Decathlon’s SUBEA Neck Weight Review

One of the most important things I’ve learned during my Depth Training with Ocean Limits PH is to check your Neutral Buoyancy every time you dive. This means you are neutrally buoyant at ten meters – you neither go up or down when at the ten-meter marker. It is a must to check it every dive for safety reasons; especially to know if you should put on those weights or not. If you are neutrally buoyant or if you’re a sinker at the marker, you better lose the weights.

During our depth training, I used a neck weight to maintain a good position and a smooth duck dive. However, It was found that I am neutrally buoyant at ten meters so I had to lose the neck weight since it was deemed heavy for me. It was such a great feeling, though. I got to experience free falling beyond fifteen meters. Well, after the depth training I put back the weights on for the fun dive.

What are weights for

For freedivers, weights are either used to keep them in a prime position on either horizontal or vertical dive or to keep them from surfacing due to buoyancy. They use different kinds of weights such as the rubber weight belts and neck weights. The former’s weight can be controlled as you can add or remove lead weights from the belt per se while the latter’s is standard. Weight belts are usually wrapped and secured around the diver’s waist not tight enough though so as not to constrict the diaphragm. Neck weights, on the other hand, are wrapped around the diver’s neck for an equal distribution of buoyancy since the upper torso has the tendency to become more buoyant due to the amount of air held in the lungs for apnea.  

What’s the best neck weight for me?

Use of weights still depend on your body type (whether you are a sinker or a floater), thickness of your wetsuit and your dive depth. If there’s one thing that you need to remember the most regarding diving weights system, it is getting one that you can lose or detach from your body with ease.

You may also want to read: Read more about it here: Decathlon Philippines’ SUBEA Complete Freediving Gear

SUBEA Neck Weight

SUBEA neck weight has just also been recently released in the market and there’s only a few stocks in different Decathlon stores in the Philippines.   The material weighs 1.5 kg or 3.3 lbs. It is made of thick fabric, polyester to be exact, with Velcro as its fastening material and tiny metal beads inside creating the ballast. The good thing about its rip tab attachment is that it can easily be adjusted depending on how comfortably tight or loose the diver wants it to be around his or her neck. Also, it can easily be removed or detached shall it weigh the diver down. It’s drawback? The bonding strength of the Velcro might wear off overtime.

SUBEA Neck Weight’s Design

There’s only one design available. It is teal in color with varied strokes gray and black lining. The front is an inch and a half in height while the part that goes to the nape is some two to three inches. I reckon that this design is pretty functional. It allows me to look up or down just right and the height of it keeps me from hyper extending my neck which may possibly constrict my airways.

Traveling and Diving with the SUBEA Neck Weight

When traveling by plane, SUBEA neck weight is not allowed to be in the hand-carry baggage. It has to be checked in since its ballasting material is metal. I got the the Freediving lead neck weight ballast that is 1.5 kg heavy for two reasons. It keeps me from surfacing during fun dives especially at the depth shallower than ten meters. Second, It helps me maintain a good position during descent. Value for money? It’s four out of five for me. Diving with it has been great!   Interested with SUBEA freediving lead neck ballast? Get yours here!

Freedive with me