skyking
Contributor
I'll join the others in saying it's a personal choice, and to buy something that is where you think you MIGHT be in a year or two. I did a lot of my research on rodales.com after getting a hint or two from a good friend who's been teaching diving for years. I'd start with a couple or three assumptions and some requirements:
Once you get above the level of the "cheap" regulators, there is very little junk out there. Read the reviews, try some, and talk to people.
If you're going wreck diving you're going deep/cold. That means environmentally sealed first stages and (preferably) a heat exchanger on the second and octo. Ballanced is a gotta, overballanced is nice, piston or diaphram doesn't really matter.
A BC that can take doubles in a pinch or go directly to bp/w. Back inflators are nearly universally touted as being more diver-friendly than jacket type. My BC has 44 lbs of lift, and that to me is about optimum, much over 50 lbs is just going to create a lot of drag.
I'm still diving wet, but only by financial necessity. An inexpensive wetsuit is still a good investment for non-real-deep/non-real-cold dives and the occasional trip south or east where it's not quite cold enough and the sun is too darn hot for dealing with a drysuit. Wetsuits are also caffine/last-nite's-beer-disposal friendly. Having different pieces/layerable accessories (Thick suit & polartec, hoded vest, hood, vest, different gloves, etc) helps a bundle. I wouldn't buy one of the expensive models as an "inexpensive" dry suit is not much more.
Look at a couple of high-volume steel tanks (95 cu ft or more). Buy them in pairs so that if/when you decide to go to doubles you have a matching set. O2 cleaning or not depends on where you get gas.
Once you get above the level of the "cheap" regulators, there is very little junk out there. Read the reviews, try some, and talk to people.
If you're going wreck diving you're going deep/cold. That means environmentally sealed first stages and (preferably) a heat exchanger on the second and octo. Ballanced is a gotta, overballanced is nice, piston or diaphram doesn't really matter.
A BC that can take doubles in a pinch or go directly to bp/w. Back inflators are nearly universally touted as being more diver-friendly than jacket type. My BC has 44 lbs of lift, and that to me is about optimum, much over 50 lbs is just going to create a lot of drag.
I'm still diving wet, but only by financial necessity. An inexpensive wetsuit is still a good investment for non-real-deep/non-real-cold dives and the occasional trip south or east where it's not quite cold enough and the sun is too darn hot for dealing with a drysuit. Wetsuits are also caffine/last-nite's-beer-disposal friendly. Having different pieces/layerable accessories (Thick suit & polartec, hoded vest, hood, vest, different gloves, etc) helps a bundle. I wouldn't buy one of the expensive models as an "inexpensive" dry suit is not much more.
Look at a couple of high-volume steel tanks (95 cu ft or more). Buy them in pairs so that if/when you decide to go to doubles you have a matching set. O2 cleaning or not depends on where you get gas.
