DIVER TESTS

It isn’t light, but would the Mares Dragon BC be worth its weight in terms of safety and comfort? STEVE WARREN finds out, and also tests a weight-belt and a potentially dive-saving optical mask

BC MARES DRAGON

ITALIAN MANUFACTURER MARES regularly demonstrates its confidence in its products by submitting them for DIVERTests. Established in 1949, the brand has drawn a distinction between its recreational and its extended-range or technical-diving offerings.

The Dragon BC, from the recreational line, is aimed at single-tank divers. It’s a high-lift BC, ideally specified for those using coldwater suits and, by extension, perfectly at home in the tropics. Weighing in at around 4.5kg it’s no lightweight.

But then, as we go through the Dragon’s features and benefits, you’ll appreciate why.

The Design

This BC is based around a hybrid air-cell. The classic jacket-style bladder has been combined with a wing or, in this case, a part-wing. I dive jacket- and wing-type BC’s with single cylinders interchangeably and have no preference.

Both surface and underwater buoyancy and pitch characteristics seem the same to me, when properly weighted and trimmed.

Wing-aficionados laud the clean waist of most wings, while jacket-users can take advantage of often much-larger pockets.

With a jacket fully inflated at the surface, air-filling the side chambers can cause squeeze if the harness is not set up correctly, while an improperly trimmed wing might pitch you forward at the surface.

So either design can be an excellent choice for recreational diving if used properly.