GUE-F gear choice: all-in on Halcyon?

[Dark Wolf]

I would second the option of talking to your instructor. Personally, I don't own anything with an H on it, but I don't follow GUE either.

DW

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

You're in Europe. Go with XDeep. That makes more sense and the quality is at the same high level.

 

[jadairiii]

You're in Europe. Go with XDeep. That makes more sense and the quality is at the same high level.

If you are considering XDeep, you may want to read this thread and look at the photos.

Help me feel like an actual diver again... XDeep NX Project Wing issue

 

[rddvet]

Halcyon gear isn’t necessary, but it is of exceptional quality so it’s what I own for my bp/w and my wife’s light. More importantly, I have an 8 year old wing that the stitching on the outer bag started to go on. Not an issue fixed in 3 weeks by halcyon. No questions asked. Personally I love scuba pro regs, and buy a lot of older used ones. If I were buying new I would skip sp and get the halcyon regs. Here in the states halcyon regs are cheaper than sp even though they’re the same damn reg. I do find the h regs to be ugly as hell, but when saving a few hundred dollars who cares. Being outside of the states could complicate things. I’m not sure

 

[jale]

I do find the h regs to be ugly as hell, but when saving a few hundred dollars who cares.

How come you dare to be so unstylish
So no good for the op as he is from the country what created the concept of "style"

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

If you are considering XDeep, you may want to read this thread and look at the photos.

Help me feel like an actual diver again... XDeep NX Project Wing issue

Go with Hydros wings. High quality, and durable. I've had a number of XDeep products over the year. Single tank wings, Ghost, Hydro wings for twinsets, and the Stealth tec 2.0. I only have the Hydro 50 for twinset diving and the stealth for sidemount.

 

[Lorenzoid]

All H will ensure you meet the requirements. Its an expensive way to get there, but its easy. If you've got the cash, no reason not to.

If you're more concerned with budget, there are MANY good options out there.

I recall a recent thread about backup lights, where I mentioned I bought Halcyon Scouts because I was too lazy to run other options past my Cave 1 instructor. The Scouts were silly expensive, but I was busy enough preparing for the course and just didn't want to spend even an hour trying to save money. I'm not sure if this is relevant to the OP, but my thinking with regard to Halcyon gear is that it holds its value well, and if I ever want to sell the Scouts, my wings, or whatever other H-gear, I could probably sell it in minutes.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

If you've got the cash, no reason not to.

Sure there is! Not spending more than you have to!

 

[Ayisha]

Sure, it's easy to buy a lot of Halcyon, but it's expensive and not necessary. Having said that, if you showed up to Fundies with a complete Halcyon Infinity, the Instructor will likely ask you to remove the padding, etc. (My GUE Instructor managed to get me to let him take everything off my Infinity except the back pad in the year prior to my course).

That was the only Halcyon gear I had going into Fundies, which had been stripped down to an Eclipse. I had UTD fins, and every piece of gear was from a different manufacturer.
I later switched to a Halcyon SMB, that's it.

Equipment for GUE courses has to be philosophy-compliant, rather than brand compliant.

If you have an idea which Instructor you might take Fundies with, I echo the recommendation to touch base and ask him/her if the equipment you're considering meets the requirements of the course.

Take a look at Appendix A (Equipment Requirements) in the (new) GUE Standards V9.2 on pages 117 - 118:

Standards and Procedures

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

I later switched to a Halcyon SMB, that's it.

I probably have a dozen DSMBs of different sizes. The Halcyon is far better constructed than all the rest and is my go to DSMB that I ALWAYS have.