Buyers Remorse

[Afakasi]

Hi All,

I am currently enrolled in an SSI OW class at the University of MN (no real LDS affiliation), and I made an impulse purchase last night. I was browsing craigslist, and I saw a new (never used, purchased in 2004) set of Scuba equipment:

1 Dacor Fury 2nd stage
1 Dacor Viper Octopus?
1 Dacor Enduro BC
1 Dacor Depth/Temp, Pressure Guage
1 Dacor 1st Stage (don't know the model)

So anyhow, I went over to look at the stuff, and it all looks brand new. Also, the BC fit me perfectly. He wanted $300 for it all, and I offered him $250. He said that he wouldn't do that right now because he had a bunch of calls on the gear already in just one day. He told me to make him that offer again in a week or so, and he would think about it. I ended up just giving him the $300.

After getting home, I checked on here to see if there was any opinions on this gear, and I found out that Dacor is in kind of a suspect ownership transition which made me very nervous. I called the local dive shop to make sure that this stuff was serviceable, and found out that it is and will be for the foreseeable future. No problems there (I guess).

I then started looking at the gear, I noticed that the Fury had a longer yellow air hose on it which I sort of assumed went along with being the octopus (secondary 2nd stage). Is this correct? The viper is a much smaller second stage which also sort of leads me to believe that this is more of an octopus (secondary 2nd stage), but it has a shorter black air hose that seems to indicate that this should be the primary 2nd stage (right?). Now I am starting to think that this guy must have swapped the primary 2nd stage out of this set and replaced it with his octopus from some other set.

My question is: can I use the viper as a primary 2nd stage, and if not, can I just put the fury on the shorter black hose and use it as the primary 2nd stage? and Do you think that I got ripped off?

Sorry for the long post, and thanks in advance for any feedback,
Randy

 

[NudeDiver]

I don't understand your concern....at all.

A normal second stage and an "octopus" second stage are interchangable. You can freely use one as the other, with no ill effects. While it is true that a second stage marketed as an octopus is often a lower quality version of something else - it's still life support equipment. You're not going to die using it as your primary second stage. It MAY not "breath as well", but neither will a low quality "primary" second stage.

As far as the hoses go - a hose is a hose. You can use a short hose or a long hose, or a yellow hose, or a blue hose or a hose that is green with purple polka dots. As long as it doesn't have any holes, cracks or other problems, it will work just fine (on that note, the low pressure inflator (LPI) hose is probably the one to worry about the most, since it tends to get mucked with the most).

As for your theory - it's possible he got just an octopus hose and attached it to the primary reg that came with the set because he wanted a longer hose on the primary. I did this very thing with my reg set. It's also possible the guy just put the stuff together "wrong" and accidentally swapped the hoses.

Anyway - I certainly don't think you were ripped off, assuming it all works (and if it doesn't that's your fault for not testing it before buying. Next time, bring a tank with you and test right then and there for basic functionality). I think you scored actually. I spent WAY WAY WAY more than that on my first set of gear - before my OW class began.

FWIW - my wife just made 10 dives using an OLD Sherwood "Octopus" as her primary reg. She had a good time and no complaints.

My question is: can I use the viper as a primary 2nd stage

Definitely. Of course.

can I just put the fury on the shorter black hose and use it as the primary 2nd stage?

Definitely, of course.

Do you think that I got ripped off?

Definitely not.

Good luck!
ND

 

[Afakasi]

Thanks for the reply, ND!! I guess I didn't know that you could use an "octopus" regulator as a "primary" regulator and I thought that I was going to have to buy another reg right away. I feel much better now.

I know that I probably shouldn't be buying used gear until I know how all of the gear works a little better, but it seemed like a pretty good deal, so I just bought it.

Thanks again!!
Randy

 

[Rainer]

If you don't do any homework, and then buy something using free will, how could you get ripped off? I just don't get it.

 

[NudeDiver]

Thanks for the reply, ND!! I guess I didn't know that you could use an "octopus" regulator as a "primary" regulator and I thought that I was going to have to buy another reg right away. I feel much better now.

Yeah, it's not an issue. Sometimes, the only difference between the "primary" and the "octopus" is the colour of the plastic cover on the front and that's it!! Really!

I know that I probably shouldn't be buying used gear until I know how all of the gear works a little better, but it seemed like a pretty good deal, so I just bought it.

Definitely a good idea to take a knowledgeable buddy with you next time

Good luck with your class.

Cheers!
ND

 

[Afakasi]

If you don't do any homework, and then buy something using free will, how could you get ripped off? I just don't get it.

You're right. Sorry to confuse you by using the wrong terminology. I should have said "Is the buyers remorse that I am experiencing (based on my own lack of research) unfounded?" I'll try to be more clear in the future.

 

[NudeDiver]

Go get 'em Afakasi!

 

[Rainer]

You're right. Sorry to confuse you by using the wrong terminology. I should have said "Is the buyers remorse that I am experiencing (based on my own lack of research) unfounded?" I'll try to be more clear in the future.

Oh that crazy English language. Just a bugger for some, isn't it?

 

[Jupiter31]

Not a "rip off" at all

While you may want to upgrade or purchase different eq in the future - I know of no diver that has been diving for any length of time that has all the same eq they started with (and many of us could stock a small dive shop w/ what we have), what you have is good, servicable stuff.

(Heck, I still have a US Divers 72 aluminum tank I used up until fairly recently; don't use it anymore b/c no one will fill it - purchased in 1978! I don't have the conshelf regulator it came with however!).

Lets face it, you don't have much invested, so if you want to buy different eq in the future, it will not be a problem.

What you will find is the more you dive, the more you see other eq and talk with its owners, you will see stuff you "have" to have.

Just have all the eq checked out prior to use by a competent, qualified tech.

 

[Scubakevdm]

300 bucks is a really good price for all of that stuff, you can rest easy.