Being able to listen to music while doing casual diving is sure to be a nice thing for some folks: instead of listening for sounds of nearby boats or cries for help from fellow divers, music fans can snorkel around to the dulcet tones of, say, Huey Lewis. But folks who do serious SCUBA diving have been left out, and they routinely face one of the most mind-numbingly dull tasks of any diver: decompression. You’re tired, you’re cold, you’re hungry, maybe you’re starting to run out of air and that oxygen regulator is making a funny sound, but you can’t just go straight for the surface. Instead, you must perform a languid, staged ascent to avoid getting the bends—and potentially dying.
H2O Audio has come to SCUBA divers’ rescue with the iDive 300, a new polycarbonate underwater enclosure for iPods that’s good down to depth of 300 feet. The unit features over-the-ear speakers that are designed to be hooked onto a mask or dive hood, offers a built-in amp for high-quality sound, and an integrated microprocessor to provide push-button control of the iPod click wheel and touchscreen-based iPods. The enclosure also offers a lanyard for keeping track of the iPod, and the unit works with a wide variety of iPod devices, including the Ipod touch, classic iPods, and the latest iPod nanos.
Alas, the ability to jam to Huey Lewis—or watch The Abyss—during decompression doesn’t come cheap: the iDive 300 has a suggested price of at $349.99.
