Posts by Chase

    It looks good in the pic but the "Headhunter" reel is cheap, designed and made in China by people who don't use reels. The metal bracket/line guide is weak and bends easily.

    Looks like the red tide reel. Matt had one, it's not any worse than all of the other reels in the same price range and fits the same mounting bracket as rob allen, wong, speardiver, hammerhead, mako, nautilus, and a few others. For what the OP wants it for it should work fine. I'm sure it's been tested in the Bahamas for a while now.


    Most dive gear is made over seas and almost all dive gear is unoriginal rebranded merchandise. There's not an abundance of factories that make this stuff...


    Probably the best reel on the market is the ulusub followed by the aussie and both are made over seas.

    The 5/16 is just nice because most fish I encounter won't bend it, which means less money spent on broken gear. However, 3 bands is nice when I run out to deeper water at 150'ish on the wrecks where the water is much more open and the vis is better and I'm taking longer shots past a single wrap. A 50 meter reel is also overkill on the reef under 80' but it's nice to have the extra line when I come across a runner in deeper water. And let's face it, down here you never know what will swim past you at any given point in time below the surface.


    Usually on the more shallow reefs under 80' I like to use 2 bands because there's typically more structure and general background. It's nice to have options when you need them.


    While my gun has some weight out of the water, swimming with it is not really noticable to me. It's actually only a few inches longer than my riffe euro 110 I used to own but has 20 cm more band stretch. And I like that it floats level, which is a testament to it's balance. It doesn't take a Boulder to counteract the recoil/muzzle flip issue.


    I think where wongs drop the ball is in the fact that they are mass produced to a higher level because of the demand. Of course I still don't understand how or why Daryl let's a gun go in the mail when it is not balanced or ballasted and can't handle recoil any better than a pipe gun...:confused1: And for the price you pay for a wong, the hardware is very cheap IMO. At that price level everything needs to be pinned in, no screws in the stock except a reel if you use one. The trigger mechs and reels that he rebrands as his own are not up to par neither.


    Anyways, different strokes for different folks I suppose. Some people prefer a pole spear for the plain simplicity and the fact that you're in the water with a stick. I know that's my weapon of choice for pan sized fish and super shallow water. ;)


    ::Edit::


    Meant no offense to the divers that own wongs. It's really on the builder. Daryl is a cool dude though, met him one time at the expo.

    It's really not the style/type of the gun that becomes it's down fall. Really, it boils down to how the builder designed, balanced, and ballasted the gun, or lack thereof...


    If you want to see some quality made hybrids from a guy who puts a lot of thought into his designs and has truly mastered his craft then you outta check out Impaler Spearguns. Woodies, Hybrids, rear or mid handles... The point is, no matter how you like it, it will come balanced and ballasted to your specifications depending on your power requirements.


    Here's my personal 57" Hybrid. Gun is 57" overall length with 130cm band stretch. Shoots 3 - 16mm bands, one handed, no recoil/muzzle flip. I'm able to hit a 4" x 4" foam target at the end of a double wrap, all day. I can hand the gun to anyone and get similar results and probably better in the right hands, my underwater marksmanship is mediocre...


    And the gun is balanced so well that I can hold it at center, around where the CF tube meets the teak stock. Gripping it at this location is like swimming with a pipe gun with a mid barrel grip. The gun floats level. And it tracks very well, up/down, left/right. Matt has used it a few times and every time he tells me that he cannot believe how smooth my gun shoots 3 - 16mm bands and the range that it has.


    Check it out.

    That was a great day. We ran straight out to some spots, and along the way we saw hammerhead sharks swimming on the surface with their fins out of the water. Followed some birds out in 150' fsw on some deeper wrecks and jumped in on schools of rainbow runners, yellow jacks, reef sharks and bulls everywhere. Matt got attacked by a reef shark shortly after getting that black on the boat. And the water was as glass and 70' vis, smurf blue.


    That black had to weigh 20 lbs. + easy @ over 30"

    I just realized that I posted the same pic in a different post haha :laughing3: :thumbsup2: :crazy: :toast:


    Always a good time diving with Matt & Jon


    Love my new Speardiver suit Dan. Feels tailored.

    When you calculate the % of band stretch you want, say between 3-350% and let's say that it gives you a number of 26, does that include the wishbone length? So if my band stretch would be 26 and I use 2 inches of wishbone should I cut the bands at 24 inches for a total of 26 inch length?


    So far I have been calculating my band stretch @ 325% and cutting my rubbers at the number it gives me plus using 2 inch wishbones and I'm wondering if I'm getting the most of my setup.


    Any opinions guys?