Lug it or rent it?

[hsinhai]

For sure bring your computer and possibly your mask. In Taiwan rental is cheap, to rent a full set of gear usually costs NTD1000~1200 per day (USD30~37), on top of that air rental is NTD140~200 (USD4.75~6.25) a tank. You can dive up north, though for many it is just now starting to get cold (lol).. but best places are Kenting down south, or better Green Island.

Drop into the Taiwan forum if you are in search of a dive buddy, I'm sure you will be able to pickup a dive, no need to pay guide fees.

 

[DivemasterDennis]

Pain or no pain, my wife and I take our own gear on every dive trip, except for tanks and weights. And we take alot, because we do a lot of independent diving. At a minimum take your mask(s), fins, octo, and computer. Your will enjoy diving more, and be a safer divir using familiar equipment that you know is in good working order.
DivemasterDennis

 

[Scuba-dan]

So it looks like I'll be spending 3 or 4 months in Asia late this year, early next. While diving won't be the primary mission (my wife, who is not a diver, has family in Taiwan and we want to see Japan), I anticipate doing a few weeks of diving...perhaps a little more. I'm tentatively planning to bring my reg and computer. We will likely be covering a lot of ground; dragging unused dive equipment will be a pain. What, if anything, would you bring?

For me i would bring my gear. I know my gear, trust it, the maintenance is done on it. I have no clue what the rental gear been through and is it safe. Sorry I'm a person that has trust issues when it comes to that. I'm not a fish so i need trustworthy equipment but that me overly cautious.

Sent from my LG-D852 using Tapatalk

 

[Land Fish]

This probably is a bit off topic, but I'd like to recommend that you go with a trustworthy dive centre. Essentially, you get what you paid for. This is particularly true when diving in S Asia. One example, just got back from Bali and I witness a dive centre send a female diver down in a shortie while I was wearing a 3mm full wetsuit with a 2.5mm hooded vest inside, both brand new. The temp was about 28 on the surface, but thermocline occurred at 2 meters and then dropped to 21 degree at about 12 meters and 18 degree at 20 meters. She seemed about my body build from about 30 meters away (boat dive), I double she'd survive for more than 5 mins underwater with that shortie. I aborted the dive after 15 mins simply because I was shivering. Dive centre can make or break a diving trip.

 

[bowlofpetunias]

I will always bring my own gear. It is easy to go lighter on clothes and get them washed than trust your life to gear you don't know.

I will make another suggestion tho. If you are doing the Taiwan leg where you might be diving first..why not try to track down a way of shipping the stuff you don't want to lug around Japan back home? You may find a fairly cheap way of doing it so you have the best of both worlds.. all your own gear for the diving other than weights and tank and lighter backpack in Japan. Japan water will likely require different exposure protection anyway if you do decide to dive there.

At the least I would bring Regs, Mask, computer and fins. I have an issue with my foot/knees so I need to bring the fins I found that work best for me.

 

[freewillie]

I've dragged a whole set of gear to the Bahamas for only a single day 2 tank dive. Wetsuit, mask, fins, computer, and regulators. In hind sight it was a bit of a pain and I'm still on the fence about bringing them again for such a short time. When we go to Hawaii or some place similar the gear obviously goes since there will enough days to justify bringing the gear. So it also depends on how many dives you will be doing over those weeks. The more dives the more you should bring your gear. Especially if it's only mask, regulator, and computer. Of course, if you strap your back pack to the BC it's like piggy backing and only having one back pack. Little heavy, but still something that fits on the back without using two hands.

 

[Michaelszippy]

There's no way I'm carrying a full set of dive gear with me on this whole trip as it's primarily a family visit and tourism, with diving a distant third in terms of time spent.

As we will start in Taiwan, shipping it back to the US is a possibility. Cost would likely be somewhere around $200. I'll have to give that some thought. Seems like a relatively small price to pay for the comfort of using my own gear.

 

[TMHeimer]

There's no way I'm carrying a full set of dive gear with me on this whole trip as it's primarily a family visit and tourism, with diving a distant third in terms of time spent.

As we will start in Taiwan, shipping it back to the US is a possibility. Cost would likely be somewhere around $200. I'll have to give that some thought. Seems like a relatively small price to pay for the comfort of using my own gear.

Sounds like a good idea. Would seem you'd spend way more than $200 renting, even for just a few dives. For a full set of gear per day I think we charge about $55 Can. There also that shops usually want it returned the same or next day, I think. None of that with your own stuff, but with rented tanks of course. If you're in one place for a while and will get numerous air fills from the same shop, maybe they'd let you just use 2 of their tanks with no same day return. I do that with 2 shops in S. USA.

 

[JBFG]

Mask, regs, and computer. aside from the mask, the computer fits in the reg bag.

 

[AfterDark]

So it looks like I'll be spending 3 or 4 months in Asia late this year, early next. While diving won't be the primary mission (my wife, who is not a diver, has family in Taiwan and we want to see Japan), I anticipate doing a few weeks of diving...perhaps a little more. I'm tentatively planning to bring my reg and computer. We will likely be covering a lot of ground; dragging unused dive equipment will be a pain. What, if anything, would you bring?

The least I'd bring is my regulators. Take all the hoses off the reg it'll be easier to pack. You could even put the hoses in your checked lugged and carry on the 1st and 2nd stages. Enjoy!