Gear choices/critique and comment please!

[TSandM]

I really can't comment on the computer.

But I would recommend getting one of the Halcyon 3' SMBs. I really like them -- we've had about six different brands of bags, and the Halcyons are my favorite. They have an OPV, so you don't have to worry about overinflating them. You can inflate them orally, or from an LP hose. I dive cold water, and I find other bags difficult to inflate with cold lips, but the Halcyon bag has a flange on the metal inflator valve that makes it much easier to get a seal. They're expensive, and they're worth it. I don't recommend a lot of Halcyon stuff because of the price points, but the bags rock.

Get a nice Delrin finger spool to attach to it, and you're set.

Lights ARE all over the place price-wise, and a lot depends on what you want a light FOR, and where you are going to dive. If you want a light for tropical night diving, you don't need very much. Lighting up the underwater world like a movie stage just means all the really nocturnal critters have hidden long before you get to them. Clear water means you don't need much light, so small, backup-type lights work just fine.

If you are diving in low visibility, on the other hand, you want power and punch. Lights in that environment are a method of communication and keeping buddies together, and you almost can't have too much light. That's when you start getting into the canister lights and big price tags. Again, they are worth it -- I consider my primary light to be a major piece of safety equipment, and if I were going to choose between a fancy computer with a transmitter and a digital compass (and I have yet to see one of those that actually WORKS) and a simple gauge and some money toward a good light, I'd take the latter course.

 

[Them]

Thank you both for your insight. It looks like another suunto is in my future.

The SMB area is full of conflicting opinions. A lot of people swear by the open bottom bags, others love the Halcyons, some people say 7' isn't enough, others say 3' is more than the job requires. Some people say orange is better, others say yellow....obviously different conditions need different tools and personal experience is a big factor.

... and if I were going to choose between... (computer and light)

When it comes to either/or choices the computer will always lose. It's an optional luxury and I know it.

The real problem is that I wasn't bright enough to set a fixed budget at the start of this process. There are various excuses I could give but it boils down to ignorance - I didn't (and still don't, if truth is to be told) know how much to budget because I didn't know enough to sort out book, magazine, internet, and real-world needs. In an attempt to overcome that lack, I'm employing the "don't store all the receipts in one place" alternative budgeting method. So long as no one stack of receipts sums up to an amount that gives me a heart attack we're good.

Which means that it isn't an either/or choice. It's a "pain of spending money" vs. "pleasure of being happy with your choices long term" choice. Not that that's easier, but it takes away the question of, "Will an overspending error in one area mean an overcheaping error in another?"