Buying full setup / Thoughts?

[Luke99]

Hey There,

Been lurking a bunch, learning what I can. I'm a fairly new diver looking to take the plunge and buy a full setup rather then using different rental gear all the time, which is getting a bit annoying when it comes to by buoyancy/trim and gear familiarity growth. Wanted to get your thoughts of the planned setup below, I know of course some things will be personal preference.

I will primarily be diving in the great lakes region, so cold fresh water, but I do dive in the warmer Caribbean waters about once or twice a year as well. I have some plans to dive in places like Egypt/Indonesian as well in the future. After many more dives and time in my own gear setup I might also entertain going down the tec path. (current certs: AOW, Nitrox, Drysuit, Wreck and Deep. about 50 dives, half fresh cold water, half Caribbean warm water. 20 dives in the drysuit (rental, I got the rental for free))

Potential Setup:
Regulator: Atomic M1 (long hose config)
Octo: M1 Octo (on a necklace)
Likely will do air integration when I switch computers to a perdix (currently have a peregrine)

BP&W: Hollis ST System (With steel plate), likely will do the integrated weight pockets for simplicity as well, not a huge fan of weight belts but I'd be open to trying them more

Dry Suit: DUI Cortez (the FLX extreme seems like an overall better buy, but looking to keep the dry suit cost a bit lower then that). I have explorered a few others options like seaskin,bare and hollis but the DUI seems like a good balance of quality and affordability. Probably will do a dry glove system, but that might be a future purchase.

Already own mask and jet fins

Since I have been diving deep and cold quite a bit this summer in Tobermory Ontario, and likely will continue to do so, I'm also highly considering a slung 40 pony as well for redundancy incase of a failure at depth for piece of mind, but also because I potentially will need one for a deco bottle in the future anyway, so might as well get some practice in diving with an additional bottle). Before anyone comments about that not being needed if following a plan and proper buddy procedures , etc, i get that. For me it would be a conservative approach to mitigate risk, especially as I build experience and also to practice with a slung bottle.

You all are a wealth of information and experience so would love to hear your thoughts.

 

[lexvil]

Nothing wrong with your choices, other than tossing $ away. There are better priced options .

Zeagle F8 costs less than the M1 and easier to service but the M1 is a great regulator.

many many great options for a BP/W like DGXor Subgravity.

Seaskin is to great of a deal to even consider a cheap DUI.

you’ll need a reg for the pony, DGX again or used.

 

[tbone1004]

Atomic M1 is a great reg but insanely expensive and I don't have any love for unsealed pistons. I know there is a seal kit but that is literally just pissing money away to get it sealed. Get a sealed diaphragm regulator and you'll be set up for everything. Deep6 Signature gets my money these days, but depends on what you are willing to do for local service options or if you're OK doing DIY or sending back to Georgia.

I don't love Hollis wings, QC is not great and customer service is quite bad. This package from @DiveGearExpress will save you a ton of money and IMO is actually a higher quality product.

DGX Custom - DGX Gears Singles Harness / Backplate / Wing Package

A basic DGX backplate/wing/harness package for single tank diving at a value price.

www.divegearexpress.com

Do some digging on here with drysuits, DUI has gone down the toilet in the last few years quality wise and are still charging top dollar. No way could I recommend their suits in good conscience right now. If you're staying with local diving and not going to fly with your drysuit then the OThree suits are absolutely epic and the service from England is terrific for getting them custom cut. It's roughly half the price of that DUI suit and at least 3x as nice.

 

[Luke99]

Atomic M1 is a great reg but insanely expensive and I don't have any love for unsealed pistons. I know there is a seal kit but that is literally just pissing money away to get it sealed. Get a sealed diaphragm regulator and you'll be set up for everything. Deep6 Signature gets my money these days, but depends on what you are willing to do for local service options or if you're OK doing DIY or sending back to Georgia.

I don't love Hollis wings, QC is not great and customer service is quite bad. This package from @DiveGearExpress will save you a ton of money and IMO is actually a higher quality product.

DGX Custom - DGX Gears Singles Harness / Backplate / Wing Package

A basic DGX backplate/wing/harness package for single tank diving at a value price.

www.divegearexpress.com

Do some digging on here with drysuits, DUI has gone down the toilet in the last few years quality wise and are still charging top dollar. No way could I recommend their suits in good conscience right now. If you're staying with local diving and not going to fly with your drysuit then the OThree suits are absolutely epic and the service from England is terrific for getting them custom cut. It's roughly half the price of that DUI suit and at least 3x as nice.

Thank you for your reply

Sorry, maybe I am mis-understanding but isn't the M1 a sealed reg? I wouldn't say I have a ton of local service options, Atomic would be fairly easy for me locally, i don't think deep 6 would be.

Thats good information to have about DUI, perhaps some of the things I have been reading have been out of date or with old information. I had heard they were great quality, if that is the case then perhaps I will look at other options again. I may fly with the drysuit to newfoundland/ BC in the future, why wouldn't you recommend Othree suits for flying?

Maybe this is the buy once mentality in me, but that cheap of a back plate and wing package raises an eyebrow for me, of course hollis is inflated a bit because of brands name. I will check it out and do my research though, and other back plate/wing you would recommend so i have some comparisons? Some of the xdeeps were on my radar as well.

Really appreciate your feedback

 

[Luke99]

Nothing wrong with your choices, other than tossing $ away. There are better priced options .

Zeagle F8 costs less than the M1 and easier to service but the M1 is a great regulator.

many many great options for a BP/W like DGXor Subgravity.

Seaskin is to great of a deal to even consider a cheap DUI.

you’ll need a reg for the pony, DGX again or used.

Hmm here I thought i was making reasonable choices haha. Maybe I should reconsider. The reg choice for me was about spending the money with the most important piece of equipment IMO. The zeagle is actually a regulator that wasnt on my rider, just did some googling, its about 830 locally for me vs m1 999. At that price difference you'd recommend the Zeagle? (if we dont consider the cost difference, would you still recomend the zeagle?)

You would put the seaskin dry suits up agains that DUI and say the seaskin is better quality? (of course it is probably better bang for buck)

that's 2 recommendations for DGX as well, i will look into them for sure. (at first glance i like the hollis entire package a bit better, but that isn't to say functionally it would be and it is definitely a lot cheaper). The sub gravity paragon single looks pretty interesting as well, about 200 cheaper for me locally.

Thanks for your feedback

 

[rhwestfall]

The deep6 dry suit is a really good suit!

 

[rhwestfall]

Deleted - was thinking Hollid regs..

 

[lexvil]

Hmm here I thought i was making reasonable choices haha. Maybe I should reconsider. The reg choice for me was about spending the money with the most important piece of equipment IMO. I will check out the zeagle F8, im not familiar with that one nor its performance in very cold water.

You would put the seaskin dry suits up agains that DUI and say the seaskin is better quality? (of course it is probably better bang for buck)

that's 2 recommendations for DGX as well, i will look into them for sure. (at first glance i like the hollis entire package a bit better, but that isn't to say functionally it would be and it is definitely a lot cheaper)

Thanks for your feedback

The M1 is a sealed first but the F8 is a sealed diaphragm of which there are many to choose from.

I would rate Seaskin quality as as good or better than most and thousands cheaper .

the DGX bp/w is probably better quality than the Hollis but at least as good, it’s not that it’s to cheap but the others are to expensive.

 

[Luke99]

The M1 is a sealed first but the F8 is a sealed diaphragm of which there are many to choose from.

I would rate Seaskin quality as as good or better than most and thousands cheaper .

the DGX bp/w is probably better quality than the Hollis but at least as good, it’s not that it’s to cheap but the others are to expensive.

Looks like I will need to do some more research about piston vs diaphragm, this isnt something i had considered. From what I can see, zeagle would probably be similar if not the same noticeable performance but for cheaper.

This is really great feed back about the hollis from you guys as well, I will definitely reconsider this. I am not in this to buy the most expensive toys. I'm looking to buy reasonable gear for my dive choices with the focus being reliability and safety.

 

[Luke99]

I wouldn't recommend Hollis. Seen too many folks unhappy with their purchase...

How do you feel about the Xdeep Zen? This seems to be a popular system im seeing on boats.