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

[MacDuyver]

watch for sales and search around. I dive a $700ish regulator that breathes like an abolute dream at depth that I got for $400 after I found it online at a dive shop that was liquidating them. Not because they were discontinued, damaged in shipment, or the "demo model." I called and asked about it, and they told me "We're making room for next season's stock and nobody wanted the white ones."

**** doggie, I'll dive the Hello Kitty one for that mark-down.

 

[PR_SMITH]

I started diving in 2008, I bought recreational ex-rental gear from my LDS, did 10 dives with, discovered BP/W, etc. Promptly sold all my gear, (lost money), bought new Apeks DST's for doubles, BP/W, etc. Went through 3 used drysuits, until I got pro advice about proper fit.
Now I have my own compressor, do all my own gear servicing and rarely set foot in a dive shop.

 

[Sebs]

I had a Suunto and I never liked it:

What model did you have and what didn't you like about it?

 

[DougA]

In addition to the shop selling you what they have in stock, many will sell you what they have the biggest mark up on.

This drives me crazy. I WANT to support my LDS. But they carry a fraction of what is on the market, and at top$. I understand the economics of it from their POV, but still...

 

[DougA]

@rsingler has been quite generous with information. His regulator geeks zoom calls are great. His regulator servicing seminars are great. His YouTube channel where he uploads things is great.

What kind of a guy is Rob? Well a great one of course.

There is a difference in quality of parts sometimes. There is also a difference in availability but for me, this is a non issue. You really don't want to risk a quick regulator service if you have a problem on vacation. Just rent at that point (or have a backup).

There is also a difference in servicing at times. It isn't difficult, but does require attention to detail. @rsingler does a great job making that point in his seminar.

Thanks for this. I am regulator-shopping (small/travel, mid-range, warm-water mostly) and I looked but couldn't find Rob's YouTube Channel. Was interested just for background info - I probably won't be servicing my reg anytime soon...

 

[DougA]

I thought I would add to this discussion with this thought.

I have never experienced such a confusing market & dizzying array of factors as in diving equipment. Such as…

• Many of us enjoy the sport, but don’t dive in our town, so tricky to try things, practice and get acclimated. Can’t just try it like a pair of shoes.
• All things being equal I would prefer to support my LDS - but they (understandably) carry a fraction of what you can get online. And it is usually not the least expensive option.
• A wide range of stuff - that could be ‘fine’, but also could be life-and-death.
• Great marketing that (understandably) pushes the best, coolest, latest.
• A healthy amount of used equipment out there on forum-boards, from clubs, craigslist, etc - but maintenance & upkeep and that whole life-and-death thing…

Me: older, retired, live in Oregon, and I do primarily warm water diving.
I fist got certified in the early 70’s, but life happened and I am basically restarting at the ripe old age of 68.
I have finally bought some dive gear.
I find it quite the challenge make good, smart informed equipment purchase choices.

I always had a mask/fins/snorkel - simple enough.
Then computer and wetsuit. (Shearwater and a 3/2 wetsuit)
Then BCD. (Zeagle covert)
Finally, I am looking at regulators, which becomes regulator/octopus/pressure gauge.
And I am stuck between local, online, used, new, piston, diaphragm, cold-water sealed, cold water-ok-but not ‘sealed’, balanced…

And the kicker is that the folks that are smart and knowledgeable (which I very much apprciate!) and share their thoughts and opinions, are also likely to be ‘gear heads’, who live this stuff and know it inside-and-out. Whereas I am never to going to service my own equipment or dive wrecks at 150 ft. I just want simple, reliable and comfortable for warm-water diving 1-3 times a year. and small enough to travel.

I just wanted to share that feeling and see what others think. Thanks for listening to (reading) my rant. And I am open to any advice/suggestions on regulator choice for warm water & travel. (leaning towards a Apeks XL4, Zeagle Envoy II, or Zeagle F8) and a small-reliable octo...
thanks

 

[SlugLife]

Many of us enjoy the sport, but don’t dive in our town, so tricky to try things, practice and get acclimated. Can’t just try it like a pair of shoes.

"Try scuba" is perhaps the closest one can get to "trying scuba on like a pair of shoes." It's perhaps pricey, compared to a lot of other activities. I had my first scuba-experience as part of a college "adventure" course. (Thinking back, that course was amazing, we did knot-tying horse-back riding, and a bunch of other random stuff)

A wide range of stuff - that could be ‘fine’, but also could be life-and-death.

That theoretically shouldn't be an issue you have to worry about, assuming you follow your training, and buy new, or have used equipment properly serviced.

Finally, I am looking at regulators, which becomes regulator/octopus/pressure gauge.
And I am stuck between local, online, used, new, piston, diaphragm, cold-water sealed, cold water-ok-but not ‘sealed’, balanced…

Regulators were the one component I thought was VERY pooly explained. I'm a technical person, and even a mechanical person, and I barely understood what that spaghetti-mess was beyond how to use each hose or device.

These days I more fully understand it's not "a regulator" but rather individual components, connected by hoses, and that these components can be swapped with ease. (for the most part) Just make sure if you do, it's slightly more than hand-tight using a tool.

• 1st Stage Regulator: The thing that hooks up to your tank. It distributes air to everything else. It also has two pressure outputs. (1) Tank-pressure (i.e. 3000 psi) which goes to your SPG. (2) Regulated pressure, around 135 to 140psi.
• 2nd Stage Regulator: The thing you breathe out of. This also brings pressure down from 140psi to around ambient pressure - or the pressure of the water around you.
• Octo: An "octo" just another backup/extra 2nd stage. Nothing special about an octo, other than it may have a yellow face plate. You can use practically any 2nd stage, though you might as well go cheap.
• SPG: A gauge that measures air-pressure from the tank.
• Hoses: Hoses can be swapped as needed. You can get longer or shorter hoses.
  • There are kinda 3 hose types. (1) High-pressure hose, which goes to your SPG or any pressure-monitoring device. (2) Low pressure hose, which goes to your regulators and (3) BCD hose which is a hose with an integrated quick release.
  • BCD hose: Allows you to inflate your BCD (or dry-suit) from your tank. These can be swapped, if the quick-release is incompatible with your BCD.
  • For hoses, you can get different colors of hoses. Different lengths of hoses. You can also get "flex hoses."
• Port Plugs: Your first stage may have a number of high-pressure and low-pressure ports. Inside any unused port is a port-plug. You can add or remove devices by removing-or-adding port plugs. You can even swap which port one of your devices is screwed into.

Features:

• Environmentally sealed: Without this, water enters your first stage, and water-pressure is used to help balance the pressure against ambient-pressure. With this, water does not enter the first stage. (Usually, there's a rubbery seal on the outside, and silicone-grease on the inside, and pressure is "transmitted" that way). One advantage of this is reducing salt-water corrosion. Also helps with very cold water, though not required.
• Cold Water: Some regulators are designed for cold-water use. Probably not worth worrying about, unless you intend to dive in below-50f waters.
• Balanced: Breathes nicer usually. I'll let someone else describe this.
• 2nd stage knobs - One allows you to adjust how easy it breathes or goes into free-flow. Another is Venturi assist, which can also help it breathe easier. These aren't super-important, and to be honest I almost always forget they exist when on a dive.
• Piston vs Diaphragm - It's the component which helps your first-stage "know" when your regulator has reached the 140psi and needs to stop. I don't think new scuba-divers need to worry about this.

I'm probably missing stuff, and there are probably a couple very minor highly-technical inaccuracies or wrong-terms in there that I'm sure people will correct me on, but this should help a new-ish diver get started.

 

[James79]

Adding to what @SlugLife said about balanced regs; without going into the mechanics of it, a balanced first stage provides constant (ish) pressure to the LP ports regardless of tank pressure (for example my Conshelf first stage only shifts 3 psi from a full tank to empty). Unbalanced piston first stages (I'm not aware of any unbalanced diaphragms on the market now) the IP (intermediate pressure supplies to the LP ports) drops as tank pressure goes down (as much as 20 psi).
An unbalanced second stage will breathe stiffer the lower the IP gets. A balanced second will breathe the same regardless of IP, and may get a slightly longer service life out of the soft seat.
So, with that in mind, an unbalanced first with an unbalanced second will have a noticeable (but not unsafe) change in breathing characteristics as the tank runs down (lowering IP and second stage that reacts to it). A balanced first with unbalanced second will breathe about the same from full to empty (constant IP, even though second reacts to IP changes). Unbalanced first with balanced second breathes the same throughout a tank (lowering IP, but second stage doesn't react to it). Balanced first and second breathes the same, and may extend service life of soft seat.
If you're not DIY servicing, and having them done on a schedule, the soft seat service life is a non factor (even with a 2 year service interval) as the soft seat gets replaced every service.
Some people prefer a reg to breathe the same throughout the dive (balanced first or second, or both) and a few prefer to feel the reg get "stiff" as a backup to their gauge (unbalanced set).

Respectfully,

James

 

[boulderjohn]

"Try scuba" is perhaps the closest one can get to "trying scuba on like a pair of shoes." It's perhaps pricey, compared to a lot of other activities.

It's been 12 years since I taight the pool version for a shop, but it then cost the individual student $10. That's not too pricey. It was pretty similar everywhere else. The reason for making it dirt cheap was the hope that the student would like it enough to get certified.

That's what happened to me. I got certified after enjoying a very cheap Discover Scuba class.

 

[James79]

It's been 12 years since I taight the pool version for a shop, but it then cost the individual student $10. That's not too pricey. It was pretty similar everywhere else. The reason for making it dirt cheap was the hope that the student would like it enough to get certified.

That's what happened to me. I got certified after enjoying a very cheap Discover Scuba class.

I wish it was that cheap everywhere.... It would be much easier to convince friends to try it.