Too much gear? Or standardized setup?

[CptTightPants21]

As Stuartv pointed out way above, the minimal approach attempts to minimize the stuff you take. Won't need it? Don't take it.

The "minimum" approach tends to establish a standard list of stuff that you always take. Even if you won't need it. So the minimum approach causes you to take more (a maximum?) amount of stuff.

Minimal minimizes, minimum maximizes.

On a bonaire dock dive I do not need spools or lift bags nor a backup light.

Yeah, I get it.

Guess I'm firmly in the minimum camp.

Could I do a reef dive with no backup lights, lift bag, etc, yes; but if I have those things they are coming with me on the dive.

 

[stuartv]

If I'm diving at home and don't have to worry about weight restrictions, my backup light (clipped to my right shoulder D-ring and secured with bike tube rings) isn't an "extra". It's always there, and I don't notice it unless I need to use it. However, if I need it, it's there.

By "backup", do you mean a 2nd light? Or do you mean a "non-canister" light?

 

[eelnoraa]

... There are pics out there of GUE single-tank divers cruising along a coral reef awash in bright daylight holding corded (canister) lights. It seems a bit silly to me. I get it that GUE promotes the use of lights for signaling, but I have yet to see a light bright enough to do that in such bright conditions.

To me, the use or not use of canister light has more to do with logistic than the dive. Canister light is big and heavy, getting it around the world is not so easily. If I were to do 2 dives in Hawaii, I won't bother to bring one. But if there is one waiting for me at the destination, I will take it as primary over handhelds for two reasons: 1)long run time at the brightness level 2) the cord, which enable me to let go of the light head.

As to no light bright enough in bright condition, yes, I agree to some extenses, but I do think a bright light helps. Twice in tropical live aboard, the guides mentioned they always know where I were because of my light. In that sense, I think brighter light still helps.

Back to OP, for myself and the group I dive with often, there is a standard set of gears we always have: basides the essential, 2 backup lights,1 primary light, 1 spool, 1 SMB, 1 wetnote. Others are add-on depending on the dive condition and plan.

 

[Storker]

By "backup", do you mean a 2nd light? Or do you mean a "non-canister" light?

I don't see any need for a can light for my kind of diving. My primary is a SOLA on a soft Goodman. I usually bring it. My secondary/backup is a non-canister 3AA light, clipped to my right shoulder D-ring. I usually don't notice it's there unless I need to deploy it or lend it out.

 

[KeithG]

Yeah, I get it.

Guess I'm firmly in the minimum camp.

Could I do a reef dive with no backup lights, lift bag, etc, yes; but if I have those things they are coming with me on the dive.

And maybe this line of thinking is how the group I observed decided that they needed an inflatable life raft. They had it. They brought it. They dove with it.

In a similar vein I brought my safety kit and simply clipped it onto my BCD without even thinking. Will I need it? No. Why did I take it diving? I brought my snorkel as well but managed to leave it in my gear locker all week.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I don't obsess about what gear other people are using ... preferring instead to focus on how they're diving (especially if they're diving with me). Proper trim and buoyancy control, paying attention to what's going on around them (especially to their dive buddy), being considerate of the other divers in their vicinity ... that sort of thing. I don't particularly care if they want to bring extra gear, as long as it doesn't interfere with their ability to manage their dive in a responsible manner.

I've had people try to tell me what gear I "need", or should have, for a given dive. Frankly, it's nobody else's business if I prefer to take a light, or wish to dive sidemount instead of backmount. It's not somebody else's business to tell me why I should or shouldn't dive a long hose, or a backplate, or use a specific type of fins. That's about as silly as telling someone what kind of car they need to drive, or what options that car should have. All I want to know is that they're operating the thing responsibly.

As for gear, I tend to tailor my choices to the kind of diving I'm doing. But I've made the investment in multiple sets of gear ... heavier backplates for cold water, lightweight ones for warm. I have two sidemount rigs ... one more suitable for large, steel tanks and the other more suitable for AL80's. I have yoke regs for travel and DIN regs for use at home, where I use my own tanks. I have a half-dozen lights of different size and power ... suitable for different conditions and circumstances, and prefer to take the smaller, hand-held ones when I travel. I have two different drysuits and three different wetsuits ... and the one I will choose for a given dive depends on the conditions I'll be diving in. I prefer to make my own choices, and will generally ignore anyone who wants to give me "advice" or comment on what they think of those choices.

Show me your chops ... as long as those are reasonable, I don't care if you're using milk jugs and plastic bags for buoyancy control ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[KeithG]

By "backup", do you mean a 2nd light? Or do you mean a "non-canister" light?

On a day dive my dive buddy has my backup light.

 

[elgoog]

A shallow reef dive in bright daylight and warm, clear water? With a single tank, a can light, and a 7' hose? Makes PERFECT sense! Any OOA diver that approaches you will surely know to wait just a moment, please, while you move the light head to your other hand before you deploy the long hose for their not-drowning convenience, right? (that's how they teach that, right?)

Not sure if you're being sarcastic here or not but, for my reply below, I'm assuming not.
Clearing the light head, cord, whatever happens after your primary has been donated, the OOG diver has actually started breathing from it and calmed down a bit. In fact, you only start clearing your stuff after the OOG diver has straightened out their equipment.

 

[elgoog]

On a day dive my dive buddy has my backup light.

And then your buddy goes without a light for the rest of the dive? Or you pass it back and forth as needed?

 

[KeithG]

And then your buddy goes without a light for the rest of the dive? Or you pass it back and forth as needed?

It's a bonaire dock day dive. Not much need for a light except maybe to look in small holes. No light? No big deal. There are lots of other things to see.

Night dives are very different.