REVIEW: WHITESHARK UNDERWATER SCOOTER
REVIEWED: WHITESHARK MIX UNDERWATER SCOOTER
It arrived in two boxes about the size of two slabs of beer – one contained the standard floatation device and the other the WhiteShark MIX unit. The 11,000mAh Li Polymer battery was put on charge for about two hours until the charge light showed green; giving one hour usage. Meantime, I’d assembled the unit and attached the wrist strap. I even tried out the GoPro mount with my camera and it worked – apart from the fixing angle being a bit too downward facing. Build quality felt sturdy – toughened plastic and the four bladed propellers deeply indented to avoid children’s fingers catching them.
Then we went down to our local bay in Sydney Harbour to try it out – my teenage daughter and friends were among the testers. As an experienced sub-aqua diver I was tempted to put on my diving gear but this small unit isn’t really designed or powerful enough for that (it has a propulsion force of 8kg). But it’s really ideal for snorkellers and free divers. Weighing in at only 2.85kg and about the size of a radio-controlled aeroplane my teenage daughter found it easy to handle. Once in the water it is buoyant and powered by pulling the twin levers simultaneously – there’s not much graduated power so mostly on and off – and using it was fairly intuitive. You simply swung your arms in the desired direction and the WhiteShark propelled us along at about 5 kilometres per hour.
For me, diving down over the sea grass beds proved thrilling – watching the underwater world through my goggles without the need to swim, with occasional upward thrusts to refill my snorkel.
The verdict – the WhiteShark is fun and is functional, so more than simply a water toy but its retail price is perhaps on the high side at $1199.
RRP $1199
marineenergy.com.au