Review: Salvimar V-Pro 75cm Speargun

Introduction

I bought this speargun as a reef gun, I was looking for a euro-style multiband speargun with a reel & hardened shaft.

It has other features such as adjustable trigger sensitivity, stainless steel trigger mechanism, ergonomic handle, line release, a removable stock, an ok safety mechanism, a rail, a patented shaft and an open muzzle. It come with the shooting line and sleeves by default, I got a special deal where I bought it where they added the reel line and set it up for me (I had to re-crimp the shooting line as they had not crimped it well). I will describe the speargun's general performances and then go though each part.

Build

The speargun is well built, well finished. It has as much recoil as I expected for a non-roller gun. It floats without the shaft. It is comfortable to hold and aims rather well. The tube is aluminium painted in non-reflective black, the handle is neon-green, it overall looks nice. It is a bit like a top line open headed Voodoo speargun loaded up with all their options, the only things that are different if you were to do this is the color scheme (V-Pro is back and neon green and the Voodo is black and neon orange) and the rail (more on this later).

Adjustable trigger sensitivity

This is an interesting feature, I am not sure how useful it is though, I have not used it yet. It allows you to make the trigger more sensitive or less sensitive, I can see how some people may like this. I always have my finger on the trigger so people like me may want to make it less sensitive as to not pull by mistake, others that do not like safety mechanisms can make it harder to pull as to make this a sort of safety feature, others may want a quick trigger since they take their finger off the trigger unless they shoot, etc. It is adjusted via a small screw on the safety button.

Circled in red (not the V-Pro in the pic)

Removable stock

This is another interesting feature, the stock/butt of the speargun is removable. Some people like to have one and some don't, this way everyone is happy. If you don't like stocks on spearguns and yours has one you can usually saw it off, but if you want to sell it someday or lend it to someone that likes stocks it is no longer possible to undo; this feature is small but useful. You could even 3D print your own stock that has an integrated camera attachment point (Salvimar sells a camera kit btw) or a shorter, longer, wider one, etc. I like stocks so I left mine on. I can see however how taking it on and off too much will wear down the attachment point but this is not something you will do everyday.

A Salvimar removable stock (not the V-Pro in the pic)

Handle

The handle has a great shape, it allows to have a solid and comfortable grip. It is composed of two different types of material, that back part is fluorescent green is has a rubbery feel to it. It is identical to the one above but in neon green instead of white.

Reel

The reel is a simple horizontal reel, I don't have enough experience to really review it well though. I was expecting it to release the line once the shaft pulled on it but it didn't, it even felt like it tightened. This may be due to the seller's line winding job though, I inspected it and played with this some, it was not wound the wrong way so it shouldn't tighten, but the line was originally not wound tight enough so as soon as something pulled hard the line would sink deeper into the reel, this may have affected how it unwinds thus giving me the impression it tightened. I unwound and rewound t but I have not been able to test it since then, I will update this when I do. This issue did however cause me problems, since the speargun has an open head I had to tighten it enough so that the shaft doesn't fall off but once I shot the line didn't unwind enough.

Safety mechanism

The safety mechanism is stainless steel and looks robust, it should fair well against the salt water but as with all your gear you should rinse it well with fresh water after every dive. The safety button is above the thumb and goes through the handle, a bit like Cressi has. What got me though is that it is the opposite of what I would like/expect, when it is sticking out on the left side it is OFF, when it is sticking out on the right side it is ON (I am right handed by the way). I like it the other way around so I can use my thumb to turn OFF the safety since this is easier for me, but this is personal, a friend with the same speargun likes it this sway since he keeps his trigger finger off the trigger and an the side so he uses his trigger finger to turn OFF the safety before putting his finger on the trigger, I always have my finger on the safety. You can see pictures of it above (removable stock & adjustable trigger sensitivity).

The rail

The rail is a bit a a weird one, it is cut up a bit near the end:

This is supposed to remove some resistance when moving the gun sideways. I admit this is more of a marketing gimmick, I didn't feel much difference, usually the drag comes from the bands IMO. It is even a bit annoying at times, when want to put the shaft back after a shot as the shooting line sometimes goes under the shaft and in those cut spaces, which makes it a bit harder to do. I would prefer a full rail now that I have tested their special rail, it looks cool though but cool doesn't get you any fish :-).

Patented shaft/flopper

The 7mm shaft & flopper (Torsion Evo 2) looks like a good idea at first, the flopper isn't a classical flopper, it looks lake it was machined as part of the shaft:

The idea is that it can freely spin if the fish spins and thus the fish doesn't break away and also it doesn't break off like a regular flopper. The issue I found is that you need to have the little flopper holding ring on always to hold the flopper in, if it comes off then the flopper comes out and it doesn't fold with the water pressure when shot like a normal flopper does. This modifies the spear's trajectory quite a lot. I would have preferred either a normal flopper or one that works a bit like JBL's spinning points. The shark fins are also different;

They are made of wire, I don't really see an advantage from this though other than that you can put a line through them (like you can on sharkfins with holes drilled in them). Maybe it can be useful to attach a delayed surface marker buoy (DSMB) to it quickly to help bring a big fish up and out of a tight spot; I am not sure the fins would hold though. I have read that they broke for some people after heavy usage. I ended up buying an extra Salvimar shaft (I always buy an extra one to have just in case) with a regular flopper and pins instead of this type of fin:

I will probably swap them out and keep the original as the extra shaft.

Muzzle

The muzzle is a normal open muzzle:

I don't have much experience with them, I usually have closed muzzles or hybrid (like on my Beuchat Marlin Revolution). My next comments are not specifically linked to the Salvimar muzzle but more general. I find it slow to put the shaft back, especially in non-still water. The line goes every which way, as does the shaft, once you have wrapped it unwraps or the shaft moves off the rail when you are trying to get the shooting line over the line release or wind the reel line, etc. As I mentioned while describing the reel, I have to tighten the reel if not everything comes apart. I may be doing something wrong though :-).

Colors

The colors, black and neon green, look nice. I am not sure if the neon colors affect the hunt though, I assume fish see them better than dark colors so it probably does to some point.

Conclusion

I am overall happy with the speargun, the parts that I like the least (spear) I can replace myself. I would recommend this product and other Salvimar products if their quality is the same. A friend of mine purchased their "Intruder Drop" speargun (40cm) as a low cost cave gun and he is very happy with it.