I need gear and I am too green to have a clue

[boatboy]

My wife and myself both just finished our class and we are taking our certification the first week in June. We want to buy a BC regs and dive computers. I need some advice. I don't want to go broke but I don't want to waste money on gear I will hate. The lds will sell me anything at a price but he is a deep tech diver into totally different diving than what I will likely do and his advice seems to be biased in that directin not to mention the thirty to forty percent difference in price compared to the internet. I will likely dive in fresh water lake near here a couple of time a year and in salt water a couple of weeks a year. Some body help me out. Thanks in advance.

 

[Welshman]

I suggest you don't rush into buying gear. Take your time and research potential gear. It is all too easy to spend a lot of money and then realise that it either isn't up to the job or is far too sophisticated for your needs. I found the Rodales Scuba Diving website to be vey helpful for its comparison tests of all types of equipment. You can find the site at www.scubadiving.com

As for where you buy equipment you're right in saying that buying over the internet potentially offers significant savings compared with the MRSP which most LDS quote. For equipment where fit isn't an issue e.g. regs, consoles, dive computers, fins, weightbelts etc. shop around over the net to find the best price. For BCDs, wetsuits, masks etc where fit is important you need to try it on before buying and so your LDS is likely to be your first port of call. You may well find that your LDS is willing to negotiate on price if you show a print out of the web page with the internet price on it. Or you could be a little bit sharp and try it on at the LDS, find your size and then order it over the net. I think the fair position is phone them up first, see whether what you want is in stock, and ask whether they will negotiate on price. I recently did this when I bought a BCD. The internet price was £275. The MRSP was £360 which is what the LDS quoted when I phoned up. We settled on £280 when I told them the internet price. When I arrived to get fitted for the right size a H&W couple were buying the identical BCD for the full MRSP! Just shows that 95% of negotiating is preparation.

As for what to buy it sounds as if your profile is similar to mine i.e. recreational diving on holiday and maybe some diving closer to home. For what it's worth I have an Oceanic Alpha 7 CDX first, second stage and octo, an Oceanic SPG, Depth Gauge and Compass Console and a Seaquest Pro QD+ BCD. For suits a 3mm full Oceanic Ascend and I've just bought a Scubapro Scotia 6.5mm semi dry for offshore UK diving through the summer. I also just bought a Suunto Mosquito. In terms of priorities I would rate having your own mask, suit and reg as most important. You can always hire a BCD on holiday and a good Dive Shop will have reasonable quality BCs available for hire.

Wahtever you buy I hope you enjoy your diving.

 

[herman]

Hello BB and welcome to the board.

Try doing a search here on the board on the subject, it has been discussed a lot over the years. To sum up the general opinion, rent, beg, borrow or steal a varity of equipment to see what you like and want. Some dive shops will let you try their equipment for free and/or will knock off the price of the rental if you purchase equipment from them. Until you get a real feel for what your diving style is going to be and even IF you want to continue diving, then it's difficult to determine what equipment you want. You may find that you end up only diving once or twice a year, is it actually worth buying equipment? Mind you, I hate rental gear BUT if you only dive once a year, is it worth the $1000-$3000 investment? In any case, take your time and get some diving in. When you do decide to purchase equipment, buy quality. If you maintain it, it will last for many years.

 

[JustAddWater]

Investment is right. As said in the posts above, go about your equipment purchasing wisely. Try/rent different exposure suits and equipment, and see what works best for your diving. What appears as a good deal now, could wind up being an albatross tied to your neck, and an expensive one at that.

 

[large_diver]

Boatboy,

A few random (long) thoughts,

I will echo the comments about being patient, trying before you buy, etc. You will get many opinions on the best gear, but it's not until you do some diving yourself that you'll begin to form opinions on the type of gear you want. Some gear choices are dependent on the types of diving you do, other choices are just personal preference. Once you start diving, you'll gradually become aware of what features are most important to you.

Renting for 5-10 dives also gives you some time for you and the wife to try some OW diving before dropping a few thousand on gear.....if, heaven forbid, one of you decides you hate diving after trying it in a cold local quarry......better to have spent $50 a day renting gear vs. $2,000 for new gear that you'll have to sell.

Also try and think about where you see your diving "career" heading -- if into tech diving...perhaps you should buy higher-end gear that you will grow into instead of out of.

I'll also echo the recommendation to try scubadiving.com for gear reviews. Also helpful are the discussions of the issues and features to be aware of when considering a particular piece of gear. These reviews DO NOT include every mfr. and every model, but they are a good place to start.

http://scubadiving.com/gear/

Another way to narrow the choices down -- check out your local shops and see what they offer. It is convenient to have gear that can be serviced by your LDS....

Regarding on-line buying. I think you've already received some advice on this above. On-line buying comes with it's own set of issues -- some of it is warranty related. Certain mfrs. don't officially allow on-line purchasing of their gear -- so the warranty you receive may be provided by the on-line dealer, not the mfr. If buying from Europe, the warranty may be provided by the mfr's European division, meaning you may have to send it abroad for warranty work. In some cases it is "gray mkt" merchandise....bottom line, it's important to know who you're buying from, what their reputation is and who is providing the warranty.

In general, you will consistently see a significant savings on on-line gear peices vs. the LDS....but many LDSs are willing to deal, especially if you are buying a bunch of gear at once or a package deal. For example, one of my local shops threw in 20 free fills when I bought my first tank from him. Many folks (namely shop owners) also feel it is unethcial for customers to come in and spend a significant amount of time picking the brain of the LDS regarding gear and trying things on, only to turn around and order on-line.....something to keep in mind. If you've done your own research and know what you want.....the internet may be the way to go.

Now, some biased personal opinion:

Regs: Lots of folks on this board love Apeks regs - very durable, proven reliability in extreme conditions, etc. Other well regarded names include Scubapro, Oceanic (the Delta series), Atomic. I have an Apeks TX-100 and TX-40 octo, which I am happy with.

Computers: I like Suunto computers due to ease of use and conservative nature (the model used by Suunto computers to compute remaining NDL time is more conservative than others). I own a Suunto Vyper. One big factor to consider with computers is whether you want air integration (tank pressure is shown on the face of your computer) or not (separate SPG).

BCs: Some things to think about -- (1) will you be traveling with your BC a lot (some are bulkier than others); (2) do you want a BC with integrated weights (which can replace or reduce the amount of weight on your belt; some BC weights are ditchable, others are not); (3) back inflation vs. jacket style (one has the BC air cell on your back, the other surrounds you as it inflates). Well regarded names are Sea-Quest, Zeagle & Scubapro, among others. If techier diving is in your future, you may want to talk to your tech-diving LDS friend about backplate/wings set-ups.

This is not meant to be a comprehensive guide, just some things to start thinking about and some biased product opinions. Go and do some reading, check your LDS, and then come back to this or other on-line boards to ask more questions...everyone has opinions and you'll get plenty of them here. Just remember that what works for others may not work for you (and there will be diferences between you and your wife), so the more research you do, the better buying decisions you'll both make.

Good luck!

 

[Welshman]

That's good advice from Large Diver.

 

[budgy]

For the newbie there's quite a dilemma. I tried new things before and have let them go. For those of us who dive regular the cost of a new piece of equipment may be expensive but there's no question we won't wear it out.
A dive club where you can borrow some gear is often the best you can do. If you rent or borrow a bcd, tank and regulator, do so. Mask fins and suit you have got to buy them.
Regards buying on-line I have never done it. With gear like masks and suits a good fit is the most important factor, same with fins no good ordering and finding out you can't get them on over your suit boots. Of course you can size up at the lds and then order on line, but remember if you haggle you get a chance to establish a relationship with the local shop, and you will need their assistance particularly when gear is not right.
I would leave computers and just dive with a watch and tables until you are sure your hooked. Regs can be very expensive I would buy a Calipso. Sure its cheap and not in the same class as a Mk20 Scuba pro, or Mares Ruby Titanium, but its half the price of a tx40. It will give you air reliably at any depth and you should not be pushing the limits in the first couple of years. This type of reg was used in mixed gas experiments in decompression chambers so I believe it can work deeper than you would ever need or intend to go. If you dive with it for two years don't service it, junk it you will lose no money and by then you will know what you want. One bit of gear I would recommend if you dive regular and local is a shot weight harness for comfort, big solid weights used to leave me with aching kidneys all week.

 

[boatboy]

Seems like a lot of good advice. I guess I should have given more background information though. We have already purchased masks, fins and dive boots from the LDS. I even had lens made with my prescription, (wife doesn't have this problem). The idea of us not diving is not real likely. I grew up on a lake and have been a boater most of my life. I am in my thirties and can' t rember why I never got certified before. I live on the water currently. I only travel to water. I have snorkeled in Bimini all over the gulf coast of Florida, Cancun, Cozumel and we just came back from the British and American Virgin Islands in January. Actually that was the straw that broke the camels back. We have said for years we where going to get certified and always found a reason not to. After a week aboard a sail boat in the Caribean with a captain who is also a DiveMaster, we snorkeled daily, we figured we had squandered our lost dive oportunity and it was time to seize the day. We actually had one of the two other couples on the charter go through the open water course with us and one other of our group of boaters. So I have no fear of buying equipment and being the sad story on ebay in six months with new gear and never diving again. I do have a fear of being the guy on ebay with junk that he doesn't want to dive with and passing it off on another newbie. So keep the good advice comming and if I'm not on my recently dewinterize boat I'll try to head it.
Thanks,

 

[budgy]

We are kind of conservative in Scotland, split fins have yet to make any impact. I see many trainee divers not make it out of the pool and many sea trainees give up, less than 1 in 10 become regular divers, but then our local conditions are perhaps not so appealing. With your commitment to water, the advice changes. There are a lot of good regs out there, I like the TX40 reg, I can't see how the new ATX or other more expensive regs out perform it. This reg is so popular locally that only scuba pro seems to compete with it. If you can get it serviced locally; for your money I think its hard to do better. I am a dry suit diver, I cannot tell you about wet suits, I never owned or used one, I don't know your local diving conditions and what you need to keep warm, or probably cool.

 

[boatboy]

Ok I have done some research and Apeks/SeaQuest in the US either make real good regualtors or have the best pr people in the world. I have yet to find a bad review anywhere on the planet on any of the tx or atx regs. Does anyone know the difference between a ctx50 and an atx50 they are both on leisurepro.com at close to the same price. That is the only place I have seen the ctx designation. Also the good news is my lds is a SeaQuest dealer and I am pretty sure he will match the prices I have found elsewhere, so it looks like I am leaning in that direction for mine and my wifes regs.