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The Mares Cyrano Evo Pneumatic speargun is hands down one of my favorite pneumatic spearguns to spearfish with. It uses compressed air to shoot the shaft out of the barrel, and packs a rather impressive punch for such a small speargun. All up, it’s a rather impressive speargun if you’re looking for a pneumatic model, that I’d recommend without a doubt to beginners or even intermediate spearos looking to upgrade.
Why you should buy the Mares Cyrano Pneumatic speargun
- Tapered barrel adds volume for power while being easy to use underwater
- Easy adjustor to tighten the pressure on the trigger
- Highly accurate straight out of the box for those wanting a no-fuss speargun
Behind the brand
Mares is a brand you’ll see again and again in the spearfishing world, after their founder, Ludovico Mares started designing masks and spearguns in Italy back in 1949. What started as a tiny factory in Rapallo has grown into one of the largest dive companies, who are consistently pushing the boundaries of what we humans can achieve underwater. Simply put, they know what they’re doing when it comes to building and manufacturing great spearguns.
Mares Spearguns
I’ve been consistently impressed with the team at Mares in pushing out quality spearguns again and again. In separate posts we’ve reviewed their Viper Pro, Bandit, Sniper, Sten Pneumatic, and of course the Cyrano which I’m reviewing today.
The Mares Cyrano Evo Pneumatic Speargun
This last weekend I was lucky enough to get my hands on the Mares Cyrano Evo Pneumatic Speargun. It’s a strong and durable little gun, and what I liked most was how easy it was to load when I was spearfishing out and around the reef.
The most distinctive feature of this speargun is the tapered barrel, which has been crafted to add additional air volume into the barrel, and give you more power when you’re spearfishing. I also found that it shot fast and true, and it was relatively easy to track fish while I was diving.
There’s three different sizes of Mares Cyrano Evo Pneumatic spearguns, from 100cm to 120cm, and I’m basing this review on the 110cm model.
Price
The cost of the Mares Cyrano Evo Pneumatic Speargun will differ based on the length of the gun you want to buy.
General specs of the Mares Cyrano Evo Pneumatic Speargun
- 11mm Aluminum barrel with two-piece head and angled water drainage channels
- Internal barrel is set off-axis to ensure a natural aim while retaining accuracy
- Can disarm the safety switch with one finger
- Adjustable trigger to accommodate a variety of different hand shapes and sizes
- Trigger squeeze pressure is also adjustable to your preference
- Pre-formed handle is comfortable and easily sits in your grip
- Can operate at 24 bars of pressure
- Comes fitted with a 7mm Tahitian shaft (single barb)
The handle
The Mares Cyrano Evo Pneumatic Speargun shares the same handle and trigger as the Cyrano Evo HF model, which I’ve found to be comfortable and easy to grip. It’s been performed to fit easily within your hand, and you can adjust the trigger distance to the handle which is a nice touch. It’s also got a sturdy connector rung on the butt of the handle, to attach your float line, or whatever you like here.
The trigger
The trigger is highly sensitive, and Mares have given spearo’s the option to dial this down a touch with an adjustable screw in the handle. Personally, I like a tough trigger squeeze, so I had to dial the sensitivity down from the factory settings. Afterwards, it worked perfectly.
The shaft
Off the shelf the Mares Cyrano Evo Pneumatic Speargun comes with a threaded 7mm Tahitian shaft. I swapped this out after my first dive for one that’s just a bit bigger (7.14mm) as it felt a little too light and I had bounced off one of my speared fish. Using it now I am able to get a little more power, which is great), but it feels a little more imbalanced in the water.
The barrel
Remember how I said I’m a big fan of Mares? Here’s where the Mares Cyrano Evo Pneumatic Speargun really shines. It’s sleek, streamlined, and has a tapered tip that adds a heap more air volume to the gun, which means you’re able to pump it up for more powerful shots. The outer barrel has a 40mm diameter, which tapers down to a lighter, single piece muzzle.
The muzzle
The tapered tip of the speargun makes it lightweight and easy to track fish in the water, while still being easy to locate the end of the barrel and reload the speargun. What’s great is how the barrel has been offset, I found this really helped my accuracy when using this, and I was able to land 7 out of 8 fish, from only 8 shots. I’m surprised at how accurate it is, especially as it’s a completely new gun.
How it actually feels to use
Overall, I’ve been really impressed with the Mares Cyrano Evo Pneumatic Speargun. It’s light in the water and tracks well, making it the perfect pneumatic speargun to use around the reefs and headlands where I’m chasing small to mid-sized fish.
After I swapped out and upgraded the shaft I was still able to maintain accuracy, and there was just a little more “oomph” to my shots. It’s probably just a personal preference, but it made me much more comfortable with the gun in the water, even if the slightly longer shaft did knock out the balance of the gun. I was able to consistently land fish up to 10 feet away.
Now being a pneumatic speargun, it works by setting the pressure of the barrel to power your shots. Kind of like an underwater air rifle. Using just 15 bar of pressure it’s easy to load the spear into the shaft by hand, but as soon as you start pushing this up to 20 or 24 bar (the recommended pressure of the speargun), it’s going to get a little trickier. There’s an extended loader you can buy to make reloads easier, if you’re needing the extra range and power of the higher pressure, it’s a good buy.
Compared to my railguns and spearguns, the sound when you fire is probably slightly less noisy, but there is still a sound. It’s like a “thunk” of air and pressure as opposed to the “snap” you get when you release on a rubber-powered speargun.
What I particularly liked though was the handle. It’s comfortable, easy to grip, and adjustable so you’re able to modify both the position of the trigger, and its sensitivity. If you buy this speargun, looking for a tough, and easy to use pneumatic speargun, I have no doubt you’ll be happy with it.
The downsides
Of course, there’s no such thing as a perfect speargun (well almost), and there’s a couple of things I didn’t like about the Mares Cyrano Evo Pneumatic speargun.
The first is the line holder. It’s not so easy to “click” it back into place, and without doing so you’re not going to be able to reload the speargun. You’ve got to make sure you hear the click each time when you’re securing it back before reloading.
It’s also got far too many moving parts. As opposed to a simple wooden speargun, there’s far more things that can go wrong with a pneumatic gun. I’ve heard friends talking about shafts that won’t secure when reloading, to misfires and issues with trigger sensitivity. Personally, I haven’t experienced these with my gun, so I can only pass on one piece of very important information. If your gun is doing something dangerous, like misfiring if you bump the shaft. Something is seriously wrong. Take it to your local distributer or get in touch with the manufacturer, and get it fixed.
The results
Overall, this is a lovely little gun. It packs a decent amount of power, and is probably one of the most accurate spearguns I have shot straight out of the box. It feels natural, and makes it very easy to go spearfishing and bring home a decent feed of fish. The Mares Cyrano Evo Pneumatic Speargun feels strong and durable in your hands, and the size of the internal barrel means it’s easy to swap out and use a variety of different shafts. For the price tag, it’s one of the best in class, and highly recommended if you’re looking for a pneumatic speargun.
Happy spearin’
