One of the most exciting water sports you can ever experience, scuba diving brings its own challenges that can be a matter of life and death. As a diver you already should know the hand signals to communicate with your buddy, however, sometimes you might need to communicate something more important and elaborate.
This is where dive slates come in and help you convey a message about marine life or an emergency situation that you might face. Although it may not be necessary on every dive, underwater writing slates should be a key part of your dive safety gear. That’s why we’ve gathered the top-rated dive slates available on the market as well as prepared a comprehensive buying guide to help you out with your decision.
Promate 3 Layer Underwater Dive Slate
Contoured with 3 multi-level slates and 5 writing surfaces that give plenty of space to convey messages, Promate 3 Layer Underwater Dive Slate is the best dive slate on our list for divemasters.
One of the most prominent features of Promate is its wrist-attachment design, which makes it extremely convenient to use. There are 3 levels and 5 writing surfaces that provide you plenty of space to convey complicated messages. Promate is easy to use as well as easy to read, which is a very critical detail when it comes to choosing a scuba wrist slate. The pencil is attached to a safety leash in case it slips from your hand. According to the dive slate reviews, the lead in the pencils is really dark so it's easy for others to read what you've written.
What Makes This Dive Slate Stand Out
· Attaches ergonomically to your wrist
· Has 5 surfaces and 3 level slates
· Includes a spare pencil and o-rings
MODEL&ACCESSORY SPECS
Size: 6 x 4
Scuba Choice 6 x 4 Dive Slate
Easily clips to your BC pouch and compact enough to refrain from interfering with your dive, Scuba Choice 6 x 4 Dive Slate is the best underwater slate on our list when it comes to accessibility.
One of the most common problems of underwater writing devices is that you cannot use them several times in a row. However, Scuba Choice is both reusable and erasable as you can erase your message even with a pencil eraser. Moreover, this dive slate works excellently with its easy to remove clip when it comes to accessibility underwater. It comes with a graphite pencil that writes in white (not off white). Moreover, its price tag is also very attractive if you have a limited budget.
What Makes This Dive Slate Stand Out
· Compact in size
· Features a coiled pencil strap
· Performance-price balance
MODEL&ACCESSORY SPECS
Size: 6 x 4
Trident Instructor Size Dive Slate
Featuring a large-sized plate, Trident Instructor Size Dive Slate is perfect for instructors or technical divers who need to give a lot of instructions to their students or fellow diving buddies.
Produced by one of the best manufacturers of diving equipment, this scuba diving writing slate from Trident is a great example of simplicity and quality. It is great for instructors and technical divers due to its larger -sized slate compared to most underwater writing devices on the market. With an added glow in the dark feature, your messages can be seen even in darker murky waters, day and night. Overall, Trident is great for those divers who like to go a little deeper into their adventures.
What Makes This Dive Slate Stand Out
· A large slate that stills fits into the pocket of your buoyancy control device
· Ample space for writing decomposition calculations
· Available in different sizes
MODEL&ACCESSORY SPECS
Size: 8” x 10”, 6” x 8”, 4” x 6”, 2” x 4”
Palantic Dive Slate
Featuring an easy to read compass that works great while working on mapping, Palantic Dive Slate is the best choice for those who are the navigator of the group.
What we love most about Palantic is that comes with a glow in the dark compass. The compass easily clips onto your board or your buoyancy control device. The pen is easily replaceable and attached to a bright safety leash in case it slips out of your hand. Moreover, the easy to remove clip allows easy detachment from your BCD. Overall, if you often find yourself to be the navigator of the group, you should definitely check out Palantic.
What Makes This Dive Slate Stand Out
· Features a glow in the dark compass
· Easy to use removable clip
· Replaceable pencil
MODEL&ACCESSORY SPECS
Size: 6” x 7-3/8”
Innovative Scuba Concepts Quest Dive Slate
With its highly functional and smartly designed magnetic screen, Innovative Scuba Concepts Quest Dive Slate is the best choice for divers who plan on doing drawings and maps for underwater navigation.
Did you ever have an etch-a-sketch as a child? If you did, then you already know what we are talking about. Innovative Scuba doesn’t come with your standard pencil, but rather with a magnetic medium. This underwater writing slate features a magnetic board which is far easier to wipe clean than typical writing slates. Just push the button and your writing is gone. It also provides excellent visibility with at depth.
What Makes This Dive Slate Stand Out
· Can be used time after time with the magnetic clean magic eraser
· Available in a Blue, Yellow, Smoke, Translucent Blue
· Comes with a quest slate, holster, split ring, and swivel clip
MODEL&ACCESSORY SPECS
Size: 8.5’’ x 6’’
How to choose a dive slate - Buying Guide
Types of Slates
The market offers numerous types of divers slate, although all follow the same premise, which is recording information underwater.
· Typical: Typical diving slates are the simplest: a simple tag of plastic that you can fasten to a BCD. They may seem simple but really help you save time when rummaging around for gear or attempting to show a colleague a message. More expensive options offer quick clip attachments and compasses to provide an extra level of utility.
· Wrist: The advantages of a wrist slate is that you have a free hand as the Velco strap fixes to your wrist. Plus, these type of scuba dive boards are easily accessible and ensure a stable platform at the same time.
· Erasable Magnetic Diving Slate: This type is almost identical with an etch-a-sketch. These dive slates are great if you have a lot to communicate and need to erase messages quickly. One disadvantage though is that they are bit heavy.
· Waterproof Paper: This type is a well-engineered but seemingly more traditional approach. Waterproof notebooks and paper have a number of strengths over its competitors. Less bulky, with more room to right on, a diver can fill multiple pages with notes and observations. Waterproof paper is probably the best underwater writing device for those recording scientific observations or who like to take detailed notes.
Size
The size of an underwater notepad determines how often you are able to communicate, how large you are able to write, and how easy the dive slate is to store. With that in mind, people who often find themselves chatting to a friend, or somebody who needs to communicate with a larger group, need different sizes of slate. Similarly, a diver looking to record detailed notes may need multiple pages.
Use
What is your purpose in writing underwater? How important are your notes and how often are you prepared to return to the surface? The average diver shouldn’t need to communicate that often but when you have to, it’s best to know you have it available. Many people find magnetic dive slates are the best solution to sending short messages that can easily be erased, allowing you to use the dive slate again.
FAQS
Q: What is a dive slate?
A: A dive slate is basically an underwater paper and pen. It is a piece of equipment you can use to write notes on when hand signals are not enough. A scuba diving slate is great to communicate messages as well as to document information collected during the dive.
Q: Why use a dive slate?
A: For first time divers, a scuba slate may simply be used to send excited messages to a dive buddy. However, as you dive more often, you may find yourself writing down different species of fish, a map for yourself, or recording your general observations with your underwater pencil. Whatever the case, all divers would agree that some messages can simply not sent through arm and hand signals.
Q: How to clean a dive slate?
A: This depends on the kind of underwater pen and paper. The majority of dive slates can be cleaned with rubbing the plastic, either with your hand or sand.
However most of the time this method does not produce the optimal result. Many divers confess that typical plastic dive slates are difficult to clear whilst underwater.
When returning the surface, you can use rubbing alcohol, magic erasers as well as everyday erasers. It is worth taking the time to properly clean your dive slate when on dry land so that your underwater messages show up clearly.
A magnetic scuba notebook, on the other hand, is the easiest to clean with the press of a button.
Globo Surf Overview
Although they may not seem as important as a dive watch or dive computer, the simple technology of a dive slate certainly has its place. More time spent underwater quickly reveals how a diving slate can be useful. We hope that one of the options we’ve presented here is the right underwater dive slate for your needs.