Gear set up for SoCal and Bay Area?

[runsongas]

@FluffyRabbit they don't breathe as well as a full size 2nd stage. the cover plastic cracks somewhat frequently. cold water performance is from both the first and 2nd stage. the core supreme 2nd has a metal barrel and inlet heatsink which improves the freezing resistance. the abs has neither. on older vintage regs like the conshelf xiv or scubapro 109, the whole casing was metal which helps with the freezing resistance by working as a big heatsink.

 

[FluffyRabbit]

I think you did very well at a decent price, but did extremely well considering the free courses.

Water temp at depth in San Diego is in the 50s pretty much year round so that's drysuit temps for me. The really nice part is being dry at the end of the dive when you get out of the water.

Consider using one of your specialties for drysuit and then decide if you want to buy one

Yeah, I heard Bay Area in particular is definitely going to be dry suit territory. I'll start off with a wetsuit in SD, but the plan is to buy the dry suit when I move up there if I have really gotten into diving, but otherwise stick with the rest of this gear.

It's fine to start with. You will develop your own personal preferences over time and can replace things later. It is ideal to have an octo equal to your primary second stage but that one will work at the temps you will be diving.

@FluffyRabbit they don't breathe as well as a full size 2nd stage. the cover plastic cracks somewhat frequently. cold water performance is from both the first and 2nd stage. the core supreme 2nd has a metal barrel and inlet heatsink which improves the freezing resistance. the abs has neither. on older vintage regs like the conshelf xiv or scubapro 109, the whole casing was metal which helps with the freezing resistance by working as a big heatsink.

Thanks! This is really helpful and informative. I'll just go with the Core octo then - while I don't want to spend a fortune, I'm willing to spend a bit more if it means not buying twice.

Also, any thoughts on the Aqualung i200c vs the i300c? Is it just the size that is different between the two?

 

[GJC]

Yeah, I heard Bay Area in particular is definitely going to be dry suit territory. I'll start off with a wetsuit in SD, but the plan is to buy the dry suit when I move up there if I have really gotten into diving, but otherwise stick with the rest of this gear.





Thanks! This is really helpful and informative. I'll just go with the Core octo then - while I don't want to spend a fortune, I'm willing to spend a bit more if it means not buying twice.

Also, any thoughts on the Aqualung i200c vs the i300c? Is it just the size that is different between the two?

I think the i300 has bluetooth to be able to download your dive data to a computer and you need a separately purchased cable for the i200 to download. I haven't used either computer so I might be wrong about that, so ask at the dive shop. They can give you a side by side comparison and show you the differences. It will be up to you to decide which features you like and want.

 

[runsongas]

i200c has bluetooth also, it is a smaller watch size. similar to the geo4 althought the geo4 has dsat. the atmos is an interesting option from piranha though in that price range.

Hot Deal! Atmos Mission One Watch Style Dive Computer / Smart Watch Black Ring / Black Strap , Piranha Dive Shop |

 

[rongoodman]

The Deep 6 7mm wetsuit is a really nice suit for an amazing price, although the size range is somewhat limited. Instead of an octopus, just get two of whatever second stages you decide to buy.

 

[Dubious]

Also, any thoughts on the Aqualung i200c vs the i300c?

I have the i300c. I like the simplicity of it. My shop did not have the i200c in for me to try so I just went with the $50 cheaper i300c. I was told the only difference is size. That Atmos Mission one watch @runsongas mentioned as been popping up in many threads. I have no experience with that computer, but I have been tempted to purchase it seeing all of the capabilities it has and the price at Pirahana. Check out the Atmos Mission One thread for more information.

 

[wnissen]

Hopefully you'll never need to use your alternate air source, but take a second and think about why you have it. It's for emergencies, right? Someone goes out of air, tackles you from behind, rips out your primary, say. Your adrenaline is going to spike immediately, breathing rate goes up, and the absolute last thing you want is to be sucking on a poorly adjusted crappy regulator. In fact, you should put your best reg as your "alternate"! Completely counterintuitive, at least it was to me. I really wish I could credit the author of this idea, it was in a book I read about diving safety.

I was looking at the Titan Core, the Apeks XTX50 I got breathes like a dream, I don't even notice it's there, though it is definitely more expensive. But I did get a matching XTX50 as the alternate.

 

[Brett Hatch]

Nice choice on going for a BP/W setup right away. These things are quite uniform, practically to the point of being interchangeable, so the various makes/models are probably all just fine. Not familiar with the Mares bladder, the only thing I would flag is to get one that's not too small, and not too big. There's absolutely no need to get a wing over 40 pounds, no matter what anyone says -- especially if they're advocating it to future-proof should you decide to go for double tanks later! My OMS wing is 32 lbs and it works great for a single tank in cold water, either wet or dry. I have used it in warm water as well and it was fine. If I ever start diving warm water a lot, I'll probably pick up a smaller one, 15-20 lbs or so.

If you're looking for a good, cheap 7mm wetsuit, you will not find a better one for $225 than the Deep6 7mm. I got the 3mm a while back for warm diving, and like it so much that I almost bought a 7mm as well, even though I already had an 8mm Aqualung wetsuit and a drysuit being manufactured at the time. I'm glad I didn't do that since I'm so happy with my drysuit, but I really wish I had known about the D6 wetsuit when I bought my Aqualung for more money than the D6 would have been (even before the recent discount). Honestly I've never heard a single negative comment/review on these suits.

The only thing I would suggest is that if you are in between sizes like I am, you call in to ask for advice. In my case I'm at the high end of some of the M measurements, low end of some of the L ones. I went for the Large, which ended up being way too big for me. Gave that one to a buddy of mine, ordered a size M, and it fits beautifully. I couldn't be happier.

I can and did dive the Monterey with a thick wetsuit year round for shallow dives with no issues. As I got my skills dialed in, purchased steel 100 cubic foot tanks, started diving on nitrox instead of air, and generally doing deeper and longer dives, the cold began to be the limiting factor. It got to the point where we would often turn dives with plenty of gas remaining and plenty of NDL time, just due to the cold. So I started researching drysuits. If you take a look at the "Exposure gear" forum, you'll find many glowing reviews for SeaSkin brand, who make solid suits for half (half!) the price of many popular brands. Now that it's here and I have dived it just a few times, I don't think I'll be diving wet in cold water any time soon.

I haven't dived in Southern California yet so cannot speak from experience about temp/gear differences between here and there. Consensus seems to be that it is a bit cooler in the water in Monterey (like 5F), and a lot cooler on the surface (like 15F). So I could imagine some folks would prefer two different suits for the two different areas, but probably most people who dive dry in Monterey would be happy dry in San Diego as well, and vice versa for diving wet. Again, not speaking from experience here, just some guesswork. By the way, one of the most popular drysuit manufacturers is DUI and they are based in San Diego. Their stuff is far from the cheapest, but many consider it to be the best. If I lived in San Diego, I'd make it a point to visit them in person before moving up to the Bay.

Best of luck, and welcome to the board and to scuba diving. I hope you find it to be as much fun and as rewarding as I do

 

[NorCalDM]

The Xcel wetsuit is an excellent suit but you might want to look at the Hydroflex that is a chest zip with the hood attached sorry not a fan of separate hoods. The core supreme is a great reg but might want to look at the Apeks XTX50 it is less expensive but in my opinion a better reg I have both and always end up using the Apeks and since the shop is an Aqualung dealer they are also an Apeks dealer. The Scubapro back plate is good but it surprises me that the shop sells Scubapro and Aqualung the are usually one or the other with that said Apeks plates and wings are excellent and in my experience cheaper than Scubapro so you my ask the shop about them since they sell Aqualung.

 

[FluffyRabbit]

Thank you everyone for the advice! Just as a follow-up, I did buy the gear at the end of June and completed my OW course in it, and I am very happy with it. Since the BP/W had to be ordered and didn’t get in until after the pool sessions, my LDS scheduled an extra pool session for me just to get acquainted with it at no charge and helped me with switching out the aluminum plate for the steel plate, and I used it in the ocean sessions. Getting into the Xcel wetsuit for the first time was a struggle but after breaking it in it’s now quite easy. The wetsuit is like a perfect fit – I don't get chilly at all until it gets to around 50 F at depth. Bluetooth on the i300C is pretty neat, and I use it change settings and sync my logs. I don’t have much to say about the Aqualung Core regs – they’re easy to breath from and they just work. I’ve set up a calendar reminder since I want to stay on the parts-for-life program.

Since then, I’ve signed up for the specialty courses and gone on a shore dive with buddies. I thought I was done with buying gear at first, but then I just bought a mesh bag and DSMB last weekend. It seems like there is always more stuff to buy!