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Best Travel Gear for Scuba Diving Trips

For our 2026 Liveaboards issue, ScubaLab reviewed travel-friendly dive gear. This roundup highlights several categories of travel-ready gear, including bags, BCs, fins and more.

SCUBALAB 2014: BC Review

Today’s BCs are complex pieces of equipment, with a host of features, capabilities and details. Check out ScubaLab's review of 16 new BCs.

ScubaLab Testers' Choice: Apeks WTX BC

Part of Apeks’ line of tec-oriented wing systems, the model we tested was built around a new ultralight travel plate, 18-pound-lift single tank “donut,” one-piece harness and SureLock weight system

ScubaLab Best Buy: Cressi Travelight BC

The restyled Travelight offers enough stability, comfort and amenities that it’s easy to forget it’s not a full-featured jacket BC with a rigid backplate.

ScubaLab Testers' Choice: Mares Prestige 2 MRS+ BC

This latest model from Mares shows how manufacturers continue to distill all the best qualities of jacket-style BCs.

ScubaLab Best Buy: Ikelite Gamma

While other compacts had brighter, tighter hot spots, the Gamma has a wider central beam and a broad outer halo that doesn’t drop off much nearly out to its limits.

ScubaLab Testers' Choice: UK Vivid eLED

UK’s newest compact, the Vivid eLED delivers a lot of performance in a small package. Read why the Vivid is the ScubaLab's Tester's Choice in the Pocket Lights category.

ScubaLab Testers' Choice: IST Sports Dolphin Tech T-24040

Careful where you shine this light when night diving, or you’ll quickly become unpopular.