Nick Pelios
Freediver, Creator
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Nick Pelios
Freediver, Creator
Thibault Guignes, Simona Auteri & Luca Malaguti, some of the world's deepest freedivers, recently tested our new silicone neck weight. Which are its advantages?
How does it weigh up to the competition? Here's what they had to say about it.
"Hey everybody, this is Luca from the Alchemy freediving and spearfishing team, and today I'm going to be talking to you about Alchemy's new neck weight. The outside is made of silicone which makes it very stable on the wetsuit, it won't slip around, so it's very nice. It comes of course in different sizes, different weights, which is excellent for different thicknesses of wetsuits, if you travel to different places, warm water, cold water, this is a very versatile neck weight for that reason.
The other thing I really like about this neck weight is specifically the silicone material that encases the entire lead shot. On the smooth skin, the silicone really sticks quite nicely and it doesn't move around, especially with thick wetsuits, where the 7mm, at 30-40 meters becomes theoretically, and practically actually, 3 to 4 mm because of the compression. So that's really really nice and I've noticed and I've tested it out myself, at 30-40 meters, this neck weight will not move around. Similarly, with a spearfishing wetsuit, where the lining is either a super stretch, nylon, or lycra, kind of sticks and grips as you can tell on the lycra really well, which means even at depth, where the neoprene compresses this thing will not move around. So, thank you Alchemy for making a very simple and yet effective designed neck weight, which is encased in a beautiful coating of soft silicone, that also protects the neck weight when you inevitably drop it".
"It's made of high-quality manufactured lead inside, which means you can bend it as much as you want without being afraid of breaking it at one point, it's very very durable. It will come and just rest on your jaw, so it won't mess up with anything related to equalization and of course, it comes also in different lengths, so that anyone can find the right fitting. It will change your gravity center closer to your head and during the freefall, this way you will be more stable and it will be easier to keep a good freefall position. Of course in the swimming pool as well, to have good buoyancy and be a bit balanced in the water, would be good not to have all the weights on the weight belt. Some of you may know, usually, I only dive with the weight belts because I never found a neck weight comfy enough that wouldn't bother me during my dives, one way or another, so far this one has been a very good experience and I can definitely recommend it".
"This is quite a simple design, very smart, it's quite a flexible neck weight, I think this is 1.4 kg, but it comes in different sizes. I've always suffered from the homemade neck weights, that I really don't like when it interferes with the charge of my mouthfill. What I like about this, is actually it's quite well designed, it doesn't need a strap, because you can close it and lock it, so that you don't lose it, when you're relaxing on the surface. And what it does, it actually sits on the bones of the face and so when you're charging a mouthfill, it doesn't actually interfere with the charge.
What I like about the neck weight as opposed to diving with the belt, is that it just creates much more streamline. So there's a lot less drag with the belt, with all the weights on the belt, and the position is much more streamlined really. I've been using it for the current competition, I'm now in Sicily, in southern Italy, and it's worked great for me, I've managed to move from 3 kg on the belt to 1.4 on the neck and another 0.5 kg on the belt".