KITTED-UP
Stainless Steel Finger Reel
Available in 22m , 30m or 40m sizes this stainless-steel finger reel – or spool to be more accurate – with matching stainless bolt snap is only 75mm in diameter , with a large 30mm hole at its centre . This provided
plenty of wiggle room and allowed my gloved finger and thumb to meet . Used for both line-laying or sending a DSMB surface-bound , this shiny little setup really can ’ t be faulted . The supplied 22-metre version was just the job to stow away in my drysuit ’ s thigh pocket as backup or as a primary DSMB line for shallow dives . It could just as easily clip to a convenient D-ring for easy access and at this price it ’ s an absolute steal .
HYBRIDS
45m Ratcheted Pocket Reel
This dinky little 8cm diameter device offers the best of both worlds : the compact size benefits of a spool with the easy winding characteristics of a reel . Held comfortably in the palm of the hand with its adjustable lanyard around the wrist , this tough plastic reel has a simple thumb switch to jiggle between ratchet and free-running modes .
Its fully-enclosed design provided easy , tangle-free operation during deployment and while winding up the line on ascent . The high-visibility , floating Dyneema line – twice as strong as Kevlar , according to AP – is equally well-suited for use with a DSMB or for wreck navigation purposes . Weighing in at only 200g , the reel is easily stowed away in a drysuit or BCD pocket and when clipped onto my camera system it eliminated the haphazard process of juggling the two on my return to the surface .
Finger Reel
This inexpensive reel / spool hybrid is in essence a plastic spool with a fold-out handle and winder . With 30m of nylon line and supplied with a double-ended bolt snap , in theory it appeared to tick a lot of boxes . In operation , however , it fell a little short of my expectations . Deploying my DSMB , I let the line run out as per a conventional spool , but in order to rewind both the handle and winder must be folded out at 90-degrees . Wearing thick gloves these were quite difficult to grip and hold , especially so with the tiny winder . As both handles had the tendency to fold back up , I gave up on my first attempt and wound back directly to the spool . Things were a lot easier without gloves , and after a few more tries I gradually warmed to the task . Perhaps this hybrid is not as well-suited to UK use as either of the conventional alternatives . Nevertheless , I ’ d be happy to pop this reel in my BCD pocket along with a suitably compact buoy for jaunts into warmer waters .
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