General advice to new scuba divers: do not waste your money!

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travisfull

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Hi everyone, considering that at the beginning of my “diving journey” I’ve made some mistakes in terms of “equipment choices”, wasting money and/or time, I wanted to share some general advices to all those fellow divers who are now facing the classical conundrum in terms of equipment choices. For most of you this is just good sense, but in my experience at the beginning it can be overwhelming considering the complexity of a proper scuba configuration.
  • You often don’t know when you start diving what kind of diving are you going to do: we all start via the recreational way, and sometimes we end up in more tech courses over time. For this reason, when at the beginning of your journey you wanna buy new equipment bear in mind that “with a TEC equipment configuration you can do recreational diving, but its not true the other way around”: unless you are going toward the instructor route in the recreational world, think about buying equipment for a technical configuration even if you’ll be using it (at least at the beginning) to do recreational diving with your local diving center;
  • Sometimes, your local diving is also a local dealers and since they have a real business to run and they bought equipment from one brand and not from another, they will tend to sell you what they have in stock and not necessarily it is the best equipment for your specific needs: before buying anything based on the advices of your local dealers (which are not necessarily bad advices) take a deeper look over the internet (scubaboard included) to see what other people buy and why;
  • Drysuit: since it is probably the most expensive piece of gear you are going to buy, do your research and talk with all kind of divers (recreational, tech, salty or not salty water). A neoprene drysuit has definitely its own advantages (its warmer with less undergarments and consequently less expensive overall) and disadvantages (generally less mobility) but a trilaminate one will maybe serve you better over the long period: it can be used with a lot of different undergarments and it is ok for all different “schools”, including the stricter ones (GUE, UTD etc);
  • BCD: if you go (and I strongly advice for it) toward the BP route, do not overthink about the brand because it is maybe the only piece of gear where it does not make such a big difference: an alluminium or steel backplate from the most trendy brand is basically the same as a cheaper one. Save money for your regulators;
  • Regulators: do not save money here. If you have a budget, cut half of it to buy the best you can. It is better to have a mediocre drysuit/wetsuit and fins than a mediocre regulator: it does not matter what kind of diving you are doing;
  • Computer: think about buying a multigas computer…by now you can find it at the same price of an air/nitrox computer (e.g. Garmin G1) but it will serve you over the long period;
  • Multi use equipment: although 90% of your equipment will be for scuba only, you can still buy few pieces of your configuration that will serve you in other hobbies or everyday life: undergarments (a good pile is just a good pile, no matter if it is for mountain climbing or scuba) and computer (e.g. a multisport). It is good to buy specific tool for the specific job, but in a budget constrain environment and if you are at the beginning, postpone those expenditures once you know for sure that scuba will be your hobby for an extended period of time.
 
Don't agree with a lot of the OP's opinions, but I don't know that my opinion has any more relevance or validity.

A couple of highlights:
  • I have a lot of dives and have never used or needed a multigas computer.
  • Most recreational divers will be well served by a simple "one button" nitrox computer.
  • I would MUCH rather have an inexpensive (or especially used) regulator for a moderate cost rather than skimping on adequate exposure protection if the water is cold. If you are cold and miserable and uncomfortable, sucking on a titanium regulator isn't going to improve things.
  • If you are diving in warm water and using steel tanks, the difference between steel and aluminum plates can make a huge difference wrt safety.
 
  • Regulators: do not save money here. If you have a budget, cut half of it to buy the best you can. It is better to have a mediocre drysuit/wetsuit and fins than a mediocre regulator: it does not matter what kind of diving you are doing;
I agree with some of what you have said, but not this. There are many solid regulator choices. The expensive ones are not noticeably better than the mid range ones. If you are spending more than 25% of your budget on regulators, you are probably over buying.

Any of the major international brands, the major regional brands, or major internet brands will have good choices in the bottom half of their offerings.
 
Generally OK advice. Except for this:
Regulators: do not save money here. If you have a budget, cut half of it to buy the best you can. It is better to have a mediocre drysuit/wetsuit and fins than a mediocre regulator: it does not matter what kind of diving you are doing;

You do not have to spend half your budget to get a regulator. In the US at least, there are many options available for under $700 that can comfortably handle anything you can throw at them, including tech dives.

If you are diving cold water, you would be much better off spending extra money on a custom fit drysuit or quality undergarments than a premium priced reg.

I also recommend starting out with a cheap Nitrox computer unless the price difference between that and a Shearwater whatever truly doesn't matter to you.
 
John, can you elaborate on this for a less experienced guy?
Sure if you are not a huge fat SOB, you may be overweighted with a heavy steel tank, heavy steel plate and little or no exposure protection, especially in freshwater. That sort of condition, with no ditchable weight is something to be avoided - in general.

May or may not be relevant to certain people/environments, but that is the pitfall in trying to make general statements that are universally applicable.
 
Thanks a lot for your input.
On your first point, it is true what you said about one button nitrox computer: however, if the price is basically the same, a multigas computer does all the job (those that you need and those that you will maybe need in the future)

On water exposer VS regulator: I dont agree that much. Mediocre regulator are not fit for cold water, which is the environment mentioned in your post. With a mediocre undergarments you wont enjoy a very cold water dive (but you can adjust the undergarment for the following dive), but a bad regulator wont leave you with that opportunity.

On steel and aluminium: what I meant was the difference between different brand for a BP (either aluminium or steel) is minimum.
Don't agree with a lot of the OP's opinions, but I don't know that my opinion has any more relevance or validity.

A couple of highlights:
  • I have a lot of dives and have never used or needed a multigas computer.
  • Most recreational divers will be well served by a simple "one button" nitrox computer.
  • I would MUCH rather have an inexpensive (or especially used) regulator for a moderate cost rather than skimping on adequate exposure protection if the water is cold. If you are cold and miserable and uncomfortable, sucking on a titanium regulator isn't going to improve things.
  • If you are diving in warm water and using steel tanks, the difference between steel and aluminum plates can make a huge difference wrt safety.
on your fir
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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