Retractor's for console? What else to use?

[SteveAD]

I use a version of this
http://www.mikesscuba.com/store/productspecs.asp?prodid=3703
Comes apart easily when I want to look and the magnet finds it's other half to hook back up

This is acceptable only if you don't have a compass on your console. The magnet will completely fubar any compass within about 18 inches.

 

[Nemrod]

The entire console on a retractor with caribiner is an overly complex solution to a non problem. Rick, there is no point in trying to explain what decades of diving has revealed to be a truism. There will always be new solutions, like studies to study a study, it never ends. Simple is best in the end. N

 

[Rick Inman]

Simple is best in the end. N

Thank you.

 

[skdvr]

Thanks Rick for finding that post. I was just looking for it to add in here.

Phil

 

[Colliam7]

you are swimming a bunch of line, or net, or anything that you do not want to get tangled up. OK, let's start the list:
1) Your mask
2) Your snorkel
3) Your fin straps
4) Any other connection on your BC
5) Your tank valve

Good point, and you are absolutely right. All of these can be snagging points. And, I have had, at one time or another a line snag on just about all of them. One of the reasons that cavers and divers penetrating wrecks don’t wear snorkels, and why they tape their mask strap ends down, use spring straps on their fins, avoid ‘danglies’ like the plague, etc. is to avoid that.

Seriously here. There is no way a caribiner is any more likely to get "caught up" in something like line or a net than anything else. As far as that goes, I'd say it's LESS likely to get caught than your tank valve. At least the caribiner has a spring keeping it closed.

Seriously, there is. Maybe, it is helpful to clarify terms. We are talking about spring-loaded, LATCH GATE carabiners – not sliding gate clips, not locking latch gate biners. And the spring tension does not keep them closed against even light pressure. Why do we love spring-loaded, latch gate biners for climbing? Because with one hand we can easily clip them to the rope, the wire loop on the nut, etc.

Read THIS. And/or... THIS

Charles, the tem ‘suicide clip’, used in the context of latch-gate carabiners used in diving, has been around for quite a while, certainly wasn’t coined by Rick and or any us here (unless Rick is much older than I think). It is a fact – a spring-loaded latch gate biner IS MORE LIKELY to snag on a line/wire/whatever than a spring-loaded sliding gate clip. That does not mean it WILL snag, or that a sliding gate clip WILL NOT. It is a matter of relative likelihood, of probability. It doesn't mean they will every time, or even 5% of the time. But, you need to be careful so why run the risk. (OK, I confess, I have used a latch gate biner to attach a second lift bag to a spool line during failed lift bag drills. But, up to that point, I kept the biner in my dry suit pockt, in a plastic baggie, to minimize the likelihood of having it snag.) If you are diving a beautiful warm water reef, with no lines running through the water, there is no problem. But, in dark, confined spaces it is amazing how easy it is for a latch gate biner to snag even a #24 line. The problem is then getting it unclipped in those dark, close quarters. For that matter, I have had it happen on a rock face, while leading no less, where a biner hanging on a short sling attached to my harness managed to clip my rope when I leaned over to rest. (Hmmm. Maybe I need to start a group called Dork Climbers.) Latch gate biners are great, for climbing, keys, etc. Sliding gate double enders and bolt snaps are preferred for diving.