First off, a quick disclosure. All the items reviewed here were provided by GearBest. Admittedly though, I was going to buy them any way, but the folks from GB convinced me to do a review of them.
I’m not much of an avid diver. I got my open water certification whilst I was in the Philippines and did all my diving there. Since coming back to Australia in October, I haven’t had a chance to dive around here. However, since acquiring several dive lights and these little knick knacks, I’m keen to try them out for their intended purpose.
Packaging
Below are pictures of how I received them, minus the envelope. It comes with a resealable snap plastic bag. The bags are somewhere, whereas the gear themselves I’ve thrown them into a pocket of my dive bag.
EZ Dive KF-TI Hook Blade
http://www.gearbest.com/swimming/pp_72988.html
The specifications of this blade is as follows:
Material: Hardened Beta Titanium TB6
Gender: Unisex
Type: Scuba Diving Knife
Function: Knifing, Spanner and Flat Screw Driver
Product weight : 0.070 g
Package weight : 0.130 kg
Product size (L x W x H) : 16.0 x 3.5 x 0.3 cm / 6.3 x 1.4 x 0.1 inches
Package size (L x W x H) : 18 x 11 x 4 cm
Below is a size comparison of my other dive knife:
I wanted to get this knife because it was supposed to be made of titanium. My current one is made out of stainless steel purchased from FastTech and after diving with it for three times, it already shows rust on the blade where there is no anodising. Also this knife from GB has several things I was looking for like a line cutter and has a spanner tool which can loosen or tighten bolts in my gear as shown below.
I found the blade to not be as sharp as my current dive knife. This was after testing it by cutting some paper and several strands of 5.5kg (12lb) fishing line. Both the line cutter and the blade itself had no trouble cutting through one or two strands (11kg or 24lb) of fishing line. However, after adding a third strand to bring the tension to 16.5kg (36lb), the line cutter wasn’t able to get through it, but using a sawing technique, the serrated edge of the knife was eventually able to cut through the tension, albeit one at a time due to the technique used. If I was going to cut through line, I’d probably be more comfortable to use the blade itself rather than the line cutter.
Speaking of the blade, here is a close up of it.
The knife did come with a holster with a belt loop. The belt loop was a tad bit small to put it onto my BCD as it scrunches it up a bit.
Sizing of the belt loop.
I’m not really a fan of the holster because, with a little bit of force, you can pull it straight out.
It does have enough grip to stay where it is supposed to when tipped upside down, but I have no idea how this setup will behave under diving conditions. As such, I prefer to have it stowed away inside a BCD pocket.
Conclusion
For my purposes, I like the knife. It is light weight, does not have a drop-point for those moments where I may accidentally stab myself, equipment or something else and doubles as a spanner so I don’t need to bring one of those as well. Whether it continues to be rust free, I guess only time will tell. Yes, I know it says its made of titanium, but you just don’t know, right? Out of the packaging, it is sharp enough. It feels comfortable in the hand. The only downside for me would have to be the holster design. I do think when you’re underwater, it can be a little bit awkward accessing it.
EZ Dive GL30 Spool Line
http://www.gearbest.com/swimming/pp_72990.html
I bought this with the purpose to pair it up with an SMB (Surface Marker Buoy) such as this one . I had that SMB also ready to be purchased, but GB said that it didn’t have it in stock so that’s why I didn’t buy it/they didn’t send me one. Here are the specifications:
So it’s 30 metres long or 100 feet. I didn’t roll it out to see if the claim was true or not. I did take a quick picture sizing up the double-eye bolt snap.
Conclusion
What can I really say about this thing? It’s bright orange, so it should be easy to see underwater. I’m hoping the spring in the bolt snap is decent. The bolt snaps I have clipped onto my BCD are going strong after 20 or so dives.
Well, that’s it. There be my review of the items. As I mentioned earlier, I’m certainly keen to try them out when I go out diving next. Should I see any rust stains on the knife, I’ll try to remember and mention it.