Getting OW and looking for gear recommendations

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My advice is to buy a really BIG gear bag with rollers right from the start =)
 
You might consider getting some dives under your belt before buying anything. Sure rental can suck but the truth is a good percentage of folks don't end up sticking with the sport after OW or maybe dive seldom in nice warm places on vacation. Ebay, Craigslist, and garages are crammed with underused gear.

The recommendations in this thread add up to big bucks. You don't need everything at once and in fact this can be dangerous i.e. task loading. Go boat diving. Go on organized beach dives. Talk to different dive shops. Ask them if you might be able to rent or demo anything first.
 
I agree with Redondoscubadude regarding demoing gear. I would buy a wetsuit right away though. Even if you have a drysuit, everyone needs a wetsuit. I know hollywood divers will let you demo a BP/W setup. The problem is that you need to dive it a few times in order to have it fit correctly. At least from when I demo'd one that's what I got out of it. Before I got certified I bought most of my gear. I did lots of research and found what fit me the best. I have yet to regret a purchase.

Billy
 
I agree with Billy about getting a wetsuit. This is one piece of gear that sort of becomes a wildcard when renting. It will change the balance of your whole setup everytime you change from one rental suit to another even if it is the same model and size.

Before you buy a bunch of expensive equipment, you may want to give a bit of thought to what your dive philosophy will be because it will impact which gear you will be most interested in. As a newly minted OW diver, this probably doesn't mean much yet. Just keep it in mind as you speak with people and ask their advice.

I've found the guys at Hollywood Divers to be very helpful. Karim is their in house DIR specialist if you are interested in adhering to that philosophy of diving and standard of configuration. Otherwise, Bill and Hal are very helpful for other ways of doing things. All 3 of them are all around good guys and will do their best to steer you in the right direction.

Once you get a chance to meet and dive with a bunch of us from ScubaBoard, you'll see that we all have different philosophies of diving and have respect for anyone's personal choices in this regard. Just because someone does something a certain way does not mean that they expect everybody else to do it that way. Most of us are usually quite willing to share with you why we like doing things the way that we do, if you ask.

Hopefully, we'll get to meet you soon!

Christian
 
I understand and thank everyone advising that I not dump a bunch of money into gear in case I don't like the sport but I don't think that is going to be the case. I grew up here and am an avid free diver and have been itching to get my scuba certification it just hasn't been in the cards until now.

orangelion03:
My advice is to buy a really BIG gear bag with rollers right from the start =)

Already done. :D

headhunter:
You need a tank only as large as is dictated by your air consumption and accounting for how much gas you need to get you and your buddy back to the surface safely. Different people breathe at different rates. A high or low SAC rate is neither good or bad. It just is what it is. Most people will lower their air consumption considerably in the first 25 - 50 dives that they do. Not everyone needs to carry a water heater into the water, but not everyone will be served well by an AL 80 either.

On the air consumption I know I'm far from anywhere decent at it but I use to be an avid runner and on our two dive where we didn't do drills and actually moved I was only using about 600 lbs. in 25 minutes. Don't know if that is good or bad but I think I was doing ok for my experience. Also I don't want to have to put a lot of weight on since I will be probably be beach diving a lot and humping that in and out will probably suck.

scjoe:
You indicated you were getting a drysuit because you got cold after two dives. Keep in mind you have been diving at the coldest time of the year, probably in a poor fitting rental suit. Also, classes tend to stay in their suits between dives because of briefings and that doesn't help. Drysuits are certainly nice, but they are by no means necessary for diving in most conditions in Southern California. A lot of people dive all year round in wetsuits. Since you are at Dive N Surf you are near JMJ which makes custom wetsuits. You might want to talk to them.

Definitely getting a wetsuit but the problem is that I'm such an odd size I might have to go custom depending on the price. Also The rental suit didn't fit too poorly and it was a bodyglove EXO so it wasn't total junk. Also I want to get a drysuit because I do plan on diving year round and would like to make multiple dives in a day without hypothermia.

I'm gonna head over to Hollywood divers and pick there brains for a bit. Thanks for the thread Empty V, some good info.
 
Wiggawam:
Definitely getting a wetsuit but the problem is that I'm such an odd size I might have to go custom depending on the price. Also The rental suit didn't fit too poorly and it was a bodyglove EXO so it wasn't total junk. Also I want to get a drysuit because I do plan on diving year round and would like to make multiple dives in a day without hypothermia.

A custom wetsuit is a good option, works well for me.

Dave
 

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