It seems we are always being asked to promote or advertise a product related to spearfishing or diving n our web site.  We have denied all requests in the past but decided, due to popular demand, to provide non-biased testing and evaluation for the product; sort of a consumer report for spearfishing and dive gear.  Our only compensation is to keep the product sample to offer up in our monthly raffles.
The following is the first of many to come.

Sea Stinger - The Lightning Rod
The pole spear goes high tech
by Bruce Paul

Trying out new stuff is always fun. Reporting on it and offering suggestions is fun as well, but what do you do when the results are pure perfection? That's what happened with the Sea Stinger
Jerry brought it to one of our board of directors meetings. Right out of the box it's apparent that this is not a pointy stick on a rubber band. The shaft itself is composed of three distinct parts: an anodized aluminum back section, a carbon fiber front section, and a spring stainless receiver for it's unique spear tip. The band is attached to a moveable slide that fits on the back section; this allows full range of adjustment for where the band actually attaches to the end of the shaft. This results in a configuration that can work well in tight places, yet still allows use of the full potential of the band out in the open. The taper of the carbon fiber front section is designed for easy grip and accuracy - it may even be self correcting due to it's shape. This brings us to the tip: it's easy to assemble, but we actually had to read the directions to figure out how it worked. Essentially it's an extremely sharp ice pick and cable type detachable tip with a unique release mechanism. At least that's how it looked in the living room - in the field it was just deadly. The whole assembly is about 7' long, very light, and lightning fast.

Field trial #1: After weeks of poor weather, we finally got out on Tom's boat. We agreed that we would each try the Sea Stinger on one of our dives, and finally, it was my turn. Even though I usually use a spear gun, I like pole spears and have used them in various configurations quite successfully. The first thing you notice about the Sea Stinger is that it's light and very maneuverable. There doesn't seem to be much drag when you swing it around. The second thing is getting the band where you want it. I chose all the way in the back. Off we went in search of hogfish. I found a nice, dinner sized one of about 4 pounds coming out of a wreck. "This will be a good test" I thought as I lined up the shot. It was over instantly, the spear didn't even seem to shoot out of my hand; it just materialized in the hogfish. Worse (?) yet, it was an absolutely perfect brain shot - the fish didn't even move. The resident barracuda didn't even notice anything out of the ordinary. Don't get me wrong, I like a clean kill, it's just that I thought that I'd have something more to report on... Later on in the dive, we found another hogfish. Another line up, and this time the fish moved a whole foot before he dropped over stone dead. I didn't even knock the detachable tip off! Two fish, NO "dispatching" necessary. Was it great skill on my part, or just a little help from superior technology? I KNOW the shots that I've missed - I'm going with superior technology!

Field trial #2: A beautiful South Florida dive day - mild North current
and 100' viz! Only saw one "shootable" Hog, though. Lined up on him, didn't even pull the band that tight in anticipation of the lightning fast response of the Sea Stinger. Another perfect shot - an almost instant kill, didn't even have to dispatch the hogfish. This is getting kind of scary! Here's a picture.

Visit Sea Stinger at their web site SeaStinger.com