Diving Equipment: Choice, maintenance and function

Diving Equipment: Choice, maintenance and function is a guide to how diving gear works. It is completely independent of brands - focusing instead on the design, technology and practicality of the equipment options available for scuba and other types of diving. Former Head of Education at PADI Sweden Jonas Arvidsson details the choices that divers are faced with, and gives tips to help ensure your gear will last. If you want to better understand diving kit without having to dismantle it, then Diving Equipment - with its colourful illustrations and explanations of the hidden inner workings - is the answer. Although it is therefore of obvious benefit to newer divers, Diving Equipment will also be of interest to the experienced. Divemasters, instructors, those in need of a refresher and curious non-divers are all likely to find out things they did not previously know. This book covers a wide range of diving gear options including: accessories, BCDs, computers, cylinders, drysuits, fins, gauges, masks, rebreathers, regulators, sidemount, snorkels, stages, torches, weights, wetsuits, wings and more...

Although many of the dives we make are in tropical regions, Diving Equipment has an international perspective. It covers a range of conditions; discusses laws and regulations in different parts of the world; suggests what to look out for and what to ask locals about. Anyone who asks technical questions will often be directed to have a look at equipment manufacturers' websites, but those have limited descriptions of how equipment really works. This book aims to plug the gap. Diving Equipment also includes some less common and older items for interest and historical comparison, and finishes with some speculation on what the future might bring.

Jonas Arvidsson is a former Head of Education at PADI Sweden, dive centre owner and PADI Course Director. He translated most of the PADI training materials into Swedish and has instructed in Australia, the Philippines and Thailand. A former biology and chemistry teacher, Jonas is now a writer, illustrator and translator. See www.a-pub.se for more.