlog 2005

Bob Diaz - Sunday, 20 March 2005 14:02

Winds: 5-10 variable Seas: 1-2 feet Surf Temp: +/- 73F Viz: 15-25 feet The viz was actually better than we had hoped for, but the water was pretty chilly. The moon was also wreaking havoc with the tides. Fortunately for us, it was the good kind of havoc. We jumped in expecting to have missed slack tide altogether and were able to dive for another 1 1/2 hours. Unfortunately, we had to cut our dive short not due to the tides, but due to a little run in with a couple of the locals I'm always...

SpearBlog 2007

Bob Diaz - Wednesday, 08 August 2007 01:30

Sat 8/4 Winds: SE 10-15 Seas: 2-4 ft Surf Temp: 81 F Viz: 20-30 ft We headed out this morning after missing the early morning low tide to see if we could find some mangoes at the reef. At first sight, it didn't really seem to be too rough, but first impressions are sometimes wrong (really wrong). The water was choppy and extremely sloppy. We hadn't even made it into Hawk's channel and the water was already throwing 3-4 waves at us. We rough it and continue on. We got to our first spot to find...

SpearBlog 2012

Bob Diaz - Monday, 13 August 2012 22:18

Seas: 2-5' Winds: 10-25 SSE Viz: 2-45' Temp: 83-87F Well, it's that time of year again. The time of year when people that don't normally dive will take a chance as well as the risk and jump in the ocean to look for those prized crustaceans, the Caribbean spiny lobster. This year's lobster season opened on Monday August 6th so it was really easy for a lot of people to just take a long weekend to see if they can grab a few lobsters. Almost as if following suit with the rest of the Summer, this...

SpearBlog 2008

Bob Diaz - Sunday, 24 February 2008 00:09

Winds: 5-10 SSE Seas: 1 foot Surf Temp: +/- 76F Viz: 25-35 feet After receiving a late Saturday afternoon call, and some frantic packing of all my stuff, I was waiting at the marina for my friends at 7:30am to do some more diving in Miami. We headed out of Matheson Hammock marina towards Fowey Light early enough to pass about a dozen boats making bait (what's that stuff used for again?). The seas were completely flat as far as the eye could see, and the best I have seen in Miami for quite some...