equipment that is safe.

[xtracheese4me]

My question is .. ive heard over and over.. that the value of your life should reflect your equipment and how much you spend on it..well i dont know.. is there equipment out there that is just junk... Noname equipment put aside. but per say if I bought a Dacor Nautica BCD from L/P for less then 200 bucks .. might it fail me cause its not a high dollar item? I see L/P has a regualtor in their catalog for 49 bucks, now im not saying im off to go buy one but shouldnt that reguator hold up the same as a 400 reg at normal conditions?..i know its so often true that you get what you pay for but at what point is the cheaper stuff dangerous.. if any.. I like gadgets too,,but i think the more simple i dive the better diver ill be.

 

[ibnygator]

I've been diving a Dacor Nautica BCD for eight years. It is the only one I've ever owned and I've never had a problem with it. You'll have to make your own decisions about quality, but I've got to believe that there are basic standards that all of the known brands adhere to.

 

[scubababe]

I don't know if it is same in the US as Australia but I suggest that the reason you are seeing cheap Dacor Nauticas is because Dacor has changed their range and the LDS is either being offered great deals from their supplier to move old stock or they are trying to move their own stock to put in the new Dacor stock. My husband dives with a Dacor Nautica bought 11 months ago. He has had no problems with it. I have seen someone lose an integrated weight pocket on one, which they quickly retrieved, but I believe that they didn't put it in properly.

I do notice that the new Dacor BCD in Australia that replaces the Nautica has quick release buckles on the weight pockets as well as velco.

 

[RICHinNC]

Personally, I think any well established brand name gear is going to be pretty reliable...especially if properly taken care of. Top of the line gear that is neglected will fail sooner.

The point I hope all see is....that diving gear is so overpriced that what you are paying actually reflects the price range it should have been in to start with.

I have always followed the philosophy...buy the best I can afford...which certainly isnt top of the line....and.... believe in redundancy.

 

[MikeFerrara]

I guess we determin what something should cost by what people are willing to spend on it. The more the seller can get the better he likes it. The cheaper the buyer can get it for the better they like it.

Nothing in diving is as overpriced as a car. In fact I can't pay for them as fast as I wear them out. At this rate someday I will be deep in debt and have no vehicle.

In 1985 I bought a new truck for $6,380 and I drovee it 200,000 miles. Today that truck would be what 4 or 5 times the money. How many other products have gone up that much. Now the dealer charges $60/hour for service even if they are unable to fix the car.

In the last 5 years msrp on dive gear has only gone up a few percent. Divers are buying gear now online for way less than we used to get it for and they still complain about the price.

Dive gear is a luxury. How do you decide when it is overpriced. I have the best gear made and it was cheap. Just because it can be had from scalpers cheaper doesn't mean it is overpriced.

 

[Rick Murchison]

Every now and then a product makes it to market that you must wonder "Did anyone ever actually try this thing?" And sometimes it's from a big name, too. A case in point is the "Flip" snorkel from ScubaPro, whose essentially sumpless purge valve made the snorkel so difficult to clear it was useless and dangerous. I am convinced no one ever actually used the thing before it was released for sale. (Replacing the mouthpiece with a purgeless one made the "Flip" a good snorkel.) Scubapro never admitted there was a problem, but would replace the mouthpiece free of charge if you asked 'em, and that snorkel was quietly pulled off the market.
Rick

 

[AzAtty]

...but shouldnt that reguator hold up the same as a 400 reg at normal conditions?

It depends on what "normal" conditions are.

Let's take mountain bikes, for instance. On a nice paved trail at a state or national park, just about any "mountain bike" will move you from point A to point B. But I don't just want to ride on nice paved trails. I ride out in the desert 20 miles from the nearest help and have only the cactuses and rattlesnakes to keep me company. So what do I want? I want a bike equipped with quality components that can take a serious beating and still perform. I want rims that won't "taco" or deform when I slam a rock. I want derailleurs that can get filled with dirt and sand and keep shifting smoothly. I want brakes that can finesse me around narrow switchbacks. I want a suspension system that will absorb the bumps in the trail but won't launch me into the air. Plus, I want a bike that is light, so that when I have to carry it around a cliff I won't have difficulties. These are "normal conditions" for my riding, and having broken bike frames and components under those conditions, I had to rebuild my bike with higher-end, "bomb proof" components.

With diving, you have to consider the same factors. If you only plan to dive on vacation in nice, shallow, warm waters escorted by a DM or Instructor, you probably don't *need* equipment of the same "quality" as someone who's doing more technical dives.

I think the real question is how far you intend to push your equipment. For instance, take the regulator you mentioned and a Scubapro or Apeks high performance reg. At the surface, there will be a difference in the way they breathe, but it won't be the sort of dramatic difference you might expect. However, suck a couple thousand PSI from your tank, take the regulators to depth, and you WILL see the difference.

It's the same consideration for any item. BCD? Well, do you plan on penetration dives where your equipment might be subject to abrasions, snags or punctures? During graduate school and law school, I sold computers to finance my hobbies. Invariably, most customers would say that they only wanted a computer for word processing, balancing their checkbook, and maybe e-mail (which was a new thing they really didn't understand). My response to those customers was "It doesn't matter which computer you buy, then, because all of them will perform those functions." And then I started discussing other possible uses and whether those things were of interest to the customer. Once the customer had determined what s/he REALLY wanted to do, then we were able to find a system that worked for the customer. Of course, the price of the machine increased as its capabilities increased.

There is nothing wrong with having a budget for equipment purchases. Every financially astute person tries to adhere to some kind of budget, even if you have plenty of money to spend. My advice is to decide what kind of diving you plan to do, find out what kind and quality of equipment is necessary for that kind of diving, set your budget, and then buy the best quality you can for the money you have.

 

[WJL]

My dad always told me that if I was going to buy a tool, to buy the best tool I could reasonably afford. His view was that if you make the decision to buy something you plan to use, as opposed to borrowing or renting it, you are best off in the long run to get the best quality you can afford. I have found his rule is almost always right. If you buy a lower quality tool, you usually soon find out why it costs less: it doesn't work as well, or wears out faster than the higher quality version.

So, if you decide to buy scuba equipment, as opposed to borrowing or renting, get the best you can get, within your budget.

This rule doesn't help sort out which scuba equipment is the best and which is the worst. In scuba gear, higher price generally correlates to higher quality, but this is a very loose correlation. In many segments of the scuba equipment industry, there is a strong tendency to faddishness and emphasis on cosmetic features rather than basic utility. As a consequence, some very expensive equipment is junk. Some inexpensive gear is great. You will have to do a lot of research and diving to figure out which is which.

 

[ElectricZombie]

You get what you pay for. If you buy high quality the first time, it might be the only set of gear you ever have to buy depending on how you use and take care of it.

Mid to High range stuff is usually pretty good.

I also suggest that you go ahead and get the absolute best gear you can afford. Actually, if you can't afford it right now, save until you can. Do it right the first time, it's better in the long run.

As for the $49.00 reg, I would steer clear of that one.

Pick gear that is versitile and will not become useless as your diving interests become more broad.

 

[Rice]

personally I think that there is a level you get to that dosn't justify the increased price with value.

buying features that you don't need, withthe possibility of more failure points or a more complicated system that MAY have a higher MTBF is foolhardy. More ad more I see products put out that anernt justified engineering wise but pricepoint wise. ie, a second stage with a titanium trim ring. can you really justify any increase in price for a G/D trim ring?

:bonk:

I guess I'm cheap but it just dosen't make sense to me to pay more for an item if I can't tell the difference in it's operation. Recetley I read an article in DIVER magazine that compared the best reg in their cheapie reg test with the regs in thier ultra pricy test and the testers preferred the cheapie (an Oceanic)

It's kind of silly that some people Including those on this board want to justify their spending exorbitant amounts on gear and pooh pooh the choices made by others.

It's my feeling that almost all dive gear availible at any price will work well in a wide variety of diving situations. (issues of icing notwithstanding)

HTH,
Rice