Need advice on light warm water equipment

[akulamd]

As long as your regulators are still doing the job, there is no need to replace them, just get them serviced. I have been diving my Mares MR22 Abyss for over 20 years.
Look at the Dive Rite Hydro Lite BCD. Dive Rite have dealers world wide. Hydro Lite BCD - Dive Rite | Equipment for Serious Divers

They do the job but maintenance is an issue. And repairs were tough in Solomon Islands on the liveaboard away from the land. I want something easily serviceable with widely available spare parts. scubapro seems to fit the bill

 

[gamon]

Great point! I have considered it and have done it on occasion. It might still be the way I go. I got to liking my hose less computer and find that some of the outfits are funny about letting people change rental setups…

When we dived the liveaboard in Australia I asked ahead of time and they gave the ok to put our transmitters on their first stage regulators. And I've done it with other dive operators as well.

 

[akulamd]

What's the matter with the stuff you've already got?

Quality dive gear can last longer than you will.

When you're underwater it doesn't really matter how much the stuff weighs, if you get lighter gear you'll need more weight.

Ok, first of all - thank you for responding.
I get the point that weight is not important under water.
I agree with the fact that quality gear will last lifetime. However there are some specific demands placed on gear in different situations. I am not using my
7mm suit when I travel and don’t need extra lift BCD, for example.
With regard to weight constraints, I was referring to traveling with the equipment especially if diving trip is only part of the vacation.
We will be crisscrossing Australia for two weeks after being on the boat for 10 days…

 

[Saboteur]

Zeagle Envoy II, Onyx or F8. Zeagle Scout or Express Tech or Covert BCD.

 

[randini]

For a BC I'll suggest looking at the Dive Rite hydrolite. Nearly bombproof lightweight modular setup. The only things that can fail are very easily fixed with standard o rings and aquaseal. IF you want something a bit more robust, check out the Transpak and travel wing.

For regs I suggest having a look at the Cressi MC9 and whatever second it comes with now. Cressi are huge on the global scale but never really made it in the US. The MC9 is a lightweight, super easy reg to service that kind of seems like the evolution of the old US divers Conshelf (it's a diaphragm reg in a bullet form factor). It's a more than good enough performing reg for recreational diving and performs quite well (I used to have a pair that I used on doubles on deco dives).

 

[TostitoBandito]

Hi folks!
My wife and I are experienced scuba divers who have been diving for several decades. Herein lies the problem - we have not updated most of our gear for about 25 years!
We both have old Zeagle regulators, I still have my old Zeagle Ranger BC.

I also started out on a Ranger BC. Turns out that I didn't do nearly as much cold water diving as warm water, and as many people do I quickly learned about streamlining and backplate/wing setups as I got more experience. They really should do a better job steering OW students towards BP/W setups, or at least educating them about them. Anyways...

A few years ago I replaced my Ranger with a Dive Rite Transpac XT with the travel wing, and it's fantastic. Highly customizable, comfortable, relatively affordable. Does everything you need it to and nothing you don't (based on which accessories you attach). Yes you can buy a metal backplate, wing, and DIY a webbing harness for a couple hundred $ cheaper, but the transpac is nice because it cuts out the labor and is a complete package that will fit and work (though an aluminum BP+harness/wing setup is also an option if you want more rigidity). Much more streamlined than my Ranger was. 44lb of lift was extreme overkill in the tropics with <10lb of lead. More compact and easier to pack too.

For regs I finally just recently upgraded my 20 year old Zeagle regs from when I started with a Scubapro Mk17Evo2/s620Ti/R105 set. Also took the opportunity to go to DIN (another thing they should really steer OW students towards...). The Mk17 is basically just a sealed Mk11 with a slightly higher price tag, and either would be fantastic choices. Both are relatively light and compact for travel. Scubapro is one of the big boys and is probably one of the easiest brands to find parts for worldwide.

And yeah, I also had issues recently getting Zeagle regs serviced. The part kits are generally available, but not necessarily in stock everywhere like the bigger brands are, so service time can be longer and emergency repairs more problematic.

 

[akulamd]

I will certainly look into the DiveRite BC, especially because I do quite a bit of “cold” water diving (SoCal). Cold enough for the dry suit so backplate and small wings would do.

• I also started out on a Ranger BC. Turns out that I didn't do nearly as much cold water diving as warm water, and as many people do I quickly learned about streamlining and backplate/wing setups as I got more experience. They really should do a better job steering OW students towards BP/W setups, or at least educating them about them. Anyways...
  
  A few years ago I replaced my Ranger with a Dive Rite Transpac XT with the travel wing, and it's fantastic. Highly customizable, comfortable, relatively affordable. Does everything you need it to and nothing you don't (based on which accessories you attach). Yes you can buy a metal backplate, wing, and DIY a webbing harness for a couple hundred $ cheaper, but the transpac is nice because it cuts out the labor and is a complete package that will fit and work (though an aluminum BP+harness/wing setup is also an option if you want more rigidity). Much more streamlined than my Ranger was. 44lb of lift was extreme overkill in the tropics with <10lb of lead. More compact and easier to pack too.
  
  For regs I finally just recently upgraded my 20 year old Zeagle regs from when I started with a Scubapro Mk17Evo2/s620Ti/R105 set. Also took the opportunity to go to DIN (another thing they should really steer OW students towards...). The Mk17 is basically just a sealed Mk11 with a slightly higher price tag, and either would be fantastic choices. Both are relatively light and compact for travel. Scubapro is one of the big boys and is probably one of the easiest brands to find parts for worldwide.
  
  And yeah, I also had issues recently getting Zeagle regs serviced. The part kits are generally available, but not necessarily in stock everywhere like the bigger brands are, so service time can be longer and emergency repairs more problematic.

 

[akulamd]

For a BC I'll suggest looking at the Dive Rite hydrolite. Nearly bombproof lightweight modular setup. The only things that can fail are very easily fixed with standard o rings and aquaseal. IF you want something a bit more robust, check out the Transpak and travel wing.

For regs I suggest having a look at the Cressi MC9 and whatever second it comes with now. Cressi are huge on the global scale but never really made it in the US. The MC9 is a lightweight, super easy reg to service that kind of seems like the evolution of the old US divers Conshelf (it's a diaphragm reg in a bullet form factor). It's a more than good enough performing reg for recreational diving and performs quite well (I used to have a pair that I used on doubles on deco dives).

Thank you very much. I have never tried Cressi but of course will look at it carefully. I will have to find someone who carries DiveRite stuff in San Diego area as well. Thank you very much for advice

 

[akulamd]

That’s good to know and I might just do that. Thank you!

 

[bradlw]

I also started out on a Ranger BC. Turns out that I didn't do nearly as much cold water diving as warm water, and as many people do I quickly learned about streamlining and backplate/wing setups as I got more experience. They really should do a better job steering OW students towards BP/W setups, or at least educating them about them. Anyways...

I also dove with a Zeagle for most all of my dives....although mine isn't a Ranger. I can never remember what it's called. It looks just like a ranger, except it's missing the tab. I think it has slightly larger pockets and maybe a few more pounds lift. I started with a US Divers jacket BC in my OW class, but it was a little too big and I hated it. Bought my Zeagle early on and dove with it till I got into my technical training with doubles. Yes, the 40#+ lift was completely excessive...but for some reason I thought that this was good. I fell for the marketing I suppose.

I liked the streamlined simplicity of the BP wing set-up, and ended up buying a BP/Wing setup for singles.... this was back when a rig like this was very specialty and you didn't see them in every dive shop....
Mine is a SS plate and I loved the chance at reducing or even eliminating the lead.
I do find trim with the BP wing more difficult (it's more back heavy) and I wonder if it's a good choice for a new diver.