Best SCUBA Gear - Price not a Factor!

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Can I play too? With scuba gear price and quality don't always go hand in hand. If you like subsidizing full page adds in magazines then by all means go with a big name company.

Regs, HOG, good quality, actually the same product as some higher priced regs. The company dosen't play "games" with there repair parts so I can service my own regs.

BC, A BP/W set up. The plate and hardware will last virtually forever. You may have to replace the webbing every ten years or so for under twenty dollars. The wing should outlast any traditional BC out there. Can be used from open water through deep wreck or cave diving.

Computer, Hollis DG02, stupid simple to use and has gauge mode, no bells or whistles just simple reliability. Can take you through all levels of diving.

SPG, HOG, again same product out of the same factory in Italy as probably 90% of brass and glass gauges just not paying for some high priced exec's yearly bonus.

Mask, Scuba max MK153. Same Mask as the Scuba Pro frameless at a fraction of the price.

Fins, what ever blade type of design with a foot pocket that fit's your foot. I have a very high instep so my perfect fin would be a SP Seawing Nova foot pocket combined with a SP jet fin blade. I tried a pair of Sea wings when they first came out and I could hear angles sing while donning and doffing the fin. I just did not like any other part of it.

Snorkel, any standard J-tube snorkel you can find.

I haven't found a best drysuit yet but something in the $1500 dollar range and self donning should do anything the more expensive suits do.

Compass, Sunnto SK7 with DSS boot.

Dive knife, A cut off steak knife purchased at Wall Mart for $5 for a pack of five in a simple webbing sheath.

Line cutter, Trilobite hands down is the best out there.

Dive lights, The 1000K lumen lights from DRIS. These things are brighter than many can lights sold just a few years ago at a fraction of the cost.

As you can see I beg to differ with most of Beavers views. The Beave loves the MK25 but I would bet the MK2+ "or what ever they call it now" would be more than sufficient for most of the divers out there. Simple time tested design that you can source rebuild parts for in the open market and still flows more gas than the valve it's connected to. Ice diving? Pack the ambient chamber with silicone and probably still have a more robust reg than the MK25.

These are just the opinions of a working class stiff that is struggling to support a family so please take my advice with a grain of salt. The way I see it is if a product does nothing to improve your diving or make diving safer it is just money tossed into the trash. If you have money to burn then by all means go for the bling, but it is not needed.
 
Id use beavers stuff in the pool if he supplied it to me for teaching.
Money wasnt an object recently due to an inheritance, it was blown on light monkey, halcyon, dive rite, liquivision, cressi, bare, xs scuba, dss.....
 
Primary regs: I'd probably spring for the apeks tec3 for my twins with an xtx 50 primary and xtx 40 back-up. saying that, I'm quite happy with my ds4 and atx 40
stage regs: ds4 and atx40
BP/W: Halcyon 40lb evolve
Fins: I'm happy with my turtles, so I would stick with those. I quite like them
Canister torch: Light Monkey 21w LED w/ dual battery e/o cord
back-ups: 2x aquatec 5w. I like the, so I'll keep them
DSMB: 2x Halcyon 4.5 ft drysuit inflate with 2x 45m delrin spools
Twinset: 12 litre euros as opposed to fabers. most likely agir bands and i'm quite happy with the DIRzone manifold I have, so that as well
Stage: 1x 7 litre ali and 1x ali 80
Drysuit and undersuit: Santi elite with flex soles, santi bz 400 gram full undersuit, and a 200 gram heated vest (hence the dual battery) for those really cold dives.
Mask: 2x aqualung micromask or oceanic mini shadow
Dive rite wetnotes are fine, so i'll keep them
my weightbelt that cost me £1 is amazing so no need to trade that in.
And if money is no object, maybe a dedicated single set-up w/ halcyon 30lb eclipse wing, a 12L faber, apeks ds-4 with atx 40/50 second stages
Oh and a liquivision xen bottom timer
 
Id use beavers stuff in the pool if he supplied it to me for teaching.
Money wasnt an object recently due to an inheritance, it was blown on light monkey, halcyon, dive rite, liquivision, cressi, bare, xs scuba, dss.....

Except for Cressi that's pretty much my list of preferred manufacturers as well. I own some ScubaPro regs ... MK10, MK16 and MK25 ... but they don't perform any better than my Apeks DS4, DST or ATX100 regs, or my Hog D1's.

If cost was no object I'd keep the same gear I'm already using ... well, I might add another sidemount rig better suited for warm water ... and I'd be spending the money on dive trips ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)
 
Regulator: USD Phoenix RAM-HPR or SP 109/MkV or (soon) Argonaut Kraken
Pony Regulator: Conshelf XIV
B.C./BP/Wing: Oxy 18/30 on VDH mini-plate or Freedom Plate
Dive Computer(s): Aeris for recreational, V-planner for tech
Mask: Atomic Frameless/SP Frameless/Mares X-Vision
Snorkel: Atomic SV1(or none)
Fins: Mares Avanti Quattro/SP Jet/Aeris Accel
Wetsuit: whatever fits, now it is a Scubapro 3/2, Bare 5/3 and a couple of custom suits

N
 
Main Regulator - for recreational no long hose - Edge Epic, local and tech level dives - HOG D-1, Mainly because even if I did not sell them I don't have to go to a shop to get service
Stage/Pony Reg - HOG D-2 with Classic second
Computer - Shearwater Predator or Petrel. Personally I like the Predator just a bit more. But maybe I'll add a Petrel and change my mind
BC - BPW or Sidemount Rig. Right now diving HOG and DSS plates with HOG wings and custom harnesses I made myself with hardware from Manta/Highseas Millworks - no reason to do any different just because I may have more money than sense.
Mask - current is a Seaview with my bifocal scripts. Brand is meaningless. Fit is what counts
Fins - Hollis F-1's, HOG Tech 2, Dive Rite EXP's, or original US Divers Blades. I want a simple paddle fin with no goofy hinges or line traps
Wetsuit- Hands down Wetwear full custom. And a Wetwear Suit is not a billboard for them. I will never buy another off the rack suit. Especially since no mfg has the brains or sense to put pockets on the thighs as standard
Drysuit - HOG or USIA - again custom size
Then I'll take all the extra money and go dive, give some of it to worthy charities, and buy my GF and my cats something nice. Wasting money on overpriced gear just because I was able to would be dumb.
 
Casey,

Mine's not too far off of yours, the only thing is I'd skip the titanium.

Regulator: ScubaPro MK25/G260
Pony Regulator: ScubaPro MK25/G260
/BP/Wing: ScubaPro X-Tek Pure Tek System
Dive Computer(s): ScubaPro Galileo Sol/ScubaPro Meridian
Mask: Scubapro Frameless
Snorkel: Scubapro Nexus
Fins: ScubaPro Seawing Nova Gorilla
Wetsuit: ScubaPro EverFlex
Drysuit: ScubaPro EverTec

Wow, I guess I'm more of a ScubaPro fanboy than I thought!

This is pretty much my current setup with a BP/W setup instead of my ScubaPro SeaHawk and replacing my pony MK2/R295 with a MK25/G260 and adding a Meridian as a backup computer.
 
I came here with a genuine interest to see what people thought was the best out there, but since this is a shameful advert I won't be stopping by any more.
That behavior is not doing Scubapro nor yourself any favors...
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

Back
Top Bottom