Waterproof G1 5mm Gloves & Fourth Element 5mm Gloves

If you read my review of Waterproof’s G1 7mm three-finger mitts (http://shinesdiveblog.blogspot.com/2014/05/waterproof-g1-7mm-three-finger-mitt.html), then you know I have a pretty high opinion of this company.  So I looked forward to trying their G1 5mm five-finger gloves.  As much as I love the three-finger mitts, by design, they cause some loss of dexterity and tactile sense, which the five-finger gloves, by design, won’t.  The question was, in what temperature water could I comfortably wear them.

First, a bit of background.  Over the last few years, my favorite five-finger glove has been the Fourth Element 5mm.  Not only are these form-fitting gloves virtually indestructible, they cause almost no loss of dexterity or tactile sense.  And they’re very cool looking.  If Spiderman were a diver, they’d be his glove of choice.  But the one time I wore them in 48-degree water, my hands were pretty cold.  I now only wear them when I know the water is going to be consistently above 51/52 degrees. 

Now back to the Waterproof gloves.  They’re the same high-quality construction as the Waterproof mitts, with the main difference being the lack of an inner seal to help minimize water flow.  Obviously, this means that they aren’t going to be as warm as the mitts but it does makes them easier to get on.

Waterproof G1 5mm gloves

I’ve now worn them on about a dozen dives and, of course, have found that I have more dexterity and tactile sense with them than I do with the mitts, although not as much as I do with the Fourth Element gloves.  The first time I wore them, the water temperature was 44 degrees and that turned out to be a bit too cold.  On the rest of the dives, water temps were 46 degrees and up and, on all of them, my hands were fine.  Dive times ranged from 45 to 65 minutes.  Temperature-wise, that’s outstanding.

Add it all up and what you get is a glove that I love – but not to the point of tossing my Fourth Elements.  Both of these gloves are great but have their advantages and disadvantages over each other, depending on the conditions.

With this in mind, my glove strategy going forward is pretty clear.  When water temps are below 46 degrees, I’ll wear the Waterproof mitts for maximum warmth; when they’re 46 degrees or above, I’ll switch to the Waterproof gloves to gain more dexterity and tactile sense while still staying warm; and when they’re above 52 degrees – the temperature at which I generally switch to a wetsuit anyway – I’ll switch to the Fourth Element gloves to get as much dexterity and tactile sense as possible.

Obviously, I’d recommend both of these gloves for diving in coldish water.  With the Waterproof gloves, your hands will be warmer in colder water; and with the Fourth Element gloves, you’ll have a bit more dexterity and tactile sense.   The optimum situation would be to get both and switch them out as conditions warrant.

Fourth Element 5mm gloves

The Fish In The Mirror

Talk about a face only a mother could love.  I can just imagine a wolfish right after she’s given birth, looking down at all the little wolfies staring back at her, and thinking, aren't they just the most gorgeous creatures you've ever seen! 

That being said, in my opinion, wolfish are the most human-looking of all the fish out there.  I know that sounds like I have a pretty low opinion of our outward beauty (I can just hear Seinfeld, “Have you been down to the DMV lately?”), but it’s true.  About the wolfish, I mean.  Unlike most fish, their heads are fairly rounded and their eyes face almost to the front.  And I've definitely seen teeth like that  – granted, usually only when I’m in the UK, but still.

To add just a bit more insult to my own species, I also think it’s their resemblance to us that makes them kind of scary looking.  You’re swimming along and all of a sudden, here comes this big, blue, humanish-looking face looming up out of the darkness.  It's definitely more frightening than Jason or Freddy.

Add it all up and what you get is a fish most of us can’t resist.  I've definitely never swum by one, or seen anyone else swim by one, without stopping to gawk for at least a minute or two.  It’s too bad there aren't more of them left here in southern New England, but if you want to come face-to-face with one, there are still quite a few up in northern Maine and Canada.  I shot this handsome guy, along with three others, this past weekend on Deer Island in New Brunswick.  So be honest – wouldn't he fit in just fine down at the DMV?

Later

The name of the folder is LATER and on my computer it’s the digital equivalent of the closet in my house that I stuff things into until it’s so full that I’m actually afraid to open it.  Of course, I still do – just enough to stuff something else in and then slam it shut again. 

But back to LATER.  After every dive, I come home and, in a rush to get to whatever household catastrophe has taken place in my absence, I take a quick look at the images I shot, pull out the ones that are obviously good, delete the ones that obviously suck, and dump the rest you-know-where – into LATER.  My guess is that everyone who owns a camera does pretty much the same thing. 

Now, by definition, the majority of these images aren't very good and so I’m never in a hurry to get to them.  Years can pass without me opening this folder.  Literally.    

But as of this morning, LATER held close to 6,000 images and took up a whopping 175 GB of disk space. This is just one folder!  Clearly something had to be done and so today I went in.  The good thing is that most of the images are repetitive and can be deleted in huge chunks.  I figure if I work on them a little bit every day, I could be done in a couple of weeks.  By that time, of those 6,000 images, 100 or so might be good enough to keep.  And of those 100, two or three might be hidden gems.   It’s a poor rate of return but what are you going to do.           

Here are some of the ones that I held onto today.   None are great but they fill a gap in my files or remind me of something that happened during a particular dive.         

One final note.  I know two things for certain about LATER: first, as soon as I’m done clearing it out, I’ll swear never to let it build up again; and second, after my very next dive, I’ll immediately start doing just that. 

Eubranchus Follyneus

I met up for a dive at Folly yesterday with Andy (no longer MIA) Martinez and Dave (it’s never too cold for a wetsuit) Norman.  What a beautiful day – the sun was out, the air was warm, the water was flat calm.  It was one of those days when you just knew visibility was going to be great.  Well, that is until my two cohorts got in the water and started thrashing around.  But that’s a story for another day.

Today, I want to talk about Eubranchus pallidus – specifically, the one I found on the right side of the cove.  E. pallidus is a beautiful little nudibranch that my man Bobby Boyle first brought to my attention years ago.  It’s rarely more than a half-inch in length but stands out from other species because its cerata appear to be inflated, jostling around on its back like so many helium balloons.

But not yesterday’s.  Instead of looking inflated, its cerata just looked kind of thick.

Now, this isn’t the first time that I’ve seen such an E. pallidus.  But for the first time I really started to wonder why (yeah, sometimes it takes a while).  In the past, I’d always assumed these were just young specimens that had yet to reach the full bloom of their inflated glory.  But yesterday's seemed larger than normal – definitely not a juvenile.  So was it on the geriatric side, with its flattened cerata actually a sign of its impending demise?  Or did its cerata look like this because it was starving?  Or could it have been in the process of building up spent defenses?  Or maybe it (and the others like it) are a different but similar species.  Argggh.

This is the amazing thing about diving.  The more you look around, the more you think, the more you realize how much you don’t know – especially about the things that you thought you did know.  The good news, though, is that there's only one solution to the problem.  Just keep diving.      

Dinner Time

In The Departed, Jack Nicholson’s character tells Leonardo DiCaprio’s character, “You can learn a lot watching things eat.”  He then proceeds to squish a spider.  I think he eats it, too, but I’m not sure.

It's definitely a good way to pass the time underwater -- swimming along, safely ensconced at the top of the food chain, watching other creatures being devoured.  At moments like these, I should probably be thinking something like, there but for the grace of God ... but I'm usually focused on just trying to get the exposure right.

 

 

Waterproof G1 7mm Three-Finger Mitt Review

The last time I wore wetsuit mitts with a drysuit was way back in February, 2001.   I came out of the water, my fingers, as always, painful and cold, and knew something had to be done.  I went home, packed up the suit, and sent it in to have dry gloves attached.

Problem solved, right?  Wrong.  In the 13 years since, anytime water temps dip down into the 30s, my fingers are only marginally less cold than they were with the wetsuit mitts: not exactly the great leap forward I’d hoped for.  There just isn’t enough room inside dry gloves for sufficient insulation to keep fingers warm. 

Obviously, after 13 years (13 YEARS!), it’s time to try something new.  And that something would be the Waterproof G1 7mm three-finger mitts. Technically, these aren’t wetsuit mitts.  They’re semi-dry mitts.  By definition, though, semi-dry means wet, but … whatever.  When you’re desperate, you’re desperate, and coming off the coldest diving winter I can remember, I’m desperate.

I’ve now worn the Waterproof G1 7mm mitts on four dives, all in the 60-minute range, all in water hovering around 38 degrees, and I have to say that I’m speechless.  I am without speech.  At all times during these dives, my hands were very comfortable.  Had I made these same dives with my old dry gloves, my fingers would have been stingingly cold.

These are sensational mitts and a quick look will tell you why.  They’re as well made as a glove can be, with well-stitched seams that are in no obvious hurry to unravel, tough neoprene seals that minimize water flow, and soft, flexible lining material that makes them easy to get on and off.

Not only were my hands comfortable, but I had enough dexterity and tactile sense to operate all camera controls.  Working the shutter release and various dials is a no-brainer, but even pushing the focus selector buttons on the back of my housing – five small buttons arranged in a circle approximately 1/8 of an inch apart, is not a problem.

If you’re a northeast diver, you may not be familiar with this company, Waterproof.  I know I wasn’t.  And that’s a shame.  There seem to be only two shops in the New England region that carry their line.  Please … this has to change.  Few things will consistently keep a diver out of the water like being cold.  Conversely, few things will consistently keep us in the water like being warm.  Waterproof’s G1 7mm mitts are a huge step forward in this direction and I can’t wait to try more of their stuff.  Next up in a week or so, their G1 5mm 5-finger gloves.

The G1 7mm mitts come in six different sizes and retail for about $80.  I highly, highly recommend them for cold-water diving.