While one of the big benefits of freediving is that you don’t need cumbersome or expensive scuba gear, there are still things that can help you enjoy your dives more, or help push you to further depths.
Read on to learn the 9 best brands for high-quality freediving gear.
The bare essentials for any freediver are: a mask for seeing underwater sights, a snorkel for assessing conditions before diving, and a pair of fins for quick propulsion underwater.
For competitive divers, or for people looking to challenge themselves, additional gear like weights and weight belts, wetsuits, safety lanyards and nose clips are also necessary.
Like any sport, for the highest quality performance, you’ll want to find the highest quality gear.
In no particular order, these are the 9 best brands for high quality freediving gear.
Aqualung is named after one of the first successful scuba diving prototypes, the Aqua Lung. Invented by Jacques Cousteau and Emil Gagnon in 1943, the Aqua Lung was the first of what has now become an innovative diving gear range.
You can expect to find cutting edge freediving gear, including wetsuits, masks, snorkels and fins, if you shop at Aqualung.
Beuchat is another well established diving product company. In 1934, Georges Beuchat founded a company where he could sell diving and spearfishing related inventions.
Beuchat was passionate about making diving apparel more comfortable and functional. Carrying on his vision, the Beuchat company has invented the first modern wetsuit and the first female form wetsuit, the first compensator mask, and the first mundial fins – just to name a few.
If you are looking for freediving gear, Beuchat supplies all of the expected essentials, but also a lot of accessories as well, such as: tote bags, medical boxes, buoys and quick release harnesses.
Founded in 1946 by the Italian Cressi brothers, Cressi initially specialised in making spearguns, before also creating masks and then eventually selling a range of diving products in the modern day.
Cressi products are still made exclusively in their Cressi facility, which means you can be assured of their high quality. They offer virtually every product that can be associated with freediving.
If you are a particularly advanced freediver make sure you check out Cressi’s line of diving watches. They are stylish and offer features such as app integration and alerts to prevent pulmonary edema.
If you want to make a statement at a social dive with a pair of extravagantly designed fins, Leaderfins is the place to shop!
Their style selection offers solid and multi colours, patterns, text and even transparent fin design options. You can also choose between carbon and fibreglass materials. Put simply, if you are looking for unique aesthetic options, there is no better place to look than Leaderfins.
DiveR fins are truly beautiful with many designs to choose from. They are the fin of choice for spearos and spearfishing. When spearfishing, it is important to have equipment that is strong, well made and has patterns/colours that will help you blend into the ocean floor and camouflage you to the average fish.
Mares is a part of HEAD Group, a global supplier of high quality sports gear. This means you can be assured that anything you purchase from them is high-quality. Most notably, Mares clothing is worn by world-leading athletes across multiple sports.
If you are looking for freediving gear that is both high performance and prestigious, Mares’ range that includes everything from wrist computers to masks is for you.
Molchanovs might sound familiar to you if you have [link to Molchanov blog when posted] heard of the exploits of multiple world record breaking diver Alexey Molchanov. Since 2018, Molchanov and his business partners have been managing the Molchanovs Movement, which is an international freediving community that includes access to Molchanovs equipment.
Choose between their Core Line, Sport Line or Competition Lines, depending on how you dive, and gain access to premium freediving gear that is endorsed by Alexey, one of the greatest freedivers of all time.
Omer takes a unique approach to researching and developing their freediving products. They believe that to be the best, their products need to be endorsed by the best. That’s why they pride themselves on adding famous athletes to ‘The Team’ – an ever growing list of professionals who use and advocate for their products.
Omer has everything you could need for freediving, with the assurance that it is high-quality and tried and tested by people who know the difference between gear that performs and gear that doesn’t.
Suunto is a little bit left-field. The Finnish company isn’t exclusively a diving goods manufacturer. They specialise in making watches and compasses designed to endure rugged conditions or the rigours of being an athlete. With that said, they do have a range of diving watches and computers.
The reason you should consider them is their long standing reputation for innovative designs and high-quality craftsmanship. Founded by Finnish adventurer Tuomas Vohlonen, Suunto’s watches have been used widely in the adventuring circuit, as well as by military organisations. Few diving watch brands can claim military-grade reliability, so Suunto is worth checking out.
Now that you know where to get the best gear don’t you want to learn how to use it?
At Freediving Central, we offer beginner, intermediate and advanced courses, as well as courses for instructors.
No matter your skill level, Freediving Central can help you improve.
For more information, visit our website.
To get in touch and book a lesson, visit our contact page.
Discover various breathing techniques that are commonly used in freediving and relaxation practices. Whether you’re an experienced freediver or someone looking to reduce stress and anxiety, these techniques can help you achieve your goals.
