Advice on First Regular Purchase (new diver)

[doctorwhodiver]

Hello to all the divers out there!

I have just completed all of my in-class/in-pool instruction and I am going to go on my first OW dive in a few weeks. My first dive corresponds with my 20th birthday and thus my parents would like to buy me at least one piece of diving equipment to use on my dive. I plan to be an active diver and I already own fins/booties/mask/snorkel so I thought the next best thing to ask for, for my birthday would be a regulator. So I am here to ask for some advice on what the best-cheapest regulator option is for new divers.

I was going to ask my Dive Instructor but since my parents will be purchasing the reg. online I felt bad asking because we would not be supporting his local dive shop.

Would it be best to buy a regulator and an octo together (to make it easier when renting equipment or for another reason I am not thinking of)? Would you suggest I buy another piece of equipment first as a new diver?

Please include links to websites if you have them!

Thank you so much for your help and happy diving!

 

[Scared Silly]

Welcome to da board. My suggestion is to visit some of your local shops and see what they sell. Most of the major brands are good regs. Sherwood was my first reg set and is a hardworking recreational reg that is easy to maintain. Currently I dive Atomic which while more are higher performing. There are also Apeks/AquaLung. Others like Hog regs which are a newer line. About the only line I would pass on is ScubaPro while good their warranty service has jerked people around a bit more than is necessary.


You might also find that a local shop will match on-line prices. Even if they come close (within 10%) I would buy it from them because there is nothing better than walking into your local shop with an issue and having them say "no-charge". That makes everyone happy.

 

[oly5050user]

Hello to all the divers out there!

I have just completed all of my in-class/in-pool instruction and I am going to go on my first OW dive in a few weeks. My first dive corresponds with my 20th birthday and thus my parents would like to buy me at least one piece of diving equipment to use on my dive. I plan to be an active diver and I already own fins/booties/mask/snorkel so I thought the next best thing to ask for, for my birthday would be a regulator. So I am here to ask for some advice on what the best-cheapest regulator option is for new divers.

I was going to ask my Dive Instructor but since my parents will be purchasing the reg. online I felt bad asking because we would not be supporting his local dive shop.

Would it be best to buy a regulator and an octo together (to make it easier when renting equipment or for another reason I am not thinking of)? Would you suggest I buy another piece of equipment first as a new diver?

Please include links to websites if you have them!

Thank you so much for your help and happy diving!

Get your parents to give you a gift certificate at the lds you take the classes at..As to what to get, I would rather that you get a wet suit than a regulator..Patronize your LDS and it will reap for you better service, added benefits. Its human nature to reward those who support you and to not give out anything "extra" to those who do not..Here in NY a student purchases their gear from us and they have unlimited use of our pool whenever they want at NO CHARGE..Need a piece of gear because yours is in for service? Rental loaned out at NO CHARGE! Need quick turn around on serviced gear? Done,at no "rush fee ! Want advise on gear or talk on local dive areas? Done, do not expect it if you purchase elsewhere..The value of all this is worth much more than what you may save if going online.

 

[bbarnett51]

I'm going to throw out the Edge Epic. It performs as well as most high end regs. It comes with miflex hoses and a swivel. Extremely nice.

Of course most regs today are pretty good. That's just my personal preference.

 

[diversteve]

I'm going to throw out that the Edge Epic doesn't have the dealer network that other more established brands do.

If there's one in your area fine but that might require sending it off for service to one of the excellent dealers they have. Which is OK except on the Friday before your dive trip at 4PM when you discover a problem that a local dealer can fix in five minutes. If they had the part...

The one thing that I'd also suggest is you buy a regulator that can be serviced at your LDS. And give them a chance to price-match - we have one shop here that does. Another talked about the "crappy Grey Market gear" sold on the Internet to justify their higher prices. Just about every mfr. sells online now - either direct or thru online retailers. Guess which shop closed it's doors two years ago?

You also have to consider that your dealer may not see it that way. Sure they'd like your business but longer term I'll bet they're going to sell you something again. You already paid them for classes and probably basic gear. And future fills, repairs, possibly trips - LDS's often make good money on trips - etc. And you'll recommend your friends when they want to get certified. Smart dealers realize all this. Stupid ones are like example #2 in the previous paragraph.

Scubatoys.com is a highly reputable online source. Everything they sell has a full mfr's. warranty. So your local dealer has to honor it if they are also a dealer for that brand.

It would in your best interest to call Scubatoys for their best price also - sometimes that's not what they have to advertise. Or they may offer an even better alternative for you. They also have a $50+parts regulator service program if you buy something not supported locally. If you are attracted to the Edge for it's price ($299) - they're a dealer also. They also sell several ScubaPro models for under $400 - IDK enough about the line to recommend either. An Atomic Z2 is also $400 list.

My suggestion would be to buy something made by Aqualung/Apeks, ScubaPro, Atomic, Aeris/Oceanic or Zeagle. (I own gear from all of them..) You may find better pricing on the last two. Subgear is also an option. they're the lower-end subsidiary of ScubaPro. Someone posted a thread here comparing several models from each company - the consensus was that several 1st stages seemed almost identical with proven ScubaPro models. Most based on older technology but that's not a bad thing - some of the older SP regs are still among the best performers.

LeisurePro.com is another competing option - almost all of their gear is warranteed by the manufacturer - brands that aren't carry their equivalent warranty. More of a pain for service though for a reg. I'm almost positive they're both an Aeris/Oceanic/Hollis (same company) dealer - Zeagle also.

Although you'll likely find that several of the major online retailers, Scubatoys, Leisurepro, Scuba.com, Divers Direct, Dive Right In Scuba, are all within a few dollars on anything they sell. I buy a lot from Scubatoys and a lot of soft gear from LeisurePro.

IDK what your price range is but an Atomic Z2 is $409. It's one of the best breathing regulators on the market. They also sell a $1600 T2 - the only difference in the breathing performance is the materials used - a Z2 is chrome/brass - a T2 is solid Titanium. And has a swivel. 99% of all regulators ever made were chrome/brass. You also save a little money since Atomic has a 2-year service interval on all their models. You can also send it to the factory for service - they're in Huntington Beach, CA.

 

[buddhasummer]

I'm going to add the Aqualung Titan, cheapish, good breather, reliable and AL has a good service network.

 

[ams511]

Get your parents to give you a gift certificate at the lds you take the classes at.

This is BAD advice. Once the LDS has your parents' money there is no incentive to deal on price.

---------- Post added May 5th, 2013 at 09:20 PM ----------

Patronize your LDS and it will reap for you better service, added benefits.

There is no way you can know this. The OP, as a newbie, does not have the experience to evaluate dive shops.

---------- Post added May 5th, 2013 at 09:28 PM ----------

Here in NY a student purchases their gear from us and they have unlimited use of our pool whenever they want at NO CHARGE..Need a piece of gear because yours is in for service? Rental loaned out at NO CHARGE! Need quick turn around on serviced gear? Done,at no "rush fee ! Want advise on gear or talk on local dive areas? Done, do not expect it if you purchase elsewhere..The value of all this is worth much more than what you may save if going online.

These are good policies, if every dive shop had them there would be no such thing as an internet dive shop. However, most LDSs do not have such policies. Many do not even have their own pools. It is unfortunate, but many dive shops believe in the motto that there is a sucker born every minute.

---------- Post added May 5th, 2013 at 09:29 PM ----------

I'm going to add the Aqualung Titan, cheapish, good breather, reliable and AL has a good service network.

Good advice.

---------- Post added May 5th, 2013 at 09:47 PM ----------

I'm going to throw out that the Edge Epic doesn't have the dealer network that other more established brands do.

So what? You can make up as many "what ifs" as you like, but the truth is it does not matter. I have lived in two state in my life, Florida and Pennsylvania. In Florida there are many dive shops and you can buy anything and get it serviced. In PA, not so much. My first regulator was a Aqualung Conshelf 21. Aqualung has one of the largest dealer networks in the world, BUT no dealers within 150 miles from where I lived. So it needed to be sent out for service, no big deal.

 

[halocline]

I agree that a regulator is probably not your best first purchase for dive gear. Get a wetsuit that fits well and is the right thickness for the water temps you'll be diving in. This will make the biggest difference in your diving comfort. Next might be a BC, although that purchase is a bit more complicated because there are different types of BCs, and they really do make a difference in dive comfort, AND it's impossible to evaluate them without using them in the water and you need a certain amount of buoyancy control to really perceive the difference in BC type. Best scenario is to try a backplate/wing set up and a soft back inflate BC before buying anything. Another option is to buy a used jacket BC that fits reasonably well, don't spend much money on it, and use it until you get some experience. You can almost always find a decent, simple jacket BC used for $100 or less.

After that, depending on where you're diving, a simple wrist computer would be a good purchase. Computers help quite a bit with multi-level profiles, but really only on multi-dive days. There is another advantage to computers for new divers; they all have audible ascent rate alarms which can be annoying to nearby divers, but can help to train you to ascend slowly.

It's funny, on every one of these threads where a new diver asks for cheap reliable regulators, someone ALWAYS recommends atomic regs, which are among the most expensive and high performance regs out there. EXACTLY the opposite of what was asked for.

As far as regulator brands, honestly they're all fine....they all work well, they all will do the job of delivering air from the tank. The cheapest way to go is to buy a used entry level regulator like the scubapro MK2, aqualung titan, sherwood brut, for no more than $100. It's very likely that you would never need a better regulator. The other thing is that regulators have not improved much for decades; the very best performing 2nd stage I've ever used (and I've used quite a few) is well over 20 years old. They're designed to be completely rebuildable, and except for regs that have been abused, can always be rebuilt to like-new performance. Scubapro, aqualung, and sherwood have supported their regs with parts for decades.

As far as supporting your LDS, my suggestion is just to buy wherever you want. If you like the shop and can get a good deal, it's worth it to buy there, especially if you're diving locally and would like to be part of the dive community that your shop no doubt has cultivated. But don't feel obligated to patronize a shop just because you trained there.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

If you are really on a budget I am going to not recommend the Epic and instead recommend the Edge EXP. Performs just as well as the Epic IMO. It does however only have 4 LP ports and one HP port. But the way I set my GF's up still allows her to use it with a dry suit. The hose routing is similar to the Sherwood's. It now comes in a sealed cold version.

Price on the Epic MAP is 324.99 for the cold version.
EXP cold MAP is 245.00, couple that with an octo for 95 and a compact 2 gauge console for 160.00 or so and you have a complete reg set that will handle any recreational dive for 500.00 or just under.

Now it does not have the swivel on the second stage like the Epic does but I have never cared for a swivel anyway.

As for service the recommended rebuild on it like all Edge regs is two years with a recommended annual inspection. And with sending it for service? Not an issue. I turn them around in a few days from the time I get it in hand. Where service issues become a problem most often is when divers wait until the last minute and want it now. Several of the LDS's in my area at this time of year have two to three week waits due to this. I try to get people to send their regs in for service in December, January, February, and early March. Do this an I can normally get it done and back in the mail to you in three days or so.

If I know it's coming often times less than that depending on what I have on my plate.

 

[chrpai]

DWD- Where do you live? What kind of diving ( temp ) do you plan on doing? Assuming you need a wetsuit(s), that's going to be my advice also.