Buying my first gear (Help needed!) 12l doubletanks

[Brett Hatch]

@rx7diver

There's deep stuff here, and you're right, much of it can be reached by shore, or a quick boat ride. In Carmel especially, sites in the 200'-300' range can be reached from shore. And people make those dives regularly, there's an active tech community here. One day in the parking lot at Pt Lobos, a group of folks on rebreathers showed me GoPro footage of a 15' great white shark that had buzzed right by their group at 175' that day, and those guys were ecstatic. I have dived the shallower parts of these sites, to 100'-120' or so, and seen a lot of cool stuff.

Don't get me wrong, I'd like to do those deep local dives some day if I can. If I ever do pursue tech training, I think it would be for penetration dives, or maybe for deep sites that are truly worth it (Truk comes to mind, so do the wrecks in the Great Lakes). And at that point, much of the cost would be sunk, and I'd be open to local tech dives. But, for me, plenty of the great local stuff is in the shallower depths anyway, so coughing up 4 figures for training, and then either 5 figures for a CCR or 3 figures per dive on Tx, just doesn't pencil out.

To the OP: put another way, everybody who buys a double setup also ends up with a singles setup. But, the vast majority of divers are happy with a singles setup, and never end up needing doubles, so that is the sensible place to start.

 

[happy-diver]

and remember, buying more and selling off what you don't need can end up with what you want costing nothing

 

[USdiver1]

If properly cared for, dive gear will last a lifetime. I regularly use equipment [steel cylinders, regulators, harnesses / back packs, gauges, even masks fins and snorkels] from the 1950s and 1960s.

Scuba equipment is dependable stuff.

 

[Imla]

What do the people in your community dive with, and where do you see yourself diving?
I know that in the nordics, diving d12s for recreational diving is quite common. Personally I have only used singles rig when diving abroad (warm water tropics) and consider doubles (small D7s or bigger D12s) more comfortable/suited for the diving I have done in Norway/Sweden/Åland (Ie; Nordics/Europe)
Personally, I'd go with a 7 year old Agir wing over any U shaped wing. The regs are also pretty good, and if properly cared for will get you through the diving you would like to do. XTX50s will do well in Finnish waters. Make sure that you have a "go through test guarantee".
Getting a singles rig if you are already this interested in technical diving would not nessessarily be good advice, especially if the local ensemble is also diving doubles.