ESDS - Shark Shield

 Hi All,

As I mentioned, a while ago I lost my sharkshield freedom 7.  I've been looking at getting another one then someone recommended to look at an ESDS shark shield - found some info on them here

http://www.madmackie.com.au/products/shark-deterrent-systems/

http://www.madmackie.com.au/products/shark-deterrent-systems/esds/

Has anyone used these before?  There only $360ish so a fair bit cheap than the freedom 7....

cheers

Wayne


Buz's picture

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We have trialled the use of

Sun, 2012-05-20 17:08

We have trialled the use of these at my work(not on their effectiveness against sharks though) and they seemed very comfortable in the fact you didnt have a long whip trailing behind you to catch up on reef, or for you to kneel on and get zapped by :)

We currently run 2 Freedom 7's and six of the previous older model shark shields. So we are looking at initially upgrading the older shark shields with a view to upgrade all. We are just hanging off buying these ones at the moment as we have been informed(whispers) that shark shield is developing a similar 'band' device that doesnt have a trailing tail and we want to see what it will be like(if the whispers are true that they are bringing one out).

wayneleech's picture

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cheers for the reply buzz.

Sun, 2012-05-20 17:54

cheers for the reply buzz.

With the freedom 7, although it can zap you, I did feel some comfort with having a long atenna trailing behind you - seems to give you that reassurance of keeping some distance between you and the shark.

I guess I need to be convinced that the wrist bands work just as effective…

Buz's picture

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Yeah i have the same

Sun, 2012-05-20 18:43

Yeah i have the same reservations about how they would go against sharks. For comfort though they are great. Had a couple of funny incidents underwater and also when boarding an ally duck tinnie with the shield still turned on....between my legs. Hahahaha.

I know the Freedom 7's work pretty good. Have had a few times on dive trips where we have had sharks feeding at the back of the boat and i have thrown in a shark shield attached to a rope, and in all my cases the sharks were off in a flash, and wouldnt come back until a fair while after we turned the shark shields off. So they definitly do work in some situations.

wayneleech's picture

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 haha... yeah that atenna has

Mon, 2012-05-21 06:18

 haha... yeah that antenna has a mind of it's own sometimes!

That's good to know - was this up north somewhere?

Buz's picture

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Yeah that ws at the Rowley

Mon, 2012-05-21 10:53

Yeah that ws at the Rowley Shoals.

But as stated by many people over the years i think if there is a big Great White that is commited to an attack(charging at full speed) i dont think any of the electronic devices will stop it. But to me if you are wearing a electronic device that only works 10% of the time it is better than having no device which will offer 0% protection. For me i think they sort of have a Placebo effect :)

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Haha ive zapped myself too,

Mon, 2012-05-21 07:38

Haha ive zapped myself too, but mine was round my neck, not much fun at the time

fishnut's picture

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not convinced

Mon, 2012-05-21 09:07

Their own marketing video doesn't fill me with much confidence! If a 1 metre whaler is comfortable getting about 50cm from the device, then a 4 metre White Shark isn't even going to notice the tingle.

Not sure that any device will work for a big white committed to an attack, swimming at 40 kmh anyway...  In saying that, I feel more comfortable with the shark sheild on along the south coast.

dkonig82's picture

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Yeah I feel your pain, I've

Mon, 2012-05-21 09:21

Yeah I feel your pain, I've had one get tangled up in my BCD somehow while rolling off the boat!

 

____________________________________________________________________________

When asked by a non-fisherman 'how many fishing rods do you really need?' the correct answer is either:

n+1 (where n is the number of fishing rods you currently own); or

n-1 (where n is the number of fishing rods which would cause your significant other to dump you. 

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not sure if shark shields work

Wed, 2012-09-19 15:20

 

we have been using shark shields with no sucess but don't tell my wife.

 

 

fishy fingers's picture

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care to elaborate

Wed, 2012-09-19 16:16

what do you mean with no success

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no success

Wed, 2012-09-19 20:17

We were sick of loosing fish to sharks so we tied the hooks onto the tail. We havent got a shark shield any more.

fishy fingers's picture

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Oh well

Wed, 2012-09-19 20:26

there's definitive proof they dont work!...... could it possibly be that it got snagged or even another fish broke you off or your knot was crap where you tied it to the shark shield?

FFS what stupid thing to do with a $600 piece of gear!

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Date Joined: 08/11/11

It was a good idea at the time

Wed, 2012-09-19 20:36

Nope. There was a fish on it. A bit of a tug of war and the rope came up freyed.

Buz's picture

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Hahahahaha thats awesome.

Wed, 2012-09-19 21:15

Hahahahaha thats awesome. Gotta love the seemed like a good idea at the time.   :D

fishy fingers's picture

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Hmm interesting

Wed, 2012-09-19 20:47

not sure about this... although a lot of people have stated on here that they dont think it would deter a shark

in full flight going in for the kill and maybe they are right but according to the manufacturers it deters them before

they get to that stage as they circle they're prey checking it out....I havent dived for a while and I will be very nervous getting in the water this summer even though I own a shark shield but I hope it does I tend to think and hope it does work....heres hoping!

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We were hoping that we had

Wed, 2012-09-19 20:56

We were hoping that we had either forgot ot turn it on or it got taken by a 300lbs groper than think that it does not work. I still go diving with one.

dunsborough outdoor sportz's picture

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sharkshield vs esds

Thu, 2012-09-20 15:35

There is one major thing to look out for when deciding on which shark deterrent to choose. The Sharkshield freedom 7 has a pulse time of .6 seconds, where as the ESDS is almost ten times that at 2.5 Seconds. The other things to consider are the battery life. The ESDS does not have an on/off switch so is constantly running, and only has a charged period of 2-3 days, where as the sharkshield will stay charged for 3 months when it is switched off. The ESDS only comes with an American Style charging unit, where as the sharkshield is Australian. And the warranty period of the ESDS is 60 Days, and Sharkshield offer a 12 month warranty period.

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Dunsborough Outdoor Sportz

Johnny85's picture

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We have been testing the

Sun, 2012-10-14 16:45

We have been testing the Shark shield and ESDS shields, ive posted links to the test videos below.

 

 

 Shark Shield

vimeo.com/51340293

 

 

 ESDS

 vimeo.com/51332864

THE GERMAN's picture

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johnny85

Sun, 2012-10-14 21:13

 good to see mate that some one is testing these ive followed your posts so far intresting so far ,thats for sure!!!!!

Johnny85's picture

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 Thanks :) yer we will keep

Sun, 2012-10-14 21:16

 Thanks :) yer we will keep testing them, only way to see what they can do.