(by Massimo De Pascalis)
Intro
After days of waiting for a sufficiently clear water to be able to try the Picasso Cobra Roller Light 75, I finally found the right conditions. The weather situation was excellent, the sea with a little wave that makes navigation unpleasant for the many sailors on Sundays and a light current from the North East that cleans the water of impurities poured from the many rivers that feed the Central Adriatic coast of Italy.
First analysis out of water
From a first analysis made out of the water, the Picasso Cobra Roller Light 75 reveals an extremely comfortable and correct grip, its moderate inclination (60°) makes it ideal for the ambush technique, where it is necessary to proceed with the arm as backward as possible. The line release is extremely curved and this facilitates the collection of the line that could otherwise come off. Among other things, the project provides that by disassembling the handle castle it is possible to position it on the opposite side.
In the water
I enter the water, moving away from the coast with the unloaded Picasso Cobra Roller Light 75 and once I reach the safety distance I try to load it. I notice that the speargun has the first lower pre-tensioning hook in my opinion too close to the muzzle and the hands come in with difficulty, making it difficult for me to grasp the rubber bands. The shaft pins are also extremely small and do not facilitate the operation and I happen to miss the dynema from them; I think it’s the price to pay for having a very hydrodynamic shaft.
At the end of the loading phase, I notice that the barrel and the rubber bands have such a positioning as to generate an extremely compact and thin profile. This indicates excellent brandishing in horizontal and vertical direction.
Once I am ready to go into action, I notice a feeling of heaviness that does not leave me for the whole time of the acxtion and after about ten minutes an unpleasant feeling of fatigue assails me. I try to abandon it to get a real perception of its negative attitude and I film the speed with which it reaches the bottom, which obviously denotes what a simple Roller of length 75 cm cannot avoid without advanced technical solutions, and that is to be extremely negative in the water.
The shot
I decide to carry out a shooting test on a piece of fiberglass found in the bottom which, in addition to being a good target, will also be an opportunity to bring it back to shore to be able to throw it and make a small contribution to cleaning the sea. I therefore place the target at three times the distance of the Picasso Cobra Roller Light 75 which is 125 cm in total, including handle and muzzle, so at 3.75 meters. The shot is perfect, precise and powerful as you can see from the video, and the two pulleys equipped with ball bearings make the shot very silent.
The release mechanism is light, the click at finger pressure is fluid, without any stitching, and the line release does not affect it and does not affect in any way even the correct positioning of the shaft in the guide that runs along the entire shaft.
Conclusions
From my experience, I can say that the Picasso Cobra Roller Light 75 is an excellent product, but that its negative buoyancy in the water makes it a speargun suitable only for those who do not have to be continually focused on rapid shots such as who uses the technique of diving ambush. Aspetto/waiting technique is definately more indicated for this speargun that offers a Roller system at a very good value for money ratio.
