Alchemy Neckweight Review

I have been using neckweights since I started freediving, which is looong time ago.
I have always made my own neckweights and I had a system to shape them the way I wanted so that there is no weight or pressure on my throat, and I assumed that is what I was always going to wear.

Until 2 years ago, when I was about to buy a moulded neckweight which at the time was the only one in existence. I previously tried it and I didnt find particularly comfortable, but then again I suffer from GAS (it is gear acquisition syndrome before you get silly) and I also no longer wanted to look like a gypsy freediver, so I thought I needed it. Just around this time I heard that Alchemy was releasing their neckweight prototype, at which point I said, “wait a moment! I need one of those” and a few days later it was sitting on my neck, making me look like the sexiest freediver (who needs youth when you have the most stylish gear).

After years upon years of talking about it, Alchemy finally designed the sleekest, most functional and most comfortable neckweight that ever existed. It really is perfect but also simple: an oval shaped silicone mould with a matte finish that contains a lead bar of different weights and lengths.

Why is that so wonderful you will ask? For a lot of reasons:

-It is the most comfortable neckweight that I ever tried: the first time I put it around my neck I jumped in the water to do safety for the World Championship 2021 in Cyprus, and I forgot about it until a couple of hours later when I had this panicky thought that I might have lost it because I couldnt feel it. A split second later my hand went to my neck and there it was, discreetly wrapped around my neck feeling like a necklace made of feathers. I swam over to my friend Pavel, who also got one, to tell him what just happened, he laughed and said, “I had exactly the same happening to me!”
The reason why it is so comfortable is that there is a rather thick layer of silicone around the lead which gives it a pillow effect; you cannot feel any of the lead edges, unlike other moulded neckweights.

– It literally doesnt move once it’s around your neck! The matte silicone has a sticky feeling that will make it stay exactly where you place it and it won’t move or turn around your neck, unlike any other bicycle tire homemade neckweight that you ever tried before. This works especially well if you are wearing a smoothskin wetsuit because of the combination of 2 sticky materials against each other. Say adios to those neckweights that slam against your chin or go above it when you do your mouthfill and try to relax at the same time. Also say goodbye to those neckweights that turn around and make you freefall at an angle.

-You have many different combination options! 3 lengths, 9 weights, 2 colors.
The 3 different lengths are 40cm, 45cm and 50cm. Each length has 3 different weights available (chart below).
The colors available are black and white.

I have 3 of them (I blame my GAS for that): 1.2kg and 0.9 kilo (both 40cm), and 1.4 kilo (45cm). For a thin neck (so for most girls) the best length is 40cm. Ideally you dont want the to ends to meet because you want the neckweight to fit snugly around the neck or it will move more and turn more than it should. However I have seen many people having longer neckweights and they dont seem too bothered by that.
The 45cm is definitely too long for me (and for most ladies), but I found a little hack that will prevent it from moving around, and it also adds some weight to it, which is great because I use it in the winter when I wear thicker wetsuits (photo below).
If you look like the Incredible Hulk (hopefully not so green and a little less angry) then you will need the 50cm.

 

 

Many people asked me if the white will look all stained and dirty after some time, and the answer is no. I dont know if it’s the quality of the silicone or what, but it will stay white. When I was diving off the industrial ship in Cyprus, my neckweight sat on all sorts of crap, from peeling paint to black grease and melting rubber. When I got home I washed it with soap and it returned as white as it was just out of the box.

Another question that people have is “will it break easily?”. Answer is no. In the 2 years I’ve use my older ones they have shown no sign of wear and they look pretty much new. I’ve seen people treating them very roughly (my skin crawls when I see people taking it off with one end, i.e. pulling it open all the way on one end) and that person (who should literally go to prison only for that) has been using it for months like that and it’s still in one piece.  I only saw 2 broken ones (both by the same person), even though according to him they were always used with care, so maybe it was just an unlucky coincidence? Hard to tell.

How to get hold of one? Through the Alchemy website,  where you can select size, color, weights etc and place your order. Price starts at 88 euro for the lighter one (excl. shipping cost). Or you can buy them in our shop at Atlantis Freediving if you pass by Tenerife so you can also try it on, and if you buy it from us I will give you Dina (the french bulldog from hell) for free! Dont miss this opportunity 🙂
Note: the little button with the Alchemy logo on the edges is no longer there, now the logo is laser printed and hardly visible.