Good Deal or not so much?

[Lizard Leg]

I had my wife sew in a heavy duty plastic d-ring at the end of the nylon chest adjustment strap. Works great to hang the octo from and keeps it out of the way of all the other gear and d-rings.

---------- Post Merged at 10:40 AM ---------- Previous Post was at 10:39 AM ----------

Oh, one more thing - the foam backing of the Balance takes a while to dry. Rinse and hang to dry and the next day run a towel in beteen the back fabric and the bladder fabric (you'll see what I mean) and squeeze out as much water as you can into the rag. Dries much faster that way!

 

[TSandM]

Sorry about the error with the SPG. I wasn't thinking console, because I hate consoles

 

[Lizard Leg]

I'm about to order the bungee mounts for the compass and the computer - but when we ordered the packages, it was still a lot less expensive to get the console and order the wrist mounts later.

individual prices - these are the cheapest I've seen and I used these numbers when registering insurance:

Titan Reg set - $350
Zoop 2 gauge console - $425
ABS Octo - $140

Total $915 if bought seperately - basically you get the BC for free with this deal - main reason we bought them.

We all dove the Titan and liked it a lot. All of our diving will be warm water and nothing outside of rec limits so nothing more than the Titan is really needed. ABS octo, I liked the slimline and the fact that you can breathe from it left or right, so in an OOG situation, doesn't matter how you hand it off or grab it, it's ready to go. It can free flow on you the first few times you get it wet - mine stopped being a problem on the 3rd dive, but have heard you might need to get it tuned down some to stop if once and for all. The zoop is a decent entry level computer (imho) and handles nitrox. Again, warm water, rec limits, don't really need more features than the Zoop gives us. The SPG is an industry standard, easy to read, and both computer and SPG glow when hit with a light underwater.

We added the SK7 compass and everyone is ready to go. Picked up 38 lbs of soft weights from my LDS the other day (lead for 3 people plus some extras). Other than tanks, we're good to go!

I don't see me buying tanks either. Let's see. Tanks are @ $200 with tax, etc. (AL80). Vis every year $15, and Hydro every 5 $45. If you have 3 tanks and have a total of 90 fills a year (30 per tank), total over 5 years is $3,660 - including all vis, hydro, and fills @ $6 each.

Tank rentals are $8 each. 90 fills a year is $720 per year, $3600 for 90 fills a year for 5 years, and no worries about vis, hydro, etc.

Is there some other reason I should be thinking about my own tanks?

 

[maniago]

I don't see me buying tanks either. Let's see. Tanks are @ $200 with tax, etc. (AL80). Vis every year $15, and Hydro every 5 $45. If you have 3 tanks and have a total of 90 fills a year (30 per tank), total over 5 years is $3,660 - including all vis, hydro, and fills @ $6 each.

Tank rentals are $8 each. 90 fills a year is $720 per year, $3600 for 90 fills a year for 5 years, and no worries about vis, hydro, etc.

Is there some other reason I should be thinking about my own tanks?

I havent researched how long tanks last (in years), but if its anything like other gas tanks, its 20yrs plus. Then again, those are not life support gases. However, when I do the logic, one of the things I'll consider is: Is scuba hobby thing a short term hobby or a life-term hobby? And what's the realistic local dive parameters for me? If the answer is, I live in Bermuda, I dive every day, for the rest of my life, then buying must be a no brainer. Here on the east coast, diving quarries in the summer, and the occasional $150 jaunt to the ocean, I'm not (from a holistic sense) seeing the advantage, and I'd be amazed if I do 15 dives a year...sure hope its more, but just throwing it out there for the greater knowledge bank to comment on what they have found in practice...

 

[Damselfish]

If you have your own tanks you may find you dive more, because you can just grab your tanks (that you already had filled at your convenience) and go. If you are renting, you have to make a trip to get tanks and another to return them - possibly rushing to pick up before they close, or to return them in time to avoid being charged another day. So the location and hours of your shop is something else to consider. If you're really diving only occasionally, owning may not make sense for you. But if the numbers are closer the call is less obvious.

 

[Lizard Leg]

Sorry for hijacking the thread - any more advice for the OP?

 

[Shftrdog]

A package I would recomend instead is the Oceanic Competitve package. The reason is that you get a 30 day satisfation garentee with the warenty. This way you get it and go dive, if you are not 100 percent satisfied with it then you can return it and get all of your money back. I feel it is a much better deal.

You get the
Oceanic Ocean Pro 1000D BCD
Alpha 8 reg
Alpha 8 Octo
VEO 1.0 computer w/ dual algorithum

All for only $799.99

http://shop.sugarlandscuba.com/Shop/ProductsList.aspx?CategoryID=1080&Node=1080