Mike Harmon
Registered
Hi Folks,
My wife and I are (retired) newbies, and will be doing our O/W checkout dives in Puerto Rico in a little over a week. After a lot of research and questions, we bought our gear today. Here's our gear layout:
Scubapro Mk25/S600 regs
Scubapro R295 octos
Uwatec Smart-Z computers
She: Oceanic Hera BCD
Me: Oceanic Probe LX BCD
Scubapro Twin Jet Fins
Scubapro Crystal Vu purge masks
Scubapro snorkels and boots
In case any of you wonder why we chose Oceanic BCD's, it's because they seemed to fit better and trim out better in the water. They also have nice big zip pockets and I like the weight pockets/releases better than the Scubapro BCD's. I did like the zip pocket on the Scubapro Glide Plus cummerbund (perfect for Sea Drops), but the Probe had more D-rings and handy things (like the retractor anchors and knife mounting grommets).
I chose octos rather than the alternate air inflators for a couple of reasons: First, most divers are taught air sharing using octos, so if your buddy has an OOA problem, they are instinctively going to look for that yellow reg. Second, it seems to me that despite the fact that the "Air-2" style inflators are close at hand, switching to the alternate in an OOA emergency takes time and hands, when you should probably be grabbing your buddy's BCD and making sure they get the reg in their mouth right-side-up. It just seems to make more sense to keep your primary in your mouth and take care of your OOA buddy, rather than fooling around switching regs.
What do you folks think? Any comments? (I can't believe I asked that question here on SB!). I'll be giving the new rig the smoke test Monday night in the pool and then it's off to PR on the 29th. I'll give you a report when I return.
Mike
My wife and I are (retired) newbies, and will be doing our O/W checkout dives in Puerto Rico in a little over a week. After a lot of research and questions, we bought our gear today. Here's our gear layout:
Scubapro Mk25/S600 regs
Scubapro R295 octos
Uwatec Smart-Z computers
She: Oceanic Hera BCD
Me: Oceanic Probe LX BCD
Scubapro Twin Jet Fins
Scubapro Crystal Vu purge masks
Scubapro snorkels and boots
In case any of you wonder why we chose Oceanic BCD's, it's because they seemed to fit better and trim out better in the water. They also have nice big zip pockets and I like the weight pockets/releases better than the Scubapro BCD's. I did like the zip pocket on the Scubapro Glide Plus cummerbund (perfect for Sea Drops), but the Probe had more D-rings and handy things (like the retractor anchors and knife mounting grommets).
I chose octos rather than the alternate air inflators for a couple of reasons: First, most divers are taught air sharing using octos, so if your buddy has an OOA problem, they are instinctively going to look for that yellow reg. Second, it seems to me that despite the fact that the "Air-2" style inflators are close at hand, switching to the alternate in an OOA emergency takes time and hands, when you should probably be grabbing your buddy's BCD and making sure they get the reg in their mouth right-side-up. It just seems to make more sense to keep your primary in your mouth and take care of your OOA buddy, rather than fooling around switching regs.
What do you folks think? Any comments? (I can't believe I asked that question here on SB!). I'll be giving the new rig the smoke test Monday night in the pool and then it's off to PR on the 29th. I'll give you a report when I return.
Mike
