How does a new diver select the right gear?

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On the left as you drive onto Portland Bill, across the road from Chessil Beach. Underwater Explorers (dirdirect.com) are about 100yds away so you can really give your credit card a pounding while you're there :).


Sounds like you sort of know exactly where they are! I may have been googling, but I can stop whenever i want. I just choose not to.
 
I would say that between Dirdirect and Othree you should be able to get pretty good equipment that will last you a lifetime diving without spending huge amounts of money.

You can hit that credit card hard but they both also have cheaper alternatives for most of the gear and are very knowledgable
 
Rather than answer how to select the right gear, I'll share my "new diver buying gear" experiences as an example of what I'd suggest nobody do.

I rented/borrowed gear for my first 15-20 dives. In retrospect, I probably would've pushed that number closer to 50 before I bought much of anything beyond mask, fins, wetsuit. Nobody can really say there's a hard and fast number of dives before you should be ready to buy, but I still didn't really know a whole lot of what was out there. I figured regs were regs, fins were fins (though I'd already determined I'd never choose to dive split fins again by this point), and a BC was a BC (hey, they all leak anyway, right?). As a result, I bought in to the brand my LDS had on display. A brand who, at the time, had a fancy new feature they were marketing hard. I had moved a few states away, so I found a dealer here on SB who cut me a killer deal on a full set of regs. I bought a wetsuit on sale from Leisure Pro. Cheap fins. A mask that didn't fit right. Cheap used Al80 that was nearly out of hydro.

All that's a long way to say I didn't really put much *thought* into the gear I was going to purchase. I just wanted gear, so I could spend less per dive, and increase the frequency I got in the water. Ideally, I'd get that gear at the best deal possible. Fortunately, I didn't pull the trigger on a BC before I started opening my eyes to the "growth options" in diving. I started to formulate an idea of what type of diving I saw myself doing ten years from now. I did research on dive destinations, read trip reports, looked at the training paths necessary to get the most out of any given type of diving, and did a little soul searching. I had nagged my parents for years about letting me get certified to dive, ultimately breaking them down when I was 12 or 13, and got my OW with my dad. Even before I won that battle, I knew I wanted to dive wrecks (who wouldn't?!). So, now almost a decade later, I started pushing my gear toward stuff that would be functional for that type of training and environment.

Lucky for me, I had a friend drooling over my regs, so he bought them off me for exactly what I'd paid a dozen or so dives prior (like I said, I got a good deal to start). I then bought Salvo regs - well respected by the Florida cave divers, they'll certainly work for me - a year or two before Salvo ceased to exist. I offloaded those at a heavy loss and replaced them with my current setup - Dive Rite regs. As of today, I still haven't even done 100 dives, but I'm now on my third set of regulators. That's not a trend I suggest anyone follow. A little more time pondering what type of diving I wanted to grow into, combined with a little more research, and a bit more patience, and I could've saved a lot of money by borrowing/renting to try stuff, rather than buying it to try it.

Don't discount a realistic estimate of how often you'll dive, either. I wildly overestimated how frequently I'd get to dive. Part of that is absolutely my fault, but I was also led astray by a "promising" dive buddy, who wound up being more likely to prevent me from diving than enable me to do so. Had I waited to see how often I'd actually dive, I probably still wouldn't own any gear today. But I was excited to dive more frequently, so I bought gear to make that happen. Pro tip: that's not how it works.

Short answer; don't be in a rush to buy. Take it slow and only buy something you're certain you want to dive for many dives into the future. Sometimes you may still miss the mark and wind up replacing something sooner than later, but take it from me; it's a lot cheaper to rent than it is to buy new gear every 10-15 dives :banghead:
 
I want to thank everyone for all of your advice and comments. It's been very helpful!

For me personally, I think a wetsuit is going to be one of my first purchases. Renting a wetsuit just feels way too much like wearing underwear that's been passed around among dozens of people already. Sure, it may have been washed every time but I'd rather not rent it.

So with that said, are there good quality brands of 3 mm, full wetsuits that can be had for under $100? Aside from fit and comfort while moving around, are there any other guidelines to determine cheap vs good quality?
 
I want to thank everyone for all of your advice and comments. It's been very helpful!

For me personally, I think a wetsuit is going to be one of my first purchases. Renting a wetsuit just feels way too much like wearing underwear that's been passed around among dozens of people already. Sure, it may have been washed every time but I'd rather not rent it.

So with that said, are there good quality brands of 3 mm, full wetsuits that can be had for under $100? Aside from fit and comfort while moving around, are there any other guidelines to determine cheap vs good quality?

short answer? no, under $100 for a good 3mm doesn't exist. You can find some from Divers Supply for $70-$90, but they're usually 3/2's, and don't have a lot of warmth which you will appreciate in the quarries especially. This is one case where that Deep6 wetsuit is worth the extra money at $150. It dives much more like a 5mm due to the fleece layer and proper seals at the wrists and ankles, and the pockets are super nice to have since BC pockets are really annoying.
 
I haven't been to the Divers Supply in Charlotte, but the one in Marietta is more or less my local dive shop. If you like the idea of shopping locally and in person, they sell HOG brand gear, which can be good value or bang-for-the-buck. Consider a basic backplate-and-wing style BCD and a set of HOG regs. You can do a search on SB for threads in which HOG has been discussed to see what it's about. The founder of HOG went on to found Deep6, which you can also search for threads discussing. Deep6 regs have gotten some great reviews here for bang-for-the-buck. I believe they are discontinuing the wetsuit that tbone referred to above, and they are apparently still available at the discount price while supplies last. I snagged one myself.

I agree with your inclination to buy a wetsuit before anything else.
 
Here are a few thoughts:

a) Stay away from split fins and snorkels. Snorkels will become a nuisance and split fins will end up being sold on ebay. Purpose of fins is to provide precision and stability and while split fins make it seem that they make the flutter kick easy, they suck at every thing else. A rubber or rubber compound fin like scubapro Jets, Deep 6 Eddy, Hollis F1 are the fins to look at. Make sure it has a spring strap.

c) Back plate and wing: These are designed to keep you horizontal in water and make the bubble management easy. Ideal configuration to work on your stability.

d) Dive computer: Wrist mount not console. You will be looking at your wrist in horizontal trip while using your left hand for buoyancy management. That left hand should not be given a console to hold. Cheapest wrist computer will serve most recreational divers. Spend money where it matters.

e) Best wetsuit is the one that fits you the best. Try a whole bunch and do not hesitate to order a custom made suit if you do not get the best fit.

Good luck!
 
@Lorenzoid the Charlotte Divers Supply is nothing like the big one in Marietta. It's slightly larger than "normal dive shop" sized with marginally better inventory in house.

And what you refer to as a "big" one in Marietta is not as big as the big one in Macon.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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