Having the "Exact Same" equipment as your partner

[TSandM]

It makes life easier to have the same stuff. For one thing, any spare parts you carry with you will work on both sets of gear. (My husband and I had different regulators for a while, and the DIN o-rings that fit one didn't fit the other, and we always seemed to have the wrong ones with us.) For another, each of you will be intimately familiar with the other's equipment, which makes spotting something that's put together wrong or disconnected much easier.

I dive in a small corner of the diving universe, where everybody has pretty much the same gear. I can't tell you how many times that has come in handy, when something breaks or fails and you have to borrow something . . . and it feels and works just like yours.

 

[clownfishsydney]

No advantage at all. Get whatever you like and your wife gets what she likes. The only thing my wife and I have that is the same are the tanks and we have now done close to 800 dives together in all sorts of places and from 60+ metres up to shallow stuff. Same computers could be an assistance, but only if one wants a very strange one that is hard to understand (and there are a few of these around).

 

[Lorenzoid]

My wife and I opted to use computers from the same manufacturer--Suunto--so that we are presented with the same amount of no-deco time. The computers have similar user interfaces, too, so we know how to help each other with the settings.

We have BCDs from the same manufacturer, though that wasn't done for any particular reason. However, I do have some spare parts, like a complete inflator assembly, which would work on either of our BCDs, so in hindsight maybe it was a good thing.

 

[Rhone Man]

I value it at about the same level as I would value driving the same car as my wife. You get familiarity and ease with spare parts. The downside is sometimes you have to double check to make sure you get into the right one.

My main arguments against are: (i) I have so many different buddies I can't ask them all to conform to my equipment, and (ii) I kind of enjoy the creative tension of seeing new setups and equipment. Whilst I firmly believe my configuration and gear is perfect, I enjoy criticising others.

 

[highdesert]

Another vote for the same computer. We dive with an air-integrated computer on a hose, and a backup on our wrist, both identical.

Ed: But the computers are the only things identical ... everything else is different.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

It is an awesome idea and will save you tons of money on maintenance. You can pretty much entirely skip doing ANY gear maintenance. When a particular piece of your gear is looking a little rough and you know he had his piece of gear serviced.. just switch them out when he is using the head. It will be a great topic of discussion... how you have the same gear, but he seems to have to spend a lot on service...

 

[uncfnp]

Eric and I started out with virtually identical gear. 3 years later only the regulators are the same. As the others have said, there are benefits and a downside to both decisions.

Same:
Upside:
Interchangeable parts
Same service (may be important if you start DIY)
May be able to get a deal buying multiples
Knowledge of each others equipment (probably most useful with computers)

Downside:
Both must agree on equipment
I can almost guarantee you that if you both stay with diving you will eventually diversify as each discovers their personal preferences (unless you both go DIR)

Different:
Upside:
Can choose equipment better suited to each's personal preference
Better fit
Can take advantage of a good deal when only one may be available (something used for example)
Gain knowledge in a greater variety of equipment

Downside:
Will have to become knowledge regarding partner's equipment
Parts not interchangeable
Larger "save a dive" kit

261311 is correct that if you guys dive together frequently, you will become very familiar with each others equipment regardless. But also as many have said, I do recommend a computer from the same manufacturer or at least comparable algorithms (we both have Oceanic).

Whichever you decide, do it jointly. I don't know your relationship dynamics but there tends to be one individual in diving couples that is more into the activity and sometimes the other takes a secondary roll in equipment choice and maintenance. I encourage you both to be actively involved in equipment decision and both intimately knowledgable in the care and maintenance of all the equipment. This is to me a greater safety factor than having identical gear.

 

[murph200]

Thanks for the great feedback...it was an added bonus to get replies from a few husband-wife dive partners.

 

[jameseg]

My wife and I have identical gear, which we bought at the same time. A few of the advantages I see:

-Familiarity with how all of eachother's gear works, especially the computer.

-Computers use the same algorithm.

-Sevice on gear gets done at the same time, at the same shop.

That having been said, I wouldn't go out of my way to keep the same gear, with the exception of the computer. If my wife decided she didn't like her BC or reg set for whatever reason, I'd still keep mine.

James

 

[rhwestfall]

Matching stuff would be a BIG PROBLEM!!!! If the stuff all looks the same, how do you explain the "something different" you happened to pick up???????? Hard to convince the spouse it was there all along......:cool2: