Dive Magazines - who's reading what?

[scubert]

I'm interested to see which magazines are read around here, and hopefully spark a few discussions on the strengths/shortcomings of each.

As we all know Skin Diver went the way of the DoDo, and Rodales has purchased the name, format, and in my opinion a lot of the weaknesses of Skin Diver. I always got it for the photo annual (I only read it for the pictures ;D ) Now I am getting the rest of my subscription to Rodales Scuba Diving, which I think has weakened considerably with the addition of Skin Divers "reviews" which are nothing but undisguised adverts for products with paid ads elsewhere in the magazine.

Sport Diver is a complete waste of paper in my opinion. With pathetic gear reviews, less than inspiring photos and advertising based travel reports I give this one a rating of 0.

I like Immersed quite a bit. Recently they have had some very good articles on great lakes wrecks as well as features on insulation for the diver, and cold's effects on the divers physiology.

Recently I got my first copy of Advanced Diver. Seems promising. Too soon to see yet, but it came well recommended.

There are also Diver from the UK, and Tauchen from Germany. I like Diver, and catch some articles occasionally online, My german is pretty weak and Tauchen is too $$$ locally.

The last one I can think of is Fathoms, which I've never seen on the news stand, but gets sent to me occasionally. They must have some tie-in with TDI, as I started seeing them after my nitrox cert.
The pictures are great, but they seem to dedicate too much space to the same three or four people. I've gotten two issues so far, and both have HUGE articles about Howard Hull.

Any I've missed? Opinions you disagree with? :o
I'd love a lead on a mag I haven't seen yet.

[jasondbaker]

I honestly don't read any magazines or newspapers anymore. I can find most of the content I want online. I do visit the Rodales site every couple months. I also visit the Divernet UK site.

The thing I dislike about most dive magazines is that they discuss places that I can't dive or talk about equipment that I don't want to buy. Once in a while they throw a bone out to us cold freshwater divers.

A couple of guys were starting a local online diving e-zine a couple months ago. It doesn't look like they have updated it though. I thought it was promising.

[dfreeman]

I like Sports Diver, mostly to help me plan my next vacation. Do not care for Rodales. Dive Training will have a good article once in a while.

I can read everything that I am interested in any magazine in about 30 minutes. So no magazine is captivating. Therefore I do not expect a lot from them except to use coated paper.

Doug

[FreediveWI]

Advanced Diver magazine was good, but I don't get it any more. Immersed is junk, in my opinion, but some people might like it. I think that I still get some sort of DAN magazine and Rodales- but I don't do more than just leaf through those anymore.

About a year ago I decided to cancel all of my dive magazine subscriptions and just get one magazine- FREEDIVER magazine out of the UK. Go figure if you are into freediving it is about the coolest thing out there. If your not, it still has cool photos, like a surfer mag, but might be pretty boring to you otherwise. :-\

Most of the British mags, like DIVER, seem to have a bit more balanced content with real reviews, although not always of places that we normally visit on this side of the Atlantic. They also have a lot more info on rebreathers and other toys.

For a while there it seemed like a new dive magazine was coming out every month. Now it seems as if they are all dying off. I wonder if it has something to do with the economy, or if the market got flooded? ???

Jon

[dfreeman]

It is the economy and shrinking advertizing budgets. Why spend advertizing money if people are not spending money? With consumer confidence and a desire to spend, advertizing comes back.

Some magazine can not survive the lean times.

Doug

[Swimjim]

I have subs to Dive Training, Rodales and Sport Diver. I had a sub to Skin Diver. I peruse Immersed from time to time.
I look forward to Dive Training. Rodales turned into a travel mag after the demise of Skin Diver. They have really changed. Not for the better. The others I can take or leave.
There was an internet magazine called The Deadeye that featured great lakes diving. They only turned out two or three issues, but they showed promise. I check their website once in awhile and its still there, but nothing new since january. That could be a good one if they can make it fly.

Jim

[FreediveWI]

I forgot about dive training. that is actually a pretty godd magazine. I have read all kinds of articles in there that actually make sense. they even give honest coverage of freediving, rebreathers, dive kayaks, and other issues that aren't covered in the typical dive magazine that only focuses on going back to the SAME tropical beach resort for the 1,000th time! :-X

There are some internet dive magazines that I like as well. DEEPER BLUE is my favorite- is that where Gert stole the name for his store?

Jon

[Omicron]

I snag a free copy of Dive Training here and there from my LDS - they get a bunch of them to give to their OW students all the time.

I subscribe to Rodales...they have somewhat interesting articles here and there, but it's mainly a big travel ad like others have said.

I won a free subscription to Divers - Ocean Planet () magazine at the Ghost Ships festival and just got my first issue. It's a GREAT magazine - interesting, fun and mainly reader supported so there are very few ad's in the magazine. I think it will be the only mag that I resubscribe to when it comes time to do so.

[FreediveWI]

Sorry Omicron, but I has to disagree on this magazine.

The underwater hockey club that I belong to got a bunch of free "premiere" issues to get our feedback. The women in the club were all pretty disgusted with the magazine because of the content and how they were portrayed.

I was very unimpressed with the types of dives that they were doing. These weren't tec dives , they were half-wit "stroke" dives. Their gear set-ups were a total joke and I wouldn't have gotten into the water with any one of them.

They got our feedback and I am sure that they were not pleased. The whole magazine had a "Playboy for men" feel to it without the interesting articles.

As always, this is only my opinion, and those of the other 18 people that I play underwater hockey with in the winter time. All of us are divers and we all gave it a big thumbs down.

Jon

[Omicron]

Ya know, that's one of the more interesting parts of the magazine in a way - the reactions it pulls out of people. Reading the letters to the editor are pretty funny - from people that are just livid, to those giving praise.

While it may not be that great of a magazine, in comparison to Rodales and other magazines like that...it's definitely not as bland.

As far as the tec dives they were doing..I can't offer an opinion on that at all, so you could say I don't know enough to be offended by it.

And yeah - I would agree w/ you on the Playboy look and feel...but hey - they are kind of a breath of fresh air in the diving magazines that are out there.