- Hi guys, I'm Mark, a scuba diving instructor
from Safe Diving.
- And I'm Mark Evans, Editor-in-chief, Scuba Diver Magazine.
- So in this series of videos
we're gonna be taking a closer look
at an entire range of the newest scuba diving equipment,
and all of these videos are sponsored by Mike's Dive Store,
the UK's largest scuba diving retailer,
and they hold most of these items in stock at all times.
- They're also doing their bit for sustainability
by moving to eco-friendly packaging.
And they also donate 1% of all their online profits
to the marine conservation charity, Sea-Changers.
- So let's jump straight in.
(upbeat music)
- Hi, and today we've got the Aqualung Omni BCD.
Now it might not look like much at the moment,
but just bear with us,
some assembly required,
as a certain TV channel for children used to say.
- So the main benefit of the Omni is that
it actually comes in lots of different parts.
So you can pretty much build almost a custom made BCD
for your body shape and size.
You can also customize it as well
'cause it comes in lots of different color kits
and everything.
So the main mechanism is this ModLock
which you can see Mark using here.
And you can get different size shoulder straps,
you can get different size waistbands,
so different sized back plates,
and everything is small, medium and large.
So depending on your body shape,
you can literally build a BCD that fits you perfectly
as well as adapting color kits.
So we've done the shoulder straps
and we've done the waistbands,
they're the quick, easy ones.
Now we put the bladder on.
So as this goes on, you have to line up
a bunch of the straps, and this is pretty easy,
and realistically, you're only gonna be doing this once.
And this just kind of means that,
one, that it's modular,
so as I said earlier
you can build it to your own specifications
but also if you sort of start off
with the Omni as a jacket-style BCD,
but then you feel like you want to move on to
a wing-style BCD,
you can actually swap out this bladder
for Aqualung's Rogue bladder as well.
So there's lots of little bits that need attaching
and fitting together.
But if I help out, it'll go a little bit faster.
So all of it can be assembled without any tools.
You don't really need anything.
If you're disassembling it, you can do it with a teaspoon
because in those ModLocks all you have to do
is push down a little lever
and that way you can disassemble it,
you can take the shoulder straps off,
if it's worn or if it's torn,
you can take that worn section off
and replace it with a brand new one.
It also means that if you're diving with a buddy
and they have one particular color kit
and you kinda wanna mix and match,
yeah, it's all interchangeable
so you can swap and change at the drop of a hat.
Okay, so now the wing is almost fitted,
we just gotta attach the bladder of the jacket
that goes around onto the waist band,
then we can move on to the color kit
because you kinda buy this all as one thing
and you get all of these separate parts
as separate items, as it were.
- These straps I'm putting on here,
they're just to keep it all nice and neat and tidy,
it holds the bladder tight to the side
as well as the ModLock clips that Mark already talked about.
As he said, you're only gonna be doing this once.
(Mark chuckles)
There we go.
Right, color kit.
- Okay, so in the color kit, you've got a few bits and bobs,
the main important thing is gonna be
in your integrated weight systems,
you get a different colored handle,
but you also get a hose retainer,
you get a few pouches,
this is a console, sort of pouch and octo pockets,
you get your chest strap, you get all the zipper pulls.
So these are all individually colored.
So this one is obviously the blue color kit.
And as you can see all the accents
and all the little bits and bobs,
these are accented in blue.
But again, if you want to customize it even further
you just get your buddy who has the yellow version
and then you can really mix and match.
So Surelock II weight pouch
just clips into place nice and easily.
And then with the back pads,
so this is gonna,
we're gonna put that on after we flip it over.
This is a nice sort of thick mesh back pad
that's almost like half an inch thick
and it's this mesh material
so it's got lots of cushioning,
so it's really comfortable on your back,
but it also dries out really quickly.
So between dives it's nice and comfortable
when you're not putting on a wet BCD for your second dive.
So Mark's just putting on these zipper pulls,
they go on really quickly,
and then we have a few optional bits
that you can sort of fit onto it.
We turn it over.
Okay, so I'm just gonna fit the back pad.
So this has Velcro that lines up with Velcro
on the actual BCD,
and this little tail of Velcro that goes underneath.
So if I stick that in first and then tuck it in underneath
and now you have a blue back pad.
We also have little pockets,
so this is a console pocket,
so that would go on your left hand side,
but these are gonna line up with the grommets
that are just here on the BCD.
You get these two little sort of screws,
we're not gonna attach them here,
but they line up with those grommets down on the bottom
and that just sits in there.
(frenetic upbeat music)
- And here's one we made earlier.
- So yeah, as we mentioned, it's a modular BCD,
so each of these parts are customizable.
So if you're tall and thin,
you can get a large back plate, but a small waistband.
So you can really build the BCD that's comfortable for you.
And if you have a certain color scheme
then again, all of these little accents you can change.
So yeah, if we take an overall look at the BCD,
it's a jacket-style BCD
so you get this wraparound comfort.
Over the left hand shoulder
we have our corrugated inflator hose.
This has got the deflate button, this gray button there.
You also have the purge valve down at the bottom
and the oral inflation valve.
But if you grab hold of that entire thing
and pull that down over your left hand shoulder
there's a stainless steel cable on the inside of that,
that's gonna open up the valve over your left hand shoulder.
Moving across to the right hand side
we've got the shoulder strap comes down
to a metal D-ring,
this is stainless steel,
it's pre-bent, so it just lifts the bottom away
from that shoulder strap just a little bit
which makes it much easier to clip off onto it.
And right next to it, you can see the dump valve.
So pull on this toggle
and that's gonna open up the shoulder dump valve
on your right hand side.
Kept together with a elasticated
one-way adjustable chest strap.
So that gives you a little bit of leeway,
just so you're nice and comfortable
you don't feel too contained,
but it does hold those shoulder straps in position.
- The pocket, as we've said,
now that you've got the color coded
has tags on, it opens both ways
so whichever way you find it easiest to access the pockets.
These are actually a decent sized pocket
for getting things like the SMBs, reels,
backup torch, et cetera in there.
And because the work system
is not integral into the bladder,
you actually get plenty of room in that pocket
and it's not interrupted in any way, shape or form.
The wing system that goes around the back,
as well as it being a wrap-around traditional style BCD,
it's actually got these little wings at the back,
which is reminiscent of the Diva LX women's BCD,
which kinda gives you a little bit stability
when you're in a nice horizontal diving position.
But then when you're on the surface
you've got the flotation coming around your body
and giving you a hug.
It's also got what Aqualung call their rupture system
it spreads the weight across your lumbar region
and lower back, so that when you're walking around
on the surface, it helps just dispatch
some of that weight around your body for added comfort.
- Okay, so starting up at the top of the back,
we have our corrugated hose.
So if you pull down over your inflator
this is where the air is gonna vent out from.
You also have an over pressure valve
on your right hand shoulder.
This is where that little toggle attaches.
This is a nice and low profiles
so if you're swimming in and out of wrecks
or overhead environments, they're really low profile
so they're not gonna get caught on anything.
Moving down, we have a grab handle,
so you can grab hold of that.
That's got a pinch clip adjustment,
but I like to wrap that around the tank valve of my cylinder
just acts as a bit of a redundant backup for the cylinder
for the actual cam band.
The cam band itself is Aqualung's Griplock cam band.
So this is a two-part metal buckle
So all you do is you adjust the length of the cam band
with this Velcro here for the size of your cylinder.
And then once you've got that set up,
you wrap it around the cylinder.
So it's very quick and easy
compared to a traditional cam band,
and then when you close it you'll notice it stops
just periodically, just there,
and that basically gives you time
to get your fingers out from underneath it,
make sure everything's clear
and then you push it down and that locks it in position.
That's why it's called the finger saver.
So really quick and easy to take on and off
of a dive cylinder.
And then down on your right hand kidney,
you have another dump,
again, it's a low profile one
and you've just got that little toggle
so if you're horizontal in the water,
you can pull on that
or if you're inverted, so the head's down
you can pull on that and you can still vent gas.
Okay, so this is the Aqualung Omni BCD,
a jacket-style BCD, a very modular BCD.
So you can really get the correct size
and you can travel with it really easily
'cause it's not particularly heavy
for a jacket-style BCD.
But for a full range of BCDs
or if you want to get yourself sized up for an Omni
to make sure that you get the perfect size,
you can visit mikesdivestore.com
or you can visit them in their London store.
- Remember if you like what we're doing
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(upbeat music)