DiveSmart 6ft Scuba Diving Open Bottom Surface Marker Buoy (SMB) with High Visibility Reflective Band, Strobe Light or Flashlight Holder Includes 100ft Finger Spool ABS Dive Reel and Attached Whistle

Really wanted to like this item, we ordered two (one for myself and one for my girl friend) It looks great, however the first weekend we used them the overpressure valve fell off... they are not attached well. The screw cap threads just did not hold. It's like a nut that is too large for a bolt. It just slips off and on instead of gripping and being held in place by the threads. If it was just one unit, maybe a fluke. But it happened to both of our bags! Luckily we were only practicing deployment from 20' down and didn't need to rely on them in an emergency. As divers, we need our gear to work as intended.

I want to echo what another reviewer said about the dump valve. It doesn’t thread on properly and can easily be knocked off-impossible to inflate without it. If the valve stays on, it’s ok. Too much risk of failure for a safety device.

Seems like a solid offering for a semi-closed SMB. The 6" (15 cm) width pretty much mandates you cannot inflate this orally unless you're at the surface for the 5 or 6 foot lengths. There is a stainless D-ring coming out from the side near the bottom of the air chamber that would be useful if stored in a pocket or backup to hanging from bungees. (Hanging from that D-ring will unroll itself eventually.) Since it comes out from the side, I don't see how the marker would stand straight on the surface if the line were tied here. (I didn't test this, though, could be wrong.) There is a plastic D-ring inside the mesh pocket (if you trust it).The spool is 78mm diameter, 37mm wide, with a 24mm diameter hole (3 1/16" D, 1.5" W, 1" H) and fully wound with line. You will have to take off a substantial amount of line to use the holes. It fits nicely in the velcro-closed mesh pocket.

Over all seems to be a decent dsmb. The reel that comes with isn’t 100’, its 60’ at best and that’s a stretch. The whistle is a joke. Honestly I’d buy an dsmb with stainless fittings for another $20 if I were to purchase again and buy a reel that’s actually usable at 100’.

I ordered this product and took it on a two week dive trip (by the time I discovered the product was faulty it was too late to return). The valve that allows air in to inflate the SMB using an octopus was too small and would not work. After trying several times myself, I had several other divers, including two guides, try to get it to work to no avail. The only way to get it inflated underwater was by using the mouth piece (which requires taking your regulator out of your mouth underwater, and in the strong currents we were diving in I found this rather unsafe). I'm extremely disappointed, especially for the premium price compared to other SMBs available on Amazon.

This is a great safety sausage and reel. There are two ways of inflating by mouthpiece or by open bottom regulator inflation. Both work well. The reel needs to be setup to the divers preference and is fairly large in the package so you will need a place to stow it when diving. It’s going to take up a lot of room in your BC pocket. As any reel and dsmb would.

I assume it works but I did not get to use it. The elastic band that keeps it from unrolling while clipped to your BCD broke immediately. I took it out of the box and as a I was installing it on my BCD, the elastic band snapped.

Bulky hangs funny from the side.Replaced the big brass clip on the reel with a smaller one.Easy to inflate and deflate.