How to Choose a Weight Belt

Adreno’s Kahlee guides you through how to chose a weight belt.

Weight belts are an essential accessory for freediving, they help you get the depth and distance you need when diving. Weight belts range from around $15 for your basic entry level weight belt, to $50 for the higher quality belts. So we’re going to go through the similarities and differences of these belts.

Quick Release Buckle

The one common feature of all weight belts is a quick release buckle. This is a really important feature for anything you have on your body that is weighing you down.

Quick release buckles mean if you need get to the surface in a hurry you can just flick this open and the weight belt will just fall from your body, so all weight belts are required to have this function.

The Two Different Types of Buckles

There's a clasp style and then there's the buckle style, which is more like the type of buckle you'd wear on a traditional belt with a pair of jeans.

Evaluating Weight Belts

In terms of quality range, you start with an entry level webbed weight belt with plastic buckle and move up to a rubber buckle with a stainless steel clasp. As you’d expect price increases with quality.

Webbed Weight Belt with Plastic Clasp

Pros:

• Cheap.

• Less durable.
• With webbed weight belts the weights can slide around and very easily move along the belt.

Pros:

• Buckle is more durable and secure.
• Stainless steel buckles are smoother and easier to unclip.

• Again with the webbed design the weights are prone to moving around a lot.

The rubber weight belts come with both clasps and buckles, some people prefer the clasp as it can be tightened to exact size.

Pros:

• The preferred weight belt amongst divers, as the weights don't move around when you dive.

• More expensive.

• Most weight belts come in "one size fits all" which makes them very long and normally results in a bit of overhang, leaving you with a not so adorable tail.
• This tail can be cut off, but you should be mindful not to chop it to close to the fit as you may need some extra room if you're wearing a thicker wetsuit or bulky equipment.

• Weight belt keeper: a weight belt keeper can come in handy if you're using a webbed weight belt. It sits in between the weights and keeps them in place.
• D-ring: a really useful addition to any weight belt. It’s an accessory with a D-shaped steel loop that clips onto your belt and allows you to hang things off it.
• Shark clip: a heavy duty general rigging clip that you can hang your camera, torch etc. off.
• Pocket: a favourite accessory amongst most divers the fabric pocket attaches to your weight belt and can be used to store things such as shells, krill or cameras.
• No matter what you decide to go for in the end, just make sure that you feel comfortable and secure so you can make the most of your dive.