New To diving! Have some gear questions!

[Wyant27]

I've been enrolled in a scuba program at my University and I am only in the open water cert portion of the program. We eventually have to own all/most of our equipment. We will also be Air, Nitrox and Ice Diving as well as many other certifications. With the help of my father I purchased all brand new gear yesterday from my LDS. I was wondering what people thought of Oceanic and their equipment as well as Henderson's reputation.

Some things I bought were:

Oceanic Flex 2 BC
Delta 4.2 Reg
Slimline 2 Octo
FDX10 DVT 1st Stage
Pro Plus 2 Computer
V16 Fins
Mako 1 Mask

All the Neo's were Henderson brand:
7mm 2 piece wetsuit
5mm Boots
5mm Gloves
7mm Hood

 

[Nemrod]

Most of the people who are going to respond, including me, are enthusiast divers. Many are also quite experienced and over the years have settled on types of gear and configurations that are not the typical LDS gear package. Most of us, such people, dive a wing/back plate and use what is called a Hog (Hogarthian) rigging.

The equipment you have bought is perfectly acceptable and more than adequate recreational level gear but is not suited to advanced, technical or what I call adventure diving or Minimalist gear configurations. Enjoy your new gear, as you dive like the rest of us, you will learn what type of diving you prefer and your equipment choices in the future will be guided by your experience, not what a clerk in a retail dive store thinks you need.

N

 

[scububa]

Kind of approaching this backwards aren't you? You've already made the decisions on gear, now get use to using it. Probably more beneficial to research and seek advice before that kind of purchase rather than after. Most major manufacturers have good gear. A lot of it is overpriced in terms of performance vs. cost, including some items I have bought, but they have held up well for a good long time, but there are probably other routes I could have taken. Hopefully your purchases began a relationship with a shop that will be there for you. That's how it worked out for me.

 

[Mike]

Oceanic and Henderson are well respected dive equipment manufacturers. You could easily choose worse brands. Oceanic dive computers are well respected and appreciated by their users for the sensible algorithms they use in their software as well as the ability for the owner to change the battery themselves avoiding an expensive return to the manufacturer just to change a $4.00 battery.

 

[drrich2]

Oceanic and Henderson are good brand names. The Pro Plus 2 was a reputable console dive computer; be aware that there's now a Pro Plus 3 out, so your's is 'older,' but should still work fine. I hope it came with the PC Download Kit cable to put dives on your computer.

Henderson has some different lines of exposure suit; Neo Sport, Thermoprene and AquaLock, in ascending order of cost & features, from what I understand. I went to the Henderson USA website and noticed Thermoprene and AquaLock lines mentioned, but didn't notice NeoSport. I found NeoSport had a separate web page. Yet Googling turns up links for 'Neosport wetsuit by Henderson' type pages.

If I intuit correctly in this, it seems NeoSport is Henderson's low-end budget line, and they may wish to not have the Henderson name too closely attached to it.

If I'm wrong, perhaps someone will point out my mistake.

Richard.

 

[TSandM]

I wouldn't have bought what you bought, and I wouldn't have advised you to buy some of it. But the most important thing is that it fits properly and that you know how to use it. You may well, over time, rethink your choices (especially the fins) but everything you bought is perfectly usable -- just get it in the water and use it!

 

[Bigd2722]

I started buying gear when I just started diving and I say don't worry about buying new gear when just starting out. You can always sell it to buy something else. I have bought and sold gear for years now. So far, I'm only a few thousand dollars in the hole. Your gear will do fine, until you see someone with something that works better.

 

[buddhasummer]

I've been enrolled in a scuba program at my University and I am only in the open water cert portion of the program. We eventually have to own all/most of our equipment. We will also be Air, Nitrox and Ice Diving as well as many other certifications. With the help of my father I purchased all brand new gear yesterday from my LDS. I was wondering what people thought of Oceanic and their equipment as well as Henderson's reputation.

Some things I bought were:

Oceanic Flex 2 BC
Delta 4.2 Reg
Slimline 2 Octo
FDX10 DVT 1st Stage
Pro Plus 2 Computer
V16 Fins
Mako 1 Mask

All the Neo's were Henderson brand:
7mm 2 piece wetsuit
5mm Boots
5mm Gloves
7mm Hood

I say this quite often, unless you can return the gear you bought or don't really care what others think, asking about opinions post purchase is rarely a good idea. Nemrod nailed it. Oceanic make some nice gear and have great customer service should you need it. Enjoy the new gear, safe diving.

 

[Colliam7]

I've been enrolled in a scuba program at my University and I am only in the open water cert portion of the program. We eventually have to own all/most of our equipment. We will also be Air, Nitrox and Ice Diving as well as many other certifications. With the help of my father I purchased all brand new gear yesterday from my LDS. I was wondering what people thought of Oceanic and their equipment as well as Henderson's reputation.

Both Oceanic and Henderson have good reputations. So, strictly on the basis of brand, there are no concerns. In fact, all of my wetsuits (1mm, 3mm, and 5mm) are Henderson, and I own some pieces of Oceanic gear, and I have no complaints.

Enjoy your new gear, as you dive like the rest of us, you will learn what type of diving you prefer and your equipment choices in the future will be guided by your experience, not what a clerk in a retail dive store thinks you need.

I wouldn't have bought what you bought, and I wouldn't have advised you to buy some of it. But the most important thing is that it fits properly and that you know how to use it. You may well, over time, rethink your choices (especially the fins) but everything you bought is perfectly usable

Well-stated, in both cases! I certainly wouldn't have recommended the approach that you took. If you continue to pursue only recreational diving, the gear should serve you well, although you will probably find that you need quite a bit of added weight to compensate for the thick neoprene, and 'floaty' BCD that you are using, and the floaty fins.

It is VERY unlikely that you will be in a position to pursue Ice Diving with the jacket BCD you purchased, and I would personally defer from going into any challenging environment with you as a buddy, if I saw you with an inexpensive, low performance octo such as the Slimline.

 

[rhwestfall]

buy then research.... interesting..... did they teach you that at college?