Is there such a thing as too much redundancy when it comes to gear?
Yes. Absolutely. Less is more.
You can be so cluttered that it will degrade your performance underwater, especially in an emergency. More gear also equals more task loading. It also increases water resistance. It can also screw with your buoyancy.
If you don't
need it, don't carry it.
As a new diver i want to be as safe and ready for any possible emergency that could arise, but can we be over thinking it a bit?
Absolutely. There is a 'trend' amongst novice divers to slowly transfer the contents of their local dive store onto their D-rings and into their pockets.
If you want to 'overthink', then direct that thinking logically. What can go wrong, and how can it be dealt with.
It's a form of risk assessment. Balance the pros and
cons to the kit you consider carrying.
i see newer divers hit the water with 3 dive lights,two safety sausages,spare air etc,etc, for a 50ft dive.
Yep...and they carry that stuff up until they get sufficient experience to realize that they don't need it. Then it goes onto Ebay...or gets stuck in a crate under their stairs.
Do you need a light on a daytime open water dive? Maybe 1... if you want to see color or look into nookie holes.
Do you need redundancy of those lights? No. The
consequence of light failure would not endanger you, or cause you to abort the dive.
Do you need a safety sausage? Yes... if you are in an area of boat traffic, or high current, then it is a valuable signalling aid.
Do you need redundancy of a safety sausage? No... because the chance of losing your first one is absolutely minimal. Besides, your buddy should have one also. There is virtually no chance that both you and your buddy would simultaneously lose your primary sausages.
Do you need a spare air on a 50ft dive? No... your buddy has air to share with you. If you lose your buddy, then you get shallow/ascend... and check your pressure gauge. If you go OOA and lose your buddy, then you can CESA.
Basically.... you can see that the 'risk assessment' shows that
a continual string of mutiple related failures has to happen for you to need that redundancy. It'd be ludicrous to plan your contingencies to that degree of failure.
As a rule of thumb...plan for a single failure. At most... plan for 2 related failures.
Or are these just examples of overzealous sales people at the lds?
Of course. Just about every pointless gimmick is marketed as a 'safety device'.
If you've got money to spend.... do more training....do more diving. That'll increase your safety a thousand times more than gadget collecting.
$400 to waste on a Spare Air? Doh! Do a GUE Fundies course instead....
$80 to waste on secondary safety sausage? Doh! Use the money to pay for a couple of dives, where you can practice and perfect using your first safety sausage.
$250 to waste on a pair of back-up torches? Doh! Book yourself on a Rescue Diver course.
in the Marines we were taught to have backups for essentials but not backups for the backups, we gotta carry that stuff, ya know!
Exactly. A bit of logic and consideration into how many things need to go wrong before you need your back-up back-up...and it quickly seems pointless.
The so-called 'Christmas Tree Diver' mirrors the green rookie marine - carrying way too much gear and performing badly as a result.
