Compare Equipment

[Perling]

Does anybody know of a good website, or source to compare equipment. Something like consumer reports - put one reg up against another, or BC etc.

Thanks.

Peter
Live life on the edge, you will truly enjoy the view.

 

[Derek S]

Peter, welcome to Scubaboard! Unfortunately, IMHO, there are no unbiased sources for scuba gear (a la Consumer Reports). Your best bet is to rent different types of gear (or better yet, borrow what your buddies are using for free ) and see what you like.

One thing I found out about diving (that sometimes drives me mad) is that it's mostly personal preference when it comes to gear. You could have regulator XYZ and by all intents and purposes it could be the best performing reg on the market, but you could try it and hate it.

You can check out Dive Training magazine. While I don't believe they do "comparisons" of different gear, they do articles that may help you decide what it is you are looking for. Good luck!

 

[DivingGator]

Does anybody know of a good website, or source to compare equipment. Something like consumer reports - put one reg up against another, or BC etc.

Thanks.

Peter
Live life on the edge, you will truly enjoy the view.

Try www.scubadiving.com go the gear section and they have some articles that will be a good start. Not sure how often it is updated but it should be a start.

 

[mwn]

Try here:

http://www.scubadiving.com/scuba/gear/

See what you think. They seem to put everything through the same tests. They may step on toes if they give your favorite gear a bad rating.

Understand, they do take advertisement money from gear companies, so whether or not they are perfectly "unbiased" is a matter of opinion and conjecture. I guess if they praise someones favorite gear they are unbiased. If they trash it, they are biased. But it makes for interesting reading. ymmv


You can always try a google search. I did and found a lot of stuff.


http://www.cyber-diver.com/gear_buyers_guide.html

 

[mike_s]

Try www.scubadiving.com go the gear section and they have some articles that will be a good start. Not sure how often it is updated but it should be a start.

I think the above link at Suba Diving is about the only comparision out there. BUt I think your best bet is to find someone who ones it and ask them. I don't think the Scuba Diving comparisons are un-biased since they seem to tend to test only the same brands year-after-year which are mostly brands that advertise with them. IF they write a bad review about a paying advertiser, then it could result in a loss of advertising.

That's why the real "consumers reports" magazine doesn't do any advertising.

 

[Druid]

Divernet is the website of the British magazine "Diver". The equipment section contains articles from past issues, and is pretty much unbiased. Obviously it only reviews stuff that's available in the UK, but it's a good start.

 

[triton94949]

I will rate them in terms of price for you:

ScubaPro & Atomic (samie same)
Zeagle & Apeks (samie same)
Poseidon
US Diver / Aqualung
Sherwood
Mares
Oceanic

Shop around and see what they look like, listen to the sales pitch, then talk to people who own them and rent them if you can. Decide what will work for you, and where you need to be on the expense spectrum for the type of diving you want to do, then take your pick.

 

[mwn]

I will add that over the years, scubadiving.com gear reviews have seemed to include that ".....companies were invited to submit gear for review but declined", a somewhat typical disclaimer.

So they may not be testing EVERY brand out there.

 

[Perling]

Thanks very much for the response - glad I stumbled onto this site.
Triton: Is your list one of price from most expensive to least, or a ranking of your opinion. I like scubapro, my wife does not seem too. Unfortunately the equipment comes from different LDS. For some reason, probably price break, we feel the equipment should come from the same store.

 

[Rick Inman]

With a little skill at searching, the best overall web site to find out everything you wanted to know about all kinds of scuba gear is THIS SITE.