Help me decide if getting my own gear makes sense.

[Illini_Fan]

My $0.02 on your latest proposal. I really think owning your own BC (and everything you listed as a positive) is a great thing. The dive computer was actually my first purchase (outside of mask / fins / exposure) before I went on my post OW dives. Most places do rent computers, but I have no experience with the quality.

I'm biased since I use my gear to do lake diving when I'm not able to get somewhere nice and blue. I still think if you plan on doing a couple of trips per year (20-30 dives), that owning your gear is a good idea. You might lose money vs renting, but I've never done the math, so that is a guess.

Renting regs from your LDS allows you to check-out the quality first, but as mentioned it is harder to handle problems if they occur.

 

[OceanicRocks]

Owning your own gear has a HUGE impact on your diving, both positively and negatively.

On the down side, if you own your own gear you need to... Buy it, that cost money. Maintain it, that costs money and takes time. Transport it, that takes up space in your luggage, and may cost extra if your bags are heavy. Perform routine cleaning, that takes time, probably more time than you would spend cleaning rental gear. Even new gear breaks from time to time, and if that happens you will either need to have it repaired or replaced, that takes time and costs money. If this happens on vacation you may not have lots of either.

On the up side, if you own your own gear you will... Have confidence that the gear is well maintained. Know the configuration of your gear. Know that it fits well.

The choice is yours, but if you buy you should plan the long term costs into the equation. Consider just how much it will cost to maintain your gear. Consider that if you own, you will spend lots more on little gadgets that you will add to your rig, these get expensive.

Renting has many problems like those you have outlined, but when you rent at your destination... You don't need to transport the gear on an airplane. If somthing breaks you just take it back to the rental shop and get another (sometimes you need to be assertive). Usually rental gear gets rinsed after a dive, but chances are you will not be quite so anal about it. When renting you usually get inexpensive gear, but for most vacation dives the gear is more than adequate.

I had several bad experiences with rental gear before I bought my own, but the gear I did buy I now rarely use because I made some poor choices. I still use the regulator occasionally, but not the computer. I still use the wet suit, but not, the fins, gloves, booties, mask, snorkle, BC, safety sausage, or virtually all of the little doodads that I used to clip on my BC. I made some expensive mistakes along the way, be prepared to do the same if you buy.

Good luck,

Mark Vlahos

many great suggestions that will be considered... I wonder if you could elaborte on some of your wrong eqipment decitions... It would be beneficial to know. thanks for posting.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

On the issue of renting versus buying for me it's a no brainer. Local diving here is somewhat limited as to what you can see as well. OR IS IT? If you are zooming around over the flats working on kicks, buoyancy etc then yeah it's pretty boring. But when you slow down and start SEEING what is on and in those mudflats, under the platforms, rocks, and logs it becomes much more interesting. For what it's worth that's what I do. Get to see the little fish that are hiding from the big ones, the mussles and freshwater clams filtering the water and how they close up and try to hide when approached. The crayfish that look like mini lobsters acting in the same manner as their larger look alikes. People don't see because of one thing. They choose not to.

As to the issue of what gear to own. If I had to start over knowing what I do now for vacation and occaisional local stuff I'd get in this order- Warm water- mask, fins, and snorkel-3 mil suit- SS Backplate with hog harness and 20-30 lb wing- good quality reg that is environmentally sealed such as an Oceanic GT3 w cdx5, sherwood brut, Aqualung Titan D, or any of the other what I consider to be midline reg from any of the majors-Zeagle, ScubaPro, etc. I'd stay away from any that I might have an issuing getting service for on vacation. Of course I have a standard octo setup with a pressure guage. Then I'd go for a wrist mount comp and compass.

This based on 3+ yrs of diving so some experience yet new enough to remember what it's like getting started. And having dove warm freshwater lakes, cold quarries, St Lawrence and Lake Erie shipwrecks, FLorida Keys and Monterey, California. So for what it's worth there it is.

As to servcie issues as an authorized factory tech I've seen alot of stuff come across the bench at the shop I work through and others I frequent. I'm one who says lack of use is harder on gear than regular use for some perhaps not so obvious reasons. First is that those who dive only occaisionally are usually not as anal about their gear so thorough rinsing may not get done along with proper storage. And then when they take it out in six months they wonder why connections are green, the diaphragms are stiff and fused to the reg body, small critters have taken up residence(actually found a small web and spider in one reg that had not been used for a year!), and there is dried sand/silt in the mouthpiece. Also certain regs will "take a seat" in some seals due to the constant pressure on them. Not usually a big deal but enough in some cases to reduce performance and at the annual service pretty much guarantee replacement. Not a big deal with a lifetime part warranty but without one I know of one place that charges for what they put in when the reg is out of warranty or way overdue on an annual which they will use as an excuse to void the warranty. Renting from your lds is an option if you trust their gear. I trust all of mine but I dive too much to make anything but owning a less than desirable option. This weekend will be the first in 5 weeks that I'm not diving. Missus has plans and my place is a mess. Got to clean up around here before at least one pool session and next weekend diving for two days. I've logged nearly 80 dives this year(most in the last 3 months) and am not done by a long shot. Renting would have been way too expensive. BTW once you start buying keep a seperate account or wallet just for gear. Since July of 04 I've got in the neighborhood of 14-15K in gear and courses(the bulk in gear).

 

[Hank49]

I would just get a reg and bc if I were you.

 

[diversteve]

no longer applicable..

 

[OceanicRocks]

jim thank you for commenting...
I think 14-15K in purchased gear is far more expensive than $50 to rent it, don't you

how difficult/costly is it to become an oceanic tech? Just wondering. Thanks

 

[nereas]

I'm what you would call a vacation diver... I love to dive but I dive to see the wildlife. Unfortunatly I live in a cold climate where there is mud to see...

It has been somwhat agonizing to consider the purchase of all of my gear. I am unsure if the cost outweighs the need for my own gear. Here's the thing, I recently got back from a jamaica trip where I could have gone diving 2 tanks per day. day trips were deep dives and afternoon dives were shallower 60 ft max. So, I go on my first dive at the resort and I don't like what I see at all. reg hoses cracked and split to the point that you can see the inner hose wrap has started to split... second stages beat up to a pulp. DM's very layedback... spg even conked out on me during my dive. This was such a concern to me on this trip that I forfitted most of my dives for safty(divs were included in the package mind you)... Wife was upset as she knows how I love to dive (she does not dive) and didn't really understand why I wasn't diving. this trip really woke me up to the dangers of diving beatup equip. needless to say I only dove three times out of a possible 20 dives. Horrible... as I now dream of diving everyday, something was missing from my trip.

so this question of maintenance on regs every year is a real one to me. More so is that people are telling me that if you don't dive your regs every year than that is worse on a regulator than diving it everyday. So, I'm not sure what to think. I have had a few years where I don't get a chance to go away and others where I don't go to a dive destination. so what to do? do I buy my own equipment? is it actually going to be safer if there are a few years that I skip service? I definatly plan to service my gear befor I go diving but I don't know if I will do it if I don't dive... I don't know if anyone can offer adifinitive answer to this but... any suggestions on what you think would be greatly appreciated. TY

Quite a few myths in this.

I presume you already own at least your own 3mm wetsuit & booties, right?

As well as fins, mask, and snorkel too?

Your own regulator set is nice to have as well. Once a year you will need to get it "serviced" (which means overhauled). That normally costs about $75 each year. Whether you use your reg or not, this still needs to be done.

A backplate, wing, and STA are nice to have as well. You can buy ordinary webbing for about $20 rather than an expensive BC for this. Oxycheq makes great wings of all sizes for about $350 each, and they do not require an STA, which saves you another $150 for the STA. Any steel or aluminum backplate will do nicely.

Then when you get to your diving destination, you can dive worry free, with your own high quality gear.

 

[nereas]

This is what I would do in your situation. Actually I was in your situation as I was certified in 1981 but really didn't dive more than about every 3-4 years until 2001 when I was able to devote more time to diving. So I used the same BC/reg for the first 15 years having bought reasonably priced solid equipment initially - a Dacor Pacer reg and someone else's BCD - both of which are no longer in business afaik.
Although on one trip in the mid-90's a DM did comment on my "antique" BCD. And honestly the only service I ever did was before a planned trip so my gear sometimes sat 4-5 years with no maintenance. Never had any service technician comment on it going bad. And I even sold the reg 20 years later for 1/2 of what I paid for it...lol

What I'd do is buy a reasonably priced solidly built BCD. Most likely a travel model like the Zeagle Stiletto or comparable since it packs smaller and it appears you'll mostly be doing warm water diving.

Then buy a good, less expensive wrist computer. You don't need a Nitrox compatible model (unless you plan to dive Nitrox) and you certainly don't need a wireless model unless you buy your own regs since you won't move the transmitter between rentals. Given the infrequency of use, buy a model that has easily user-changeable batteries and remove them between trips. My LDS recommends changing the batteries before every trip, which seems like a good idea to me, it costs under $20 for peace of mind.

Lastly, although they cost more upfront, consider an Atomic Aquatics regulator. The B2 has titanium components which won't corrode and their seat saving orifice in the 2nd stage which only contacts the seat when under pressure. From what I understand this is one of the problem areas for other regulators, the seat gets grooved or a memory from continual pressure.

And the recommended service interval is 2 years/300 dives. Limited lifetime warranty to the original owner also - which I think is pretty standard.

Or there's the Z2, no titanium but every other feature as the B2. Not sure what the pricing is on it, but I'm guessing around $500? And all their models have identical breathing perfomance.

I've seen a couple of B1's on eBay recently also, one was NOS and sold for about $350.

Anyone who cannot spare money on a dive computer should not get one. There are depth timers for $150 that work just as well.

For an affordable reg, I would recommend Mares or Poseidon, rather than Atomic.

The only part of a "BCD" that is absolutely needed is the wing. The rest of it is c r a p. Therefore a better purchase would be an Oxycheq wing, plus backplate, plus webbing and D-rings and a buckle. The Oxycheqs have cams that take the place of an expensive STA.

Zeagles are fine wing-B/Cs, just expensive too.

 

[nereas]

jim thank you for commenting...
I think 14-15K in purchased gear is far more expensive than $50 to rent it, don't you

how difficult/costly is it to become an oceanic tech? Just wondering. Thanks

Renting everything will normally run about $100+ per day.

And the gear you are getting is not normally very good. Especially not, at destinations in Latin America.

 

[OceanicRocks]

Quite a few myths in this.

I presume you already own at least your own 3mm wetsuit & booties, right?

As well as fins, mask, and snorkel too?

well.... I just found out after diving all of these years that I need some kind of certification to dive or something, is that right? and I usually dive in my gene shorts and tank top

y I have my boots, quatros, henderson shorty, andzeagle ebon mask and snorkel, as well as my big A88 knife

oh and what myths are you talking about?