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"I have been using neck weights since I started freediving, which is a long time ago! I have always made my own neck weights and I had a system to shape them the way I wanted, so I thought that is what I will always be going to wear. Recently I tried the only molded neck weight I know of, and I was about to buy it when I heard that Alchemy was about to send me one of their new neck weights to try. It was a bit of a surprise since Dimitris, the founder of Alchemy has been talking about designing a neck weight for something like 8 years (!) but that never happened because, like the perfectionist that he is, nothing that he saw and thought of was good enough for him. Finally, he came up with that perfect idea that he was waiting for and created this beautiful oval-shaped silicone mold that contains a lead bar of different weights and lengths. Why that is so wonderful you will ask? For a lot of reasons, I’d say".
"The first day I put it around my neck was a couple of weeks ago, when I jumped in the water to do safety for the AIDA World Championship 2021 in Cyprus, and I forgot about it until a couple of hours later when I had this panicked thought that I might have lost it because I couldn't feel it. A split second later, my hand went to my neck and there it was, discreetly wrapped around my neck feeling like a necklace made of feathers. I swam over to my friend Pavel, who also got one, to tell him what just happened, he laughed and said, "I had exactly the same happening to me!” The reason why it is so comfortable is that there is a rather thick layer of silicon around the lead that gives it a pillow effect. You cannot feel any of the lead edges, unlike other molded neck weights".
"The silicon has a sticky feeling, it will stay exactly where you place it, and it won’t move or turn around your neck, unlike any other bicycle tire homemade neck weight that you ever tried before. This works especially well if you are wearing a smooth skin wetsuit, because of the combination of 2 sticky materials against each other. Say goodbye to those neck weights that slam against your chin or go above it when you do your mouthfill and try to relax at the same time. Also, say goodbye to those neck weights that turn around and make you freefall at an angle".
"You can give it a teardrop shape and have the ends meeting at an angle (especially if you choose one of the longest sizes), or with a more round shape for the shorter ones (this also depends if you are diving with your arms above your head or not)".
"My version is 1.4 kg and the length is 45cm. This one I wear in a teardrop shape because I don't want it to sit in a round shape around my neck (at the moment I'm only training CWTB and I dive with my arms above my head and my shoulders would push against the neck weight if it was too rounded). I also got a 40cm one, which is a bit lighter (1.2 kg) and I think it fits me even better because the sides are not touching each other. I gave my 1.4kg neck weight to different people to try during my time in Cyprus, and it seems quite clear that small, thin people would need a 40cm. Middle-sized people should go with a 45cm and guys that are a bit heavier or have a thick neck (like more muscular people) should go with a 50cm.
"These neck weights look simple but at the same time they look cool and stylish like only minimalistic things do; the silicon has a matte finish and it comes both in black and white color. It also has a nice "button" with the logo on each side, in contrasting colors. For now don't ask for different colors, as it's not going to happen, but let's hope in the future they will see that being able to match the color of Alchemy fins, belts, and neck weight is such a vital part of a freediver's success that maybe they will reconsider".