Invest in top quality dive gear your life depends on it but sometimes I fail to take my own advice . Like using eight year old air in my scuba tanks safe or use it anyway if not rusty tasting . I have had plenty of close calls , mishaps or scary **** due to not checking and maintaining my gear liking to say my life depends on it . Here goes a few tails from the past first one was when making a lobster night dive on the Star of Scotland solo from my boat and had put down some baited hoop nets earlier in the day and started to descend . There were huge lobsters every around those baited hoop nets . I grabbed two big bugs while holding that large UK light so needed to set the light down on something and bag those dudes . As the story goes one in the bag and I glance at the light sitting on a hunk of wreck " oh **** " water was filling inside the light . I still had the other bug in a bearhug so what could I do , bag this dude or go for my back up light. Well having three young children and a wife my decision was to let the bug go and turn on the light . Guess what , no working backup light , so pack up and go before all goes dark . I have had plenty of dives on this wreck at 80 feet bottom depth but doing a controlled ascent blind is a question in mine and no anchor line . All lights go out , with plenty of air and standing on the bottom , relax and make a slow controlled ascent blind . I filled my BC barely enough and with a kick started my ascent . All seem going well until feeling a sqeeze "oh **** " your going back down . Landing in a deep hole in that wreckage was not a pleasent thought to behold . Lucky me had a safe landing , relax and time to make another ascent . This time I had a perfect slow safe ascent . Rumdumb me emptied the water put duct tape on the light and made another dive . More similar stories to be told but good to be alive !!! Have a nice day or night. Rumdumb