How many people are happy....

[DiveMaven]

My husband and I never rented beyond our OW certification and the 2 dives we did during the same trip. We had (have) plans to cruise in the Caribbean 8 months after certification and didn't want to risk our lives on rental gear from foreign countries. I found a great deal on a once used BC (Diva) on E-bay for $150, then bought my regs/computer from Larry at ScubaToys (thanks Larry!). My husband bought his entire package at an LDS since he wanted SeaQuest, AquaLung, and Oceanic stuff, all of which cannot be sold with a manufacturer's warranty on the internet. By buying a package, the LDS gave us a good discount and included a knife and bag in the bargain, so we were pleased with that.

We loved every piece of our equipment using it for the first time last week in Key Largo, and actually enjoyed our dives more knowing we were using our own gear!

 

[Kat]

I have all my own gear, except f/ a drysuit & my own tanks.
Although I rented gear along the way, none of what I bought was ever tried as a rental.
I have replaced my mask & fins, but I had bought them f/ snorkeling years before I became a diver. As a plus, I gave them to my daughter f/ snorkeling & she handed down her snorkel gear to her brother.
I did research my dive gear before I bought it. Got tons of info, right here on Scubaboard.
I am very happy with all my gear. I know I will probably always be a recreational diver & I'll never go tech. So, my gear should last me a very long time.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I just don't like them, I've accompanied two buddies to the surface because when the thing lost sync it lost everything. No depth or time readings either. I remember Bob(NWGD) had an issue too, don't remember if his was AI or not.

Not me ... I've never used an AI computer ... hoseless or otherwise.

What you're thinking of was a sensor failure with my original Oceanic Versa Pro. After we ended the dive, the computer thought it was still at 14 fsw.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[TwoTanks]

buying your own gear is the way to go, but.... you need to understand the choices you have (not just mares or scubapro) but the type of BC (jacket, rear inflation or backplate and harness). They are all good depending on the type of diving you want to do but they feel very different and you may wish you had a different type later. same with suits, Drysuit, 7mm wetsuit, hyperstrech suit, gold core the list goes on. The point is some pieces of equipment have great ratings but feel and function very differently.
I would start with regs and a computer the evaluations pretty much tell the story with them. but... supposedly there are a lot of new computers comming out at dema in the fall so you might want to wait.
most shops will have a good variety of suits you can try on, just be sure to try on different types not just one brand.
as far as an air intigrated computer goes, you should get what you like, If it fails you still know that you have enough air to abort the dive which is what (could) happen. but if you have a non intigrated computer and it fails you still loose your depth guage and deco data so you have to abort anyway so don't worry about AI until you are doing pretty advanced diving.
If you join a dive club you may be able to try other types of gear which are not available for rental.