| Product: |
Diver |
| Date: |
27/01/07 (2098 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Great pictures
Disadvantages: Only comes once a month
The scuba diving world is not exactly over whelmed with choice when it comes to diving magazines however Diver is one of the three main ones and is my favourite for a couple of reasons, the first is that it has some excellent features which are well written and the second is that unlike the other two it is not affiliated to either of the big training organisations in the UK which are BSAC and PADI.
This means that you can be confident when reading articles particularly when it comes to ones about training and safety as the magazine is not constrained by the training ethos of the affiliated organsiation nd is quicker to reat to changes in diving technology and can review the commercial course available then tend to appear well before BSAC or PADI get around to sanctionin a course, the case of re-breather diving is a perfect example of this.
The magazine is issued on a monthly basis and retails at £3.80 and whilst it is unlikely that your local corner shop newsagent will stock it amongst the copies of Hello and Readers Wives you should be able to find it in the larger outlets of WH Smith and also most dive shops carry a few copies. The best was to secure a copy though is to take out a subscription, firstly this means you will never miss out and also not only do you get it at a discounted price per issue but also a get a free gift in the form of a diving watch which is valued at £65. In total a one year subscription is just £34.40 whilst a two year subscription costs £59.95 and comes with a gear bag and a dry bag. I have had my watch for a couple of years and it has performed without fault on dry land and under the water.
The magazine itself is quite a substantial read running to 115 pages or so each issue and produced in a glossy format on quality paper. The real stand out for me is in the quality of the pictures that pepper the pages, it is all very well getting a nice shot of a clown fish (Nemo to you lot) hiding amongst the coral in a crystal clear Red Sea but it is entirely another matter and skill level to capture the vivid colours of a plumose anemone in the turgid waters off the English coast. Due to the sheer range of features in each edition you are guaranteed to see some jaw dropping pictures from the best under water photographers in the business in a wide range of locations, there are always some tropical locations coupled with some pictures of wreck dives off the UK coastline.
Each issue has a number of regular features including a news section that rounds up all of the key events and a section called Off Gassing which is diver speak for the letters page where readers write in to debate key issues, have a moan or sing the praises of some dive operation or person, they have even been known to publish my own ramblings. One of my favourite sections is called Beachcomber which is where divers grass up other people they have seen abusing the waters or carrying out some dodgy diving practices. This is a very amusing section and often results in the offending party being invited to pay a fine towards the RNLI or face the threat of being named and shamed in public, some of the issues raised are quite serious and in a couple of cases has seen the culprit being censored by the diving agency they belong to particularly when it involves the vandalism of wrecks and the removal of items from war graves. The Receiver of Wrecks is a role known to divers long before the Napoli made the headlines.
Monty Hall is a regular contributor to the magazine and there are also regular columns for Louise Trewavas who is the Debbie Harry of the diving world and Andy Blackford who always writes an amusing column. In addition the magazine features a Mystery Diver column which mystery shops a dive shop or diving operation and reports on its findings, warts and all.
By far the best features though are the articles that review dive destinations; the range is excellent and includes those close to home to ones in every far flung place you can imagine that has water. By far the most interesting for me was the one on ice diving in Finland which had some stunning photography however all of the articles are well researched and provide an excellent resource when you are planning your own trip or just looking for ideas. There are also a lot of articles which focus on the diving of a single wreck and these are excellent as they give a great idea of the features to look out for and also useful tips on the best time to dive them and in some cases the operators that cover the wreck.
Finally the magazine also covers the reviewing of equipment and often it will review a number of items at one time and compare them, these are really useful when it comes to the time to make a purchase, certainly when I had to upgrade my dive computer to include mixed gas settings I relied heavily on the reviews written in Diver which compared the available models on the market before deciding on the right one for me.
I would certainly recommend Diver to anyone who is into scuba diving as it is packed with features and very entertaining. Even the adverts are of interest most of the time as they feature new products and also advise when a dive shop is having a sale.
If you want to check out some of the articles go to ww.divernet.com and have a look.
Thanks for reading and rating my review.
Summary: Excellent scuba diving magazine.
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