Dive Magazines

[divebelly]

I have been receiving letters from a publication called "Undercurrent". It is an invitation to subscribe. I currently subscribe to "Scuba Diving Magazine" and "Sport Diver". Can anyone tell me anything about Undercurrent? Is it a publication worth getting or should I just stick with the 2 that I already get?

[covediver]

Undercurrent is a great publication if you do a lot of international, high end, luxury, upscale dive travel. They go undercover and unannounced to different operators and locations and pretty much tell it like it is, highpoints and low. If this does not describe the type of diving that you do, stick with the more wide readership publications. If it does fit your type of diving, they are pretty good.

[diversteve]

It's not really a magazine so much as a multi-page b/w newsletter with (I think) a few b/w pictures. My buddy subscribed a couple years ago so I read a few of them. They also publish their "Chapbook" annually which is a random compendium of articles from the previous issues. I personally didn't find either to be invaluable - neither did my buddy as he didn't renew.

If you read some of the trip reports here, you'll get the same information. Their website does have some articles available for public viewing to get a sense of what to expect but you have to pay to read the full list. Scuba Diving Magazine for Serious Divers, Undercurrent Reviews Dive Resorts and Scuba Diving Equipment

You might also check LDS's in your area for Dive Training Magazine. Around here it's free to pickup.

[tfsails]

Aren't they kind of the Consumer Reportsof the scuba world? IIRC, they don't accept any advertising, so they aren't beholden to any companies and are free to tell it like they see it.

The result of this is that the magazine is relatively expensive to subscribe to.

I subscribed to Practical Sailor for a while, which is the same thing for sailboats.

[vladimir]

I will second (third?) the recommendation of Undercurrent. It says right on their masthead, I think, the Consumer Reports of Diving. Check out their website at Undercurrent.org.

Although it's greatest utility is in picking resorts and planning travel, it is also a useful source for recall information, dive accident analysis, etc. Scubaboard is a great resource also, obviously, but you don't have to weed out a lot of misinformation on Undercurrent.

[robint]

Undercurrents isn't really a magazine as others have stated. It is a Newsletter with reports in it, no pictures and no ads. Much of the information found there is also found here on Scubaboard if you read all the travel sections and accident reports.

Their Diver's Chapbook comes out in Jan each year and is a compilation of reports their subscribers have sent in of their dive trips. I DO like reading it for research for a dive trip. It has all dive destinations worldwide listed in it with the reports, for example Cozumel will have several pages of trip reports by divers, who they dove with and what they liked and didn't like, where they stayed, their personal ratings on everything. I have found that about 1/4 of the reports are very negative and angry and I discount those as people who just can't be pleased no matter what. Another 1/4 of the reports are glowing to the point of being unrealistic. So that means about 1/2 of the reports have really honest assessments of the destinations/dive ops/diving in my opinion. As I said, I have used the Chapbook for research for future trips so I do think it is worthwhile, but I do take all reports with a grain of salt.

[suzshark]

Undercurrent is totally different than either of the 2 you already get. 1st, it's a newsletter, not a magazine. It also has no advertising. It's a review of equipment, sometimes, but mostly dive locations. I have been subscribing to it for over 10 years.

OK - I didn't read the previous replies before I did mine. So just change mine to "Ditto"!