can I get a good BC,REG,GAUGE/COMPUTER Package for under 1k?

[eurospeed951]

I will be doing most of my diving in florida and the carribien. I would suspect most of my dives to be shallow warm dives, but I have done deaper wreck dives I will most likely do more in the future. From what I can tell I can eather get great gear, minuse the computer, or less then great gear with a computer. Any help for a newbi?

 

[wreckchick]

You might be able to get away with A package for that price, but you'll have to shop around a lot. There are some tempting bargains out there, but I would have to recommend buying your gear a little at a time.

Do LOTS of research for the kind of diving that you're doing now and what you plan to do in the future. Pick out your ideal rig and piece it together over time. You'll definitely save money in the long run. If you put together a so-so rig now, you'll be upgrading before you know it.

After the basics (mask, fins, exposure suit), I'd do BC, regs, computer; in that order. That's just me, I'm sure you'll get other opinions in short order.

Rachel

 

[scubasean]

If you want an online place....

www.leisurepro.com

seems to have some decent deals...Although many of their items do not have the manufacturer warranty, they provide an equivalent warranty themselves.

there are two mares packages that seem nice...Mares #2 is $850US, and Mares #3 is $1099US. (I realize the second one doesn't fit your requirements...[under $1k] but it seems to have some decent gear in the pkg...)

Good luck!

Sean

 

[RICHinNC]

I have come to believe the saying....you get what you pay for...is so true. If you buy used gear you have no recourse usually when it goes bottoms up.

and, you cannot expect "cheap" gear to last as long and perform as well. I would recommend buying your gear over a period of time rather than all at once. At least then you can have better gear.

Please dont forget.....its is a real female dog to find out at 100ft deep you should not have bought brand "X"

 

[ElectricZombie]

I would buy everything a piece at a time until I could really get nice gear that I really wanted. Most people end up buying gear 2 or 3 times until they get what they should have bought in the first place.

It is much cheaper to buy quality gear once vs. buying crappy gear multiple times.

If you choose wisely and do it right the first time, your gear should last quite a while.

You get what you pay for and SCUBA gear is not an area in which you want to go for the cheapest gear you can get.

$1000.00 is not a lot of money for gear. You can get a set of VERY nice gear for around $1500.00 - $2000.00. Actually, you can get it for a bit less if you buy the regs online.

 

[jonnythan]

Transpac + Travel wing: $339
Scubapro MK16/S550: $260
Scubapro R380 Octo: $115
OMS Brass SPG: $75
Aeris Atmos 2: $250

Total: $924

Can't really argue with this stuff, unless you wanna insist on DIR.

No Mares stuff, no packages. High quality BC, high quality regs, high quality SPG, high quality computer.

If you call LP they may even give you a small discount on this personalized "package."

 

[eurospeed951]

so everyone says you get what you pay for. Well, I don't disagree, but what is the difference between good gear and bad gear. I have only used rental gear so just about everything seems to be good gear to me. I am not going to be diving every weekend, maybe 10-15 times a year. Do I realy need to buy the best stuff out there? Is the lower priced stuff going to fail on me?

 

[jonnythan]

eurospeed951 once bubbled...
so everyone says you get what you pay for. Well, I don't disagree, but what is the difference between good gear and bad gear. I have only used rental gear so just about everything seems to be good gear to me. I am not going to be diving every weekend, maybe 10-15 times a year. Do I realy need to buy the best stuff out there? Is the lower priced stuff going to fail on me?

Well, the stuff *I* quoted you is not bad gear. It's really, really good gear. You can substitute just about any nitrox computer in that price range, and the other stuff is some of the best in the industry.

The only people who will argue with the Transpac are the ones who insist you pay $500 for a Halcyon BP/wings setup, and I don't think anyone could argue with the Scubapro regs.

 

[ElectricZombie]

Even with a Halcyon setup the price is still not that bad.

He would still need mask, fins and a wetsuit though.

 

[jonnythan]

ElectricZombie once bubbled...
Even with a Halcyon setup the price is still not that bad.

He would still need mask, fins and a wetsuit though.

He's apparently certified, so I'm sure he has personal gear.

I dunno if he has exposure protection, but if he's diving in the tropics.. he can buy a good 3 or 5 mm jumpsuit from LP for $150 or less, too.