Zuludiver Octopod thoughts and experiences

I recently ran across a video on Youtube about the Zuludiver Octopod and thought is seemed interesting so I decided to give it a shot. After receiving it and using it for about a week and a half I thought I would share my experiences. 

This is my first perches from Zuludiver and the process was painless and straight forward. Zuludiver is based in the UK and I live in Florida so international shipping was involved. My order was shipped FedEx and arrived in three days without issue. The package arrived in a standard plastic shipping bag with a sturdy cardboard envelope inside of which contains the product itself.  

The Octopod is likely inspired by the old Marine Nationale parachute strap using an elasticated strap held in place with some sort of friction buckle but with the addition of a deployment style clasp, but with that said I have no personal experience with the parachute strap so I can’t make any direct comparisons to material characteristics or quality. Zuludiver sells the Octopod as either individual components or as a set which includes the clasp and five straps of varying colors and patterns. I chose the Alaska set solely because one of the straps reminds me of the Gulf racing colors. One of the first things I noticed is that the straps are a bit on the stiff side and have a somewhat rough texture to them, not unpleasantly so but not what I would call supple and not terribly unlike the nylon NATO straps I have. 

Next is the deployment clasp, which is milled not stamped, and is well constructed with little to no extra play in the hinges, and as well it should be since it cost $60 USD in and of itself. They advertise it as made from solid 316L stainless steel but I don’t have access to a spectrometer to put that to the test, though I can say that magnets will not stick to it which is a common trait of the versions of stainless steel with high nickel content such as 316 which is 10-14% nickel by weight, so I am willing to take them at their word on this one. Considering that the clasp is likely custom manufactured in small batch quantities I don’t feel the price to be unreasonable but it will most likely by the largest hurdle for most potential buyers. 

Using it is fairly straightforward, as you just loop the ends of the strap through the friction buckle on either side of the clasp and adjust the length to fit, but I make that sound much easier than it is in practice. The straps are on the thick side (which is expected for an elastic band) at an advertised 1.8mm but my calipers measure closer to 2mm. The thickness of the strap can make feeding it through the buckle a bit tedious and if you are like me you will have to make sure the length on both sides is equal and the process can take several minutes. Once the fit is properly adjusted, I find it to be quite comfortable and secure, the strap has never loosened in the buckle, the elastic nature of it allows it to expand and contract with my wrist and the material breaths well so it works well in the heat, also I have not noticed any part of it digging in to my wrist nor has the elastic strap pulled any of my arm hair. One other thing of note is the length of the strap, since they feed back up the inside towards the lugs the 290mm of length can leave a lot extra and, in my case, the ends of the strap almost touch the lugs of my Seiko SRPG37 on my 6.5in.(16.5cm.) wrist so those with small wrists may find them to be too long. I suppose, since there is no hardware or pin buckle holes, you could cut them down if you are feeling brave and/or have the tools and skills to do so. 

I know it might sound like I am being hard on it but in all honesty, I am in no way disappointed with it. I wouldn’t say that it has wowed me, if you are used to wearing NATOs this will feel fairly familiar. Now I would not consider this a replacement for the trusty NATO, for those who swap out their straps daily you will likely find the tedium of setup and adjustment a pain, but I believe that it certainly has its place. 

In closing I think that it is a fine product and if you are looking for something different than the Zuludiver Octopod may just scratch that itch.