Recently, I have been getting a lot of questions about what gear I prefer to use or what brands I would recommend so I wanted to break down what freediving gear I love. These are my personal favorites and what I consider the best freediving gear. Read about my freediving journey here.
MASKS & SNORKEL
If you’re a beginner freediver one of the best pieces of equipment to invest in is a low volume mask and decent snorkel.
The mask I have used since the beginning of my freedive journey is by Hammerhead. It fits great and I like that the lenses aren’t mirrored (it’s better for shark diving if they can see your eyes). Every diver will have a different preference for masks as fit is a big factor in what people prefer but I would definitely recommend trying masks from Hammerhead. Honestly snorkel brand doesn’t really matter, just get one that is a basic J-curved snorkel as cheap as you can.
FINS
Fins are one of the things that can vary a lot in preference and price depending on what you personally like and what will fit you best. You can get plastic, fiberglass, or carbon-fiber blades and on top of that stiffness varies. Plastic tends to be the cheapest option and are often much more stiff than fiberglass or carbon-fiber blades. Fiberglass is a middle of the road option as it tends to be cheaper than carbon-fiber and both fiberglass and carbon-fiber options tend to be more fragile than plastic alternatives, although they are often much softer and better for competitive level divers or those that dive a significant amount.
For plastic fins I highly recommend Hammerhead freediving fins. They are affordable and durable. They come with a removable foot pocket which makes travel a little easier. I’ve noticed that they are much more flexible than most plastic fins done by other brands. They are really comfortable and decently durable considering when I use them they get beat up on the boat when I am working. I still go through a pair about every three months but anyone diving an average amount of time definitely wouldn’t have to!
I recently designed custom carbon fiber freediving fins with Penetrator fins and I don’t think I can ever go back to using plastic blades. They make me feel 100x more efficient in the water and even though carbon fiber tend to be more fragile they are super durable. I love them! If you want a pair you can get yours here! A portion of your purchase goes towards supporting the end of thresher shark fishing in Indonesia.
I genuinely couldn’t tell you what brand my weight belt is and quite honestly it is another piece of gear that you can kind of go with whatever works best for you. Rubber or silicone belts are much better and more comfortable than nylon but if you’re on a budget nylon will do the job.
WETSUITS
When it comes to wetsuits everyone probably has their favorite brand or design that they like. I personally like a couple different brands, some that I have used forever and others that I have just recently tried out and like.
When I first started diving and was less experienced I purchased a few Billabong spring suits that I will still use today but more for casual surfs or if I just want to add an additional layer over or under another suit. My sort of go-to brand for wetsuits has been Xcel. I was exposed to this brand through work and I honestly really like their suits. They are comfy and offer a lot of fun designs. Xcel is a great company to find an average priced wetsuit that is good quality but isn’t anything super crazy.
Recently, I got an Oceaner wetsuit and I have fallen in love and now want every color. They have options from spring suits to competition level suits. Oceaner suits can be on the pricier side but I would say it is worth it!
CAMERA GEAR
The last little bit of gear I often get questions about is what I use as camera gear. I am by no means a professional but I love to play around with mainly video, but photo as well.
I started to learn video and the editing process with a super basic GoPro and that still gives me pretty good results. Currently, I love to use my Axisgo for mostly video but also some still photography. I would recommend the GoPro when filming at depth and the Axisgo for shallow or surface level filming. However, I did just get a new underwater housing to play around with so I am super excited to try new stuff with that.
This is genuinely all the gear I currently love and use. I consider this stuff the best freediving gear for my personal use. This was not a sponsored post in any way (if you want to sponsor me though I already love your stuff wink wink). I hope this helped to answer some of the questions I have been getting lately and maybe helped you find some gear you may want to try yourself.
photo credit: @whotippedmycow