spectrum:
Since you just dropped the cash a post of your buying rationale would be much more interesting.
Pete
I got certified back in 87, I dove in a regular basis for a couple of years after that, but then I quit diving for a while, after that was it was on and off until recently. I went to the Caribbean and I got the itch to get back into diving again, I have already signed for my AOW and Rescue Diver classes. I got rid of my equipment sometime ago and I decided it was a good time to get new equipment before I took the classes.
Zeagle Brigade: My first impulse was to go with a Mares Morphos metal; I liked the Air Trim system. Doing a search on reviews I came to ScubaBoard. After reading opinions on the board and finding about the different types of BCD’s and their advantages I decided on a back inflate BCD. I narrowed my search to two models Sea Quest Balance and Zeagle Brigade. The rave reviews on Zeagle equipment on the board and the assurance of Scubatoys to help me if the need ever arises sold me on the Brigade.
Oceanic Delta 3 TDX5 Titanium: What can I say; I like Titanium. Don’t get me wrong I wouldn’t pay $1,200.00 dollars for the regulator and, if Tech Diving was on my near future I would also pass on the deal, because of the compatibility issues with gas mixtures containing over 40% oxygen. Other than these two issues there is nothing bad with the regulator’s performance, so at $400.00 bucks and only 36% enriched air diving in my future it was a deal hard to beat. Besides that if I ever get into Tech Diving I’ll have an excuse to buy more gear.
Zeagle RKO Octo Inflator: I know the opinions of these inflator/octopus combos are split. I like the idea of getting rid of an extra hose and having the secondary air source in a place where you grab it instinctively if is ever needed. I will instruct my diving buddy to go for my primary in an OOA situation. If I find out that I really hate it for any reason after the Rescue Diver class I can always sell it and get a regular octo instead. Considering prices for equipment here in Mexico are 25 to 50% higher I’m confident I can get what I paid for it at the very least.
Oceanic max depth console: Two things, the non-linear depth scale and, I wanted to keep my gauges the same brand as my regulator.
Wrist mounted compass: Versatility, with an available clip I can mount the compass in the console if I want to switch. Hard to do the other way around with a console mounted compass.
Twin Jet Max fins: I was trying some fins at the LDS, mostly Cressi. When I asked about jet fins the owner told me he had a pair of Twin Jets, a customer order them in yellow and they arrived in blue so they had to reorder, He said he would let me have them for 25% off, never tried a split fin before and I am curios about the performance so I said what a heck.
CrystalVu Mask: First and foremost it fit the best of all the available masks. This and the fins were two items I did not want to buy on-line to insure good fit. I got the model with a purge, which is something I wanted to try for a while.
Regards.
