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Look up Learning Theory and the idea of "Primacy" if you want an idea of why I disagree on waiting before switching. In my case I switched to BP/W during the OW certification process. I would have switched to long hose then too if possible. As it stands my first "all my own gear" dive will be...

Completely ignoring entendres here, I don't think that's reasonable. His equipment is vital to your safety. You aren't (just) checking for his benefit. If the best check involves touching, you touch. Or maybe I'm violating some diver code that wasn't explained in my OW class. Either way I...

Need a bit of additional advice. Here's the kit so far: * SS BP/30lb wing * HP100 steel tank w/ din/yoke switchable valve * Oceanic Veo 3 - I decided to hold off on the VT4 (AI widely panned, and $300 for a digital compass is too much) * Waiting for HOG cold water reg package. 7' primary...

No matter what your equipment - and no matter what the context - society places upon us an obligation to avoid disproportionately interfering with others. That's why straight pipes on motorcycles are such a touchy subject. The way I see it, noob divers should already be making big...

FWIW, I'm a total noob of a diver and will be using the 7' primary/necklace setup as soon as UPS does their thing. Why? Apart from the groupthink here on SB I had two trivial-in-themselves experiences during my OW class that convinced me that the long hose setup offers advantages even if you...

A few minutes googling shows up Hudson grotto. http://www.scubawest.net/HudsonGrotto.aspx Not as cheap as shore diving but it is 100' claimed depth.

The dive shops have actually built up a nice little cartel for themselves. Very few divers own their own compressor. Without a compressor you are going to take your cylinders somewhere to be filled. The shops all enforce a $15/yr private tank tax and most do marked-up hydrostatic tests. They...

Does an aluminum baseball bat ever wear out? A fishing rod? A cricket bat? A hunting rifle? In general, no. What keeps most sporting goods manufacturers going is twofold. One, people just want to buy something so they do. A whole bunch of perfectly good skis have been replaced over the years by...

Thank you for saying that. It is something I have been thinking fairly often, especially when I see opinions written by people like Jarrod Jablonski and similar. Airplanes follow many different designs. There are fundamental differences in how the controls operate, how the controls affect...

The more I look, the more I think an HP100 is a much better first choice for steel. It's easy to upsell myself beyond what I need and even the HP100 may be that. As always, there are pluses and minuses to every "upgrade".

There's a lot going on all at once. During several of my OW certification dives they had us hanging off a hand-rail outside a platform while they did individual demonstrations. Using the rail as a visual reference made practice easy. I was floating there with my hand near the rail, practicing...

In my case getting to the shop is literally a matter of turning into a driveway I pass a couple times a day getting to/from work. Otherwise yeah, textbook false economy.

Yes serious, no not air temperature (i didn't see official stats on that but my jeep reported 109f and it's usually within a few degrees of the weather reports). This ain't Hawaii. I've been told water temperature reaches lows of around 40f where we dove. As for open water or not, personally I...

I'm really lucky in that i got the BP/W from what is to me a local shop. The guys in the scubatoys.com retail store helped me pick out various bits and components and rigged the Hogarthian harness, assembled everything, and did a pretty decent dry eyeball fit to me while I waited in the store...

Had to laugh at the "tell your friends it's an lp85..." :) No plans to go pro. Not saying it's impossible (teaching things you are both good at and love can be very rewarding) but that cart is way before the horse right now. Local conditions vary from warm (surface water temps were 89f last...

I'm a guy so what I think I can handle and what I should handle are probably different. I consider myself short but I guess it is all relative - I can just cross the 6' height line without shoes. A 38lb cylinder is not trivial but I'm sure I could get into the water wearing one. ;) Used is a...

This is kinda what I was asking about before. Any sort of cable retract, especially one with a small diameter steel cable (which could encircle a body part) should be designed to come to pieces under pressure. E.g. I have a retractor for holding my employee ID at work. Not a "dive retractor"...

The HP120 thinking went like this: Al80 is 26" long. LP80 is 24" long. HP100 is too. Hey! So is this HP119! Fat at 8" diameter, but short at 24". Oh, but it is $400, vs $180 for the first AL80 I looked at, and I just checked the shop where I did my OW...basic yoke AL80 is $190 with free...

Ok, a few questions, starting with an ignorant long hose question... Actually first another of my asides so it is clear where I'm coming from. And this will probably sound worse than I intend but I am very conservative about some things (and I don't mean that in any political sense). It took...

Bummer, I probably saw you but didn't know it. I was camped out at the adventure scuba pavilion w/ the red jeep...but I didn't check in here before I left and I had my phone off all weekend so no browsing here (assuming there was even data service).