equipping for ow certification

[JDelage]

I am planning a dive trip to Roatan with my 17 yr old kid, where he'll get certified. He will do the online portion here and the pool & practice dives there, at Athony's Key.

I'm in the process of getting him geared up. I'm mostly going to get quality gear from Dive Gear Express, who have always provided me with excellent service & products.

One question I have is should I get him back plate + wings, or a regular BCD? I use a backplate, but I do find the BCD a bit easier / more intuitive (e.g., no need for a belt). What do you guys think?

Anything else about getting gear for a new diver?

 

[Anbaric Cog]

My .02 cents. Get a backplate and wing. It will help his trim and be a good starting point

Just get him a good mask too. Nothing worse than trying to learn with fog and leaks

Make sure you clean the mask first

Good luck and happy family diving!

 

[rjack321]

BP/W all the way.
Make sure the mask fits leak free
A good blade fin with spring straps

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I'm skewed, and scubaboard in general is skewed towards Back Plate and Wing so that's what you're mostly going to hear around here.
Why?
Because we've tried everything and people who finally land on BP/W never go back.
Fully adjustable to fit almost anyone.
Move D-rings around where ever you want, and however many you want.
Simple and streamlined.
Nothing can really break it go wrong except for the wing but most or all single tank wings these days are higher quality than the single walled designs of jackets.
If one component reaches the end of its life you just replace that one component, not the whole unit.
Resale is better.
They pack better.
They can add ballast to your back over your lungs where you want it.
They trim out better than jackets with less effort.
They are more stable.
Less failure points than a jacket.
They have two cam bands for added tank security and stability.

 

[fred32176]

If you can rent the kind of equipment you think he will like, rent while training. Let him form an opinion on what he liked and did not like, then let him pick equipment after that. Where I took OW, the rental BCD was a scubapro hydros pro and I realized there were two things I did not like about the hydros pro and got a BCD with the features I wanted and not having features I did not like. I have been so happy with my BCD that I have only have owned one BCD.

 

[FishWatcher747]

I wish I had practiced mask clearing and remove, replace mask and clear prior to OW. You can do this without being on scuba. If interested get your 17 yo in about 3 1/2 feet of water at a pool or shore location. Put a weight belt on him with about 13 pounds of weight on it.

Sit down. Flood mask. Clear. Stand up. Advance to sit down, remove mask, replace, clear, stand up. Do this until he is totally bomber at this skill. The other parts of OW are like kindergarten compared to this.

Edit: And oh yeah go with BPW. Or do what I did buy and use a jacket for 6 mos and then get a BPW. The jacket is still in my closet.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I might start a controversy but I don't care, I'm just going to say it.
For his reg set, get the two second stages, one is on a 22" hose and goes under the chin on a bungee, the primary is a 40" hose and goes under the right arm and has a 70 or 90 degree swivel on it. In the event of an OOA diver, he will pass the 40" octo length primary to the donatee and switch to his bungeed second stage under his chin.
DGX has set all pre set up with this configuration.
They also have good reg sets at good prices. I'm a piston fan but I don't expect anybody else to be, but I have my reasons. Which ever style you choose they have both as house brands.
Fins I recommend Scubapro Go Sport, the best fin ever, or the new Gorilla version.
Mask, I just picked up an XS scuba "Crew" mask, wow! What a great mask! Prior to this I used an Oceanic Shadow which is still perfect but I just felt like buying something at the dive shop, so I got it. The Shadow is now my back up.
Computer IDK, someone else will have comment on that. I don't really use one right now.

 

[Boarderguy]

Mask - Take him to a shop to try on masks with a reg or snorkel in his mouth. Get the one that doesn't lose its seal.

BP/W 100% - you can get pockets that go on the waist belt to hold any soft or hard lead he'll need.

Fins - Mares Quattro+ are my favorite. SP Go Sport have a pretty big following as well. I'm not a fan of blade or jet style fins, but that's just my take.

Buy local if the prices are good. DGX is hard to beat though. I often get my stuff from them.

 

[happy-diver]

Let him form an opinion on what he liked and did not like, then let him pick equipment after that.

Mate, only let them make decisions after they've moved out, or somehow become older than you


Has anyone ever found that these masks that don't leak in the shop save the leaking for the water

I used Halcyon horizontal weight pockets on the belt that are also attached to the backplate, once
Threading the buckle of a waist belt with weights on it is something I was never going to do again