Feedback needed on first set of gear

[raskous]

Hey y'all

I've been planning on buying my first set of gear for a while now and I think I've finally come up with the list i'm satisfied with.
I'm trying to put together a light set so I can easily travel with it in just a carry on bag (I always fly to my dive sites)

BC
- Cressi Air Travel 2.5Kg

REG
- Cressi Ellipse Black MC9-SC
- Cressi Ellipse Octopus
810g (without hoses)

CONSOLE
- Cressi Mini3 Console
490g

FINS
- Aqualung Hotshot (1.5Kg)
or
- Oceanic Viper (1.6Kg)

TOTAL Weight: around 5.5 Kg



What do you guys think?

- Do you see anywhere I could save more weight while still keeping the same quality?
I'm thinking of changing that console to just a small brass SPG since I already have a dive computer. That should save a few hundreds grams.
I haven't chosen the lightest gear I could find on purpose, I still want to have a minimum of quality, solidity... and those items all had great reviews.

- My choice was partly based on articles and reviews from google search, and some of them were a few years old, anyone know of any item in this list that has already had a new model out? Or any other better item i could replace it with.

- Anyone knows what is the size of the Oceanic Viper fins? I'm concerned they might be too long and be over the max allowed size for carry on baggage. And the oceanic website just has no info...


Thanks for your feedback
Chris

 

[danvolker]

Hey y'all

I've been planning on buying my first set of gear for a while now and I think I've finally come up with the list i'm satisfied with.
I'm trying to put together a light set so I can easily travel with it in just a carry on bag (I always fly to my dive sites)

BC
- Cressi Air Travel 2.5Kg

REG
- Cressi Ellipse Black MC9-SC
- Cressi Ellipse Octopus
810g (without hoses)

CONSOLE
- Cressi Mini3 Console
490g

FINS
- Aqualung Hotshot (1.5Kg)
or
- Oceanic Viper (1.6Kg)

TOTAL Weight: around 5.5 Kg



What do you guys think?

- Do you see anywhere I could save more weight while still keeping the same quality?
I'm thinking of changing that console to just a small brass SPG since I already have a dive computer. That should save a few hundreds grams.
I haven't chosen the lightest gear I could find on purpose, I still want to have a minimum of quality, solidity... and those items all had great reviews.

- My choice was partly based on articles and reviews from google search, and some of them were a few years old, anyone know of any item in this list that has already had a new model out? Or any other better item i could replace it with.

- Anyone knows what is the size of the Oceanic Viper fins? I'm concerned they might be too long and be over the max allowed size for carry on baggage. And the oceanic website just has no info...


Thanks for your feedback
Chris

My advice on this, is that IF you are going to a great Dive destination you have been dreaming about, you should NEVER use anything but your best gear....gear that you have been using for some time, that allows you to be the best diver you can be.

If you were a cyclist, heading to France where the Tour de France is run, and this is a cycling vacation..why in the world would you rent a crappy bike, rather than use the one you are best with, so you can tackle the mountain challenges with the most enthusiasm and get back the most, from the opportunity.

Dive trips are similar. When Sandra and I went to Fiji, it was a trip we had dreamed about for years..It is a place known for some spectaclular life, some currents, and some great advanced diving challenges to go with the spectacular diving.
I brought my freediving fins ( the best I had), my Halcyon backplate and 29 pound lift wing, my favorite wet suit, favorite mask....all gear I use every week, and know what I can expect from when and if conditions become challenging.

I would NEVER consider some crappy light weight "travel" BC, to save a few pounds of weight. You plan this trip for months or years, paying a few extra dollars to ensure you have the ideal gear you are used to should be a "no-brainer".

When the dive boats anchored near the first pinnacle on the Fiji trip, and the current was rushing by the boat, I knew having my freedive fins would make this easy for me, while anyone flailing away with Hotshots would have been hoping for a line to be thrown to them by a dive guide as they returned to the BOAT at dive end.

Freedive fins will fit diagonally into a big suitcase....You don't have to be caught up in using gear bags for the plane. I had my cannister light in a pelican case with cut out foam padding. Sandra and my bp/wings went into the suitcases, as did the yellow Brownies gear bag( takes up little space when tightly packed....

The real issue is in bringing all the camera gear..but if you are a photographer, you would not consider using a point in shoot, instead of your Canon 5D Mark II and Sea & Sea housing

 

[Bubbletrubble]

BP/W rigs generally pack very nicely. In fact, total dry weight of a plastic/Kydex/stiff fabric material backplate + hog harness + tank camband(s) is probably going to be less than the dry weight of the Cressi Air Travel BCD.

Even "small" brass-and-glass SPGs are heavy. If minimizing weight is the primary issue and robustness of the gauge secondary, then it would probably be OK to go with an SPG made of plastic. My plastic Suunto SPGs have lasted over a decade, and they still look practically brand new. Bear in mind that the gauge is protected inside a lightweight plastic housing which adds some bulk but very little weight.

How certain are you of the quality of the Cressi regs?
Do you have a local, competent reg tech who knows how to service Cressi regs and can tune them well?
Those would be my concerns with regard to your reg choices.

Fins are very much personal preference. Frankly, I wouldn't buy a pair of fins without trying them out first. You need to know whether the foot pocket will fit your feet (or booties) well. You need to know if you can do all of your favorite kicks in them.
For travel diving, shorter fins are going to pack nicely in a carry-on but might be less powerful in the water. You need to demo the fins in order to figure out how much of a compromise you might be making.

Hope this helps...

 

[raskous]

Thanks for your answers guys.

A few points:
- I live in Australia, but not on the coast, and over here there aren't many dive shops (or only with limited gear), and worst, the price of dive gear is twice the price in the US, i don't know why but that's how it is, so I can't afford to buy it from a local dive shop anyway, which means I still have to get it from a US online website.

- Thanks for the advice on the SPG, i'll check out plastic ones.

- I've actually never tried a back inflation bcd, i'm going to try one next weekend but I do not know which model it is. That will help me decide if i am to go with the air travel or not. I'm not sure about wing/BP since i've never tried one either, and they're pretty hard to find in rental, at least here, i'm also still a pretty noob diver, so i don't feel confident enough to go wing/bp yet.

- I agree with getting the best gear to a trip, that being said I think you underestimate the quality of the gear i've selected. Take a look at reviews for them, they are not only light, but they are far from crappy, they're actually performing great, even better than some more expensive/heavy ones!
BC Cressi Air Travel - Divernet
Even posts from this forum!

- For the regs, again I chose them based on reviews i've found around (some from over here) and all mentioned the regulator was one of the lightest, but still performed as well as other good regs.
Again I don't have lots of options for local dive shops around here, I did find one that services Cressi gear, so I still have that option, unfortunately he doesn't sell cressi so I can't try it out beforehand...

- As you can see my biggest problem is that I can't really try anything before buying because of the limited options around here, and the price... so I kinda have to research a lot and try my luck...

- I did manage to find the Aqualung hotshot fins in a local shop, i'll try them on soon, but out of water... still better than nothing though. But again same problem, the guy here sells them for $189 when it's usually around $80 anywhere else...


Thanks for your answers guys, if you have more advice please shoot!

 

[Bubbletrubble]

You really should try to join a local dive club. By getting hooked into the local dive community, you'll get opportunities to try other divers' gear. You'll also be able to get advice from experienced local divers on where to get your gear serviced, availability of parts, best dive sites nearby, etc.

 

[Tortuga68]

Freedive fins will fit diagonally into a big suitcase....You don't have to be caught up in using gear bags for the plane. I had my cannister light in a pelican case with cut out foam padding. Sandra and my bp/wings went into the suitcases, as did the yellow Brownies gear bag( takes up little space when tightly packed....

Putting your wife in a suitcase is a bit mean

 

[Bob DBF]

Thanks for your answers guys.

A few points:
- I live in Australia, but not on the coast, and over here there aren't many dive shops (or only with limited gear), and worst, the price of dive gear is twice the price in the US, i don't know why but that's how it is, so I can't afford to buy it from a local dive shop anyway, which means I still have to get it from a US online website.

Better find out why the dive gear costs so much in Oz. It may be because of tarriffs, and they will be charged to you to get the gear through customs, so the savings may not be so much. Not to mention that should you not have the money to get it through customs, you loose it all.




Bob
---------------------------------------------
I may be old, but I’m not dead yet.

 

[Tortuga68]

In my experience, so long as the declared value is <AUD1000, you won't pay any duty

 

[raskous]

Yep it's what I've read as well, so I'm keeping the order < $1000
I've joined a dive community (meetup group) and we're diving a lot, but no one is too experienced and they don't have their own gear... But i can't join a dive shop/club, because as i mentioned, dive clubs around me are pretty small and often don't have much gear or do not even do any activities with members.
The few shops around me I've visited were just trying to sell me their "product of the month" rather than giving me advice on stuff I asked them.
Which is why I posted here.

If anyone has been using one of the gear in the list, it would be great if you had any feedback on it.
Thanks

 

[Tortuga68]

I'm not surpised there aren't may dive shops in Vanberra, probably isn't much marine life in LBG...

When I lived in Australia I imported 10 or 12 shipments of gear over ~3 years of various declared values between ~$100-1100. Only one I got done on was the $1100 shipment. I actually ended up not claiming it (long story, not because of the duty), it got sent back to the US, they repackaged it into 2 shipments and resent it - cost me about $80 extra in shipping, which was less than the duty assessed - and they both arrived directly the second time, with no additional charges

So, I'd say the $1000 rule is true

I don't have any experience with any of the gear you mention, but if you're looking purely at weight then the Apeks Flight regs are lighter, and I would also ditch the console for a small SPG and a watch-like dive computer that you can wear on your wrist on the plane