Is there enough choice for kids diving equipment out there??

[frogkicks1]

Hello All,

First time contributor long time diver.

As a parent with two kids I'm struggling to find a decent range of kid's diving equipment out there, firstly does anyone agree with this and secondly could I have some advice please on the best products for kids and where to get it from?

Thanks in advance!

 

[diversteve]

I don't really think there is a decent range of dive gear for kids the market is kind of small.

I'll vouch for any of these businesses - I've been to HofS and buy regularly from LeisurePro and Scubatoys. All ship internationally also.
Buoyancy Compensators Masks Kids Corner buy at LeisurePro
Search results for: 'kids'
Scuba Diving Kids Stuff with reviews on sale
Kids - House of Scuba - Scuba diving equipment, scuba gear, diving wetsuits, snorkel.

I'm a big fan of Zeagle's Ranger - both my buddy and I own one. Even the Jr. has some modular sizing options.

BC selection was addressed recently here also: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/bu...510140-youth-bc.html?highlight=kids+dive+gear

 

[tbone1004]

the range is minimal, masks are going to likely be the hardest part for quality masks. As far as BC's go straight to a BP/W it's the only one that will provide a safe amount of lift in the size they need *jacket bc's have their lift rated by the size, which is really bad*. Will also save you a lot of money down the road when you just hav eto open the straps no matter how tall or big they get.

Wetsuits/drysuits shouldn't be that bad, if you're doing local diving I'd put them in a drysuit day 1, thermal safety....
regulators are the same
booties *may have to go with womens size booties to get them small enough, but they do make neoprene socks and those with a set of chuck taylors work just fine and help them into a bigger fin size earlier

 

[maj2]

My daughter is using my old regs as a 'hand-me-down." As I upgraded gear, I kept the old stuff as i knew she was interested in starting.

For stuff that she will outgrow, thankfully we have a fair number of Junior divers in our area and all eventually grown out of their gear and get rid of it somehow. Our LDS has an annual used gear sale where we picked up a BCD for her. We also get her wetsuits the same way. As she outgrows the previous year's suit, we get a "new-to-her" wetsuit and try to sell off the ones she has outgrown.

Once she stops growing, we will invest in more permanent gear.

With respect to masks, keep in mind that faces do change shape a bit as a child grows. The mask that fit my daughter well last year does not fit so well this year.

As for boots, We have had good luck with Tilos boots for my daughter. They make boots in some very small sizes, although not all boots are available in all sizes: Boot Size Chart | Tilos

 

[cetacean]

Daughter was certified at 12, she's on her 2nd wetsuit (3mm) now at 13 (and 50+ dives later). Initially we thought equipment would be hard to find, but she's tall for her age, so almost all women's "small" gear fits her pretty well (except for fins, where she's already into size medium). She's using my older Atomic regulator setup, but we swapped out the mouthpieces (the adult sized ones made her gag). The one piece of equipment that ended up being the biggest adjustment actually wasn't anything size related - both my wife and I really dislike wearing our dive computers on our wrists (we both have them on our consoles), yet our daughter would spend all her safety stops holding and staring at her console when we set her up the same way - we moved her to a wrist mount computer and suddenly she was spending her safety stops looking around, enjoying the end of her dives.

Our son turns 11 in a couple of weeks - he's talking about wanting to get certified next year. He's smaller, so I'm assuming he'll need a kid's BC, but we'll do the same thing with the regulators (smaller mouth pieces, etc.). He already has fins/mask that he likes and is comfortable in... Given that kids grow so quickly, buying surfing wetsuits for them has worked well for us (they will outgrow them before the seams deteriorate). Much bigger selection of surf suits for kids... (assuming you're only diving warm water and get away with a 3mm suit).

 

[Belzelbub]

Not a whole lot of choices out there, but it can be done. My daughter is on the tall side for a 10 year old. She wears some of her mom's clothes, but has outgrown mom's shoes. So that helped in my case.

Prior to buying, I looked at all the kids BCs, and was most impressed with the Zeagle Ranger Jr. The fact that it could grow with her (PFS) was the main thing that the other kids BCs didn't have. In the end, I ended up getting her a small Zeagle Lazer on close out. Was prepared to get XS pieces, but didn't need to. She's got the straps cinched down all the way, so it will work for years of growth. When she outgrows it, I'll get her larger sections.