I do a lot of beach diving. A major concern for me has always been the fact that in a serious emergency there's a pretty good chance I would have a hard time getting quick help. Being 20 minutes from shore on a lightly trafficked weekday could mean bad things. I borrow my dads handheld VHF radio as often as I can. But ive been planning ever since I started beach diving to purchase my own.
I debated between a standard VHF radio and the Nautilus Lifeline for quite some time. And after a long and drawn out internal debate of its pros and cons (cons being mostly the price over an inexpensive VHF) I ended up choosing the lifeline. If I knew then what I know now about its function I would have bought it a lot longer ago.
This device is basically a handheld VHS radio with GoPro-esque "2 buttons for everything" controls. Combined with a GPS and a DSC transponder (Digital Selective Calling - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). This combination turns the lifeline into not only an immensely powerful safety device. But also a useful dive tool
For the sake of clarity. I will break down my impression of the lifelines features into two distinct categories. Safety and Utility.
Safety:
- Lifeline has one button (orange button) access to any emergency channel (16 here). As well as 1 button access to an automated DSC emergency beacon button. (red button)
- Small profile and ability to be submerged deep means it can stay on a torpedo float or on top of a board without concern for water infiltration.
- GPS coordinates are always displayed on screen. Can be used to relay position as well as to know which direction you are traveling
- GPS info in DSC message means if you press the oh shit button they will know exactly where to look. Ive lost a big bright dive float in the ocean before. Even with a non-accurate gps attached it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. Trying to coordinate a rescue using only landmarks could cost valuable time.
- 5 minute (adjustable) auto off means battery life is not effected much by being left on.
Utility
- Depressing mic button logs GPS coordinates that can later be downloaded via usb. This allows spots to be marked away from the boat or beach diving with the touch of a button.
- One touch auto on communication with the boat. The green button transmits over a predefined chat channel and the channel can be changed in the water with some fussing. This is huge for drift diving. I cant count the times in the past where this would have been usefu to tell the boat stuff.
- 5 minute (adjustable) auto off means battery life is not effected much by being left on.
Im also impressed with the build quality so far. Only time will tell how well it holds up to the rigors of spearfishing. But it seems to be well made on the hardware and software side. Hooking it up the the computer and registering my lifeline was easy.
The best part about using the lifeline was discovering that it wasn't one of those "great safety devices you hopefully never use" but rather a useful tool I plan on using every time I go beach diving.
The Nautilus Lifeline is available from FreediveStore.com Nautilus Lifeline GPS Safety Device for Divers
