Free diving gear.

Howdy,

I'm mainly a scuba diver, but I will be attending the Performance Freediving Intermediate course shortly, and wanted to figure out how much I should set aside for a free diving suit/fins/mask/weights, and what brands are recommended?

PFD has this page: Gear Recommendations « Performance Freediving International which seems quite comprehensive, but doesn't give out any approximate pricing information. Is it worth buying a specific freediving 3mm suit, or can one just re-use a scuba 3mm wetsuit? If its best to buy a separate suit, how much would this set one back, for a decent 3mm? I'm thinking about going with the Oceaner Rec 45 for the suit, but have no idea what a good reputable place to buy it online is, and/or how much it'd end up costing? Any ideas? Should I look into different brands? Anything bad about the rec 45?

For fins, I'm planning on going with a composite fin, which brands would you recommend? What sort of price range should I expect it to be? Same questions with the mask.

Thanks!

I think it really depends on what your goals are for free diving? If it's just learning the new skill then you could probably get by with what you're using now for SCUBA. I'm using my same gear for 40min SCUBA trips in Norcal and free diving for a couple hours, with about a 45sec of bottom time in 40' of water. I'm nowhere near an expert and haven't taken the class yet (plan to in the next few years). I personally am looking in to eventually spending about 150 on fins, Mako or Gara seem to have a few newbie-friendly fins, and another 200 on a suit. Since they're somewhat local to me, I'm planning to go through freediveshop as I've heard nothing but good things about them from other local divers. So sorry it's convoluted and not a ton of hard information, but hopefully my opinions help.

Phishphood has some good points. Variable depending on your goals. If you're primarily hunting, then glad to offer up my opinion on gear suitability and price. If pure freediving for depth, then I can't offer up gear suggestions as I have no experience. The Deeperblue forum would be the place to find out, though.

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Also take a look at spearboard.com the majority of the people there are free divers and there is a ton of info on the subject. I took a F.I.I. class in a shorty with no problems. Your best bet would probably be to ask your instructor if your current suit would work for the class.

You do not have your location set. Location may help in determining gear and local freedive shops. I live in Northern California. I started inexpensive, then upgraded when gear went on sale. My profile lists some of my gear. Freediving is all about comfort. Never buy off Internet unless positive that this gear will fit properly. Go to a few shops and try on masks. I use SEADive TruVu Rayblocker masks for the bright California sunshine surface swims and great optical clarity for poor NorCal visibilty hunting. It is not a low volume mask. I use an AquaLung Impulse 3 snorkel. It is a large bore semidry snorkel for rough NorCal conditions and nonrestrictive fresh air breathing. Neither of these items would be recommended for your type of freediving, but they are very comfortable and best performance for me.

I tried on many fin footpockets with 4mm neoprene socks to determine the most comfortable. I started with plastic blade fins with Picasso footpockets (~$85) then upgrade to carbon blades when they went on sale (~$250). I now have 2 sets of fins. I gave away the plastic blades and inserted fiberglass blades into the Picasso footpockets for rough rocky entries. I use the carbon blades for kayak and sandy beach entries. No comparison for performance using carbon blades.

I tried on many wetsuits to determine the best fit.

I upgraded my weight belt to a thick rubber (Sumora Brand?) Marsellaise weight belt with special TinMan pinch weights and a SeacSub 3mm weight vest with 1/3 weight on vest, 2/3 weight on belt. Really makes freediving more comfortable by getting some weight over the lung area and less on the belt. I need a lot of weight to offset the buoyancy of thick wetsuits. It is also good for hiking our coast trails and cliffs, getting weight off of the belt.

I got most of my information from DeeperBlue and also freedivers I met from SpearBoard California section.

I came to this thread in hopes of scoring some free scuba diving equipment, what a difference one space makes in the subject line

I once had a guy show up for a Free diving seminar I gave, and he walked out once he found out I was not teaching free scuba diving classes.

Just wanted to post an update, I went with Mako following the advice of someone who PMd me (and after looking at other speargun boards), for both my suit and fins. Suit was too large for me by a bit (not their fault, I'm skinny), they told me to send the suit back and that they'll send back a free replacement in a smaller size; Can't beat that kind of customer service.

PFI course went great, if anyone will be in Hawaii for their upcoming courses, PM me, I'll be there!

Thanks!

Can't beat the service and prices that Dano offers at Mako Spearguns. I use Mako and Neptonics for speargun parts/accessories.

I got an inexpensive 3mm wetsuit from Mako for warmer waters.