Soft weight pouch material

I am buying some new soft weights. I recently bought some at a dive shop and think I got taken. I paid $120 for 2-#5, 2-#4,2-#3, 2-#2. And $48 for a scubapro pocket weight belt. All together it was $179. Seem fair? What is a better pouch material, the mesh or the cordura material? Also, do all new weights "bleed" a milky white substance? What do you do to stop-prevent this? Does it stain? All my gear is new and would like to take best care of it.Thanks for any help. Keith

That's about $4.25 per pound for the soft weights. I think I've seen them advertised online for as low as about $3.00 to $3.50 per pound, so what you paid may not be all that outrageous. Keep in mind that your LDS typically has higher overhead and a smaller potential market than an online retailer, so they often cannot cut their prices as much and still stay in business. $48 for a decent pocket weight belt isn't bad, either. I've seen them starting from around $30 for a basic, minimal number of pockets, to much more for fancier ones with more pockets and more features.

The soft weights do give off the milky-white residue. That's normal, and hopefully someone with a lot more experience with them than I have will chime in on whether the residue stains or not. As I recall, it's basically a surface oxidation of the lead combining with the water, but I could be brain-fading on that.

My soft weights bleed white too. It does not stain.

Locally, depending on where you buy, weight seems to go for about $4-$6 a pound. 28 pounds for $120 seems to be in that range. You didn't get a great deal but you didn't do to bad either for brand new lead from a local store.

I'm not sure about the scubapro weight belt. I have one that I got 2nd hand that I've never used. I just keep it with my dive gear in case someone forgets theirs.

Here's a guy selling them for around $2 a pound. I bought them & am very pleased.
SOFT SCUBA DIVE WEIGHTS NEW SHOT 34 LBS FREE POSTAGE!!! - eBay (item 230341884175 end time May-13-09 09:20:37 PDT)
As I understand it, the white coming from the pouch is a coating on the lead that is used in making it into the little pellets. I'm told it will stop eventually.

kbkremer1:

I am buying some new soft weights. I recently bought some at a dive shop and think I got taken. I paid $120 for 2-#5, 2-#4,2-#3, 2-#2. And $48 for a scubapro pocket weight belt. All together it was $179. Seem fair? What is a better pouch material, the mesh or the cordura material? Also, do all new weights "bleed" a milky white substance? What do you do to stop-prevent this? Does it stain? All my gear is new and would like to take best care of it.Thanks for any help. Keith

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I think the fine mesh like in the SeaPearls is better than Cardura, just because it drains the water better and dries faster. The faster it dries the less lead leaching, IMO.

Adam

Hey Thanks, yeah I found some online for quite a lot cheaper. Didn't really look that hard online before I bought them. The places I did look were killing on shipping, plus not that great of a deal. Only after I bought I started looking and found better deals with really low shipping cost. Again, Thanks for the imput!!

I bought these mesh weight bags from this dealer on eBay, I've been very pleased with them. You simply fill them with lead shot found at most sporting good stores.

eBay item # 260405097200