Need advice on light warm water equipment
- Thread starter akulamd
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For a BC I'll suggest looking at the Dive Rite hydrolite. Nearly bombproof lightweight modular setup. The only things that can fail are very easily fixed with standard o rings and aquaseal. IF you want something a bit more robust, check out the Transpak and travel wing.
For regs I suggest having a look at the Cressi MC9 and whatever second it comes with now. Cressi are huge on the global scale but never really made it in the US. The MC9 is a lightweight, super easy reg to service that kind of seems like the evolution of the old US divers Conshelf (it's a diaphragm reg in a bullet form factor). It's a more than good enough performing reg for recreational diving and performs quite well (I used to have a pair that I used on doubles on deco dives).
For regs I suggest having a look at the Cressi MC9 and whatever second it comes with now. Cressi are huge on the global scale but never really made it in the US. The MC9 is a lightweight, super easy reg to service that kind of seems like the evolution of the old US divers Conshelf (it's a diaphragm reg in a bullet form factor). It's a more than good enough performing reg for recreational diving and performs quite well (I used to have a pair that I used on doubles on deco dives).
TostitoBandito
Contributor
I also started out on a Ranger BC. Turns out that I didn't do nearly as much cold water diving as warm water, and as many people do I quickly learned about streamlining and backplate/wing setups as I got more experience. They really should do a better job steering OW students towards BP/W setups, or at least educating them about them. Anyways...
A few years ago I replaced my Ranger with a Dive Rite Transpac XT with the travel wing, and it's fantastic. Highly customizable, comfortable, relatively affordable. Does everything you need it to and nothing you don't (based on which accessories you attach). Yes you can buy a metal backplate, wing, and DIY a webbing harness for a couple hundred $ cheaper, but the transpac is nice because it cuts out the labor and is a complete package that will fit and work (though an aluminum BP+harness/wing setup is also an option if you want more rigidity). Much more streamlined than my Ranger was. 44lb of lift was extreme overkill in the tropics with <10lb of lead. More compact and easier to pack too.
For regs I finally just recently upgraded my 20 year old Zeagle regs from when I started with a Scubapro Mk17Evo2/s620Ti/R105 set. Also took the opportunity to go to DIN (another thing they should really steer OW students towards...). The Mk17 is basically just a sealed Mk11 with a slightly higher price tag, and either would be fantastic choices. Both are relatively light and compact for travel. Scubapro is one of the big boys and is probably one of the easiest brands to find parts for worldwide.
And yeah, I also had issues recently getting Zeagle regs serviced. The part kits are generally available, but not necessarily in stock everywhere like the bigger brands are, so service time can be longer and emergency repairs more problematic.
I will certainly look into the DiveRite BC, especially because I do quite a bit of “cold” water diving (SoCal). Cold enough for the dry suit so backplate and small wings would do.
bradlw
Contributor
I also dove with a Zeagle for most all of my dives....although mine isn't a Ranger. I can never remember what it's called. It looks just like a ranger, except it's missing the tab. I think it has slightly larger pockets and maybe a few more pounds lift. I started with a US Divers jacket BC in my OW class, but it was a little too big and I hated it. Bought my Zeagle early on and dove with it till I got into my technical training with doubles. Yes, the 40#+ lift was completely excessive...but for some reason I thought that this was good. I fell for the marketing I suppose.
I liked the streamlined simplicity of the BP wing set-up, and ended up buying a BP/Wing setup for singles.... this was back when a rig like this was very specialty and you didn't see them in every dive shop....
Mine is a SS plate and I loved the chance at reducing or even eliminating the lead.
I do find trim with the BP wing more difficult (it's more back heavy) and I wonder if it's a good choice for a new diver.
Cressi makes great free diving equipment, but not scuba, and most definitely not regulators. They are at the bottom of the list. Finding support for them internationally is a hit and miss at best (terrible support actually). Their performance and reliability are mediocre (being generous). I will never buy Cressi anything based on my experience. I am a dive instructor and own a dive school, and get to use and try all sorts of dive equipment from many vendors. I had Cressi regulators and dive computers in my dive school's rental/training equipment fleet, and I pulled them out of the rental/training fleet after only two years of use. I sold them cheap just to get rid of them.
The other regs with worldwide availability is Mares*. The 62X is their compact high performance first stage. Pair it with any of their adjustable second stages. This will save you hundreds of dollars versus comparable ScubaPro regs. You don't get anything more for your money with ScubaPro in terms of performance or durability. They are actually priced very similarly in Europe, but SP jacks up its pricing in North America because it's the better known brand.
I'm also going to second the Hydro Lite suggestion for a BCD. It's rugged, light, compact and the crotch strap makes for a secure fit. It's a much better solution than a cummerbund when you are in the water. DGX makes a similar system with the advantages that it's a little less expensive and it is modular so you can replace individual parts of it's ever needed (it ships fully assembled): DGX Gears SoftPack BCD Package
Or if you don't mind a bit of setup, you could go with a backplate and wing, this gives you the advantage of further streamlining because you can ditch the relatively bulky fully adjustable harness of the above for a simple webbing harness.
* There's also Aqualung, but they've recently been through bankruptcy and were just bought out by the parent company of Mares. We don't know what the future is for their current regsets.
I'm also going to second the Hydro Lite suggestion for a BCD. It's rugged, light, compact and the crotch strap makes for a secure fit. It's a much better solution than a cummerbund when you are in the water. DGX makes a similar system with the advantages that it's a little less expensive and it is modular so you can replace individual parts of it's ever needed (it ships fully assembled): DGX Gears SoftPack BCD Package
Or if you don't mind a bit of setup, you could go with a backplate and wing, this gives you the advantage of further streamlining because you can ditch the relatively bulky fully adjustable harness of the above for a simple webbing harness.
* There's also Aqualung, but they've recently been through bankruptcy and were just bought out by the parent company of Mares. We don't know what the future is for their current regsets.
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