Newbie equipment list.

[chrisreedrules]

Some of you may have seen my thread in the travel section about my wife and I and our newfound love of scuba. We recently completed our OW certs. Below is a list of our equipment. Still in need of a couple dive lights and maybe a couple knives or shears for cutting line (On our OW cert dive we saw a fellow classmate become entangled in a fishing line in Rainbow River, FL). Any critiques/advice/suggestions are much appreciated. Thanks for taking a look!

What we own:
*Zeagle Ranger and Zena BCs
*Atomic Aquatics M1 Regulators
*Atomic Aquatics SS1 (SS)
*Atomic Aquatics Fins, Masks, and Snorkels
*Suunto Eon Steel Dive Computers w/tank pods
*Wife has Bare 3mm and 5mm full suits and I have an Akona 3mm half-suit. I also plan on buying a Henderson full suit soon.
*Dive weights for our BCs

We would like to get/need suggestions for:
*Lights (preferably a good flood with a wide beam and also a smaller backup light for each of us)

*Dive knives (We were looking at the AquaLung Argonaut and it's little brother the Argonaut Stunt)

*Sheers (I don't know if knives are frowned upon for recreational divers? My wife and I both actually have combatives training with small arms and knives and we feel perfectly comfortable carrying them. But I know open carrying anything, even if it is a dive knife on a BC makes some people uncomfortable).

*Tanks (We don't plan on immediately buying our own tanks, but we would like to in the not too distant future depending on how frequently we are diving and so we can take advantage of having steel tanks).

Any other suggestions or anything I'm forgetting? Thanks again for any advice/suggestions!

 

[chrisreedrules]

Also I'm curious, what is the "Surefire" of dive lights? (If you're not familiar, SureFire is a great brand of flashlights/weapon lights/ duty lights for the firearms world).

 

[RainPilot]

I would recommend getting an SMB first off (and learning how to use it!)

As far as knife carrying I've never seen an issue, it is a long-accepted part of scuba gear.

That being said, I generally advocate a Trilobite type line cutter or two on the rig, much more useful and also generally easily transported when traveling by air.

Shears are awesome to use, just prone to corrosion. Either buy cheap paramedic ones, spray with WD-40 regularly and treat as disposable, or get the titanium ones and rinse well post-dive.

Dive light... I use the Orca lights and the Xtar, they are Chinese lights but pretty good quality at a very low price. price is important to me as I have to have several sets for students to use. For those in the US there are more options, @tbone1004 is abreast of many of these.

I have heard good things about Underwater Light Dude, they make some good lights by all accounts, Diverite have some good options as well.

 

[Caveeagle]

I am a big fan of the Dive Rite BX-1 lights. They can use 3xAAA or 1 18650 battery. Plenty powerful enough for a primary on a 30-45M dive and small enough for a backup. They also sell a cap / diffuser to make it a flood-video light. Its a twist-on light, so no moving parts, switch to go bad.

 

[stuartv]

Trauma shears. $8:
DGX Titanium EMT Shears

Pouch for trauma shears. $8:
MSM Shear Pouch - MIL-SPEC MONKEY STORE

Line cutter. Ceramic blades. $18:
DGX Sharp Cut w/ Sheath

Dive light (i.e. narrow beam). $60
XTAR D26 XM-L2 U3 LED 4 Mode 1100 Lumens 26650/18700/18650 Diving Flashlight BK | eBay

Video light (i.e. wide beam - the ball mount post unscrews and comes off). $37
https://www.amazon.com/Evolva-Technology-Underwater-Photography-Flashlight/dp/B01FD3QQBU

I have and use all of the above and I think they are all good AND great values.

My experience is somewhat limited, but I have never needed an actual dive knife. Shears or a line cutter seem to generally cover all the bases. If you do get an actual knife, give some thought to whether you want a blunt tip or a point. A point makes it really easy to puncture things that you don't mean to - like yourself.

Tanks: Watch your local Craigslist. It's hard to go wrong with steel HP100s, if you can find them. If you are taller, HP120s are also really nice. I am 6' 1" and have some of each, but I generally prefer the HP120s for pretty much everything. But, there are lots of other options that would probably work just as well. Considerations are: HP100/120s are 7.25" in diameter - the same as a normal AL80. Some steel tanks are 8" in diameter. Those will not fit in the tank racks on some boats.

For a given physical size of tank (i.e. tank height and width) a HP (high pressure) tank will hold more gas. Some people will say "look for an LP95 because it will hold the same amount of gas as an HP100 with a normal fill and it will hold more if you get it overfilled." But the thing about that is: One, you may or may not be able to get it overfilled. None of my local shops will overfill tanks. And, two, the LP95 is physically bigger. If you want a physically bigger tank (than an HP100), then why not look for a HP tank that is physically bigger? An HP tank that is the same physical size as an LP95 will hold more gas than an LP95 (unless you get the LP95 WAY overfilled). And you never have to overfill an HP tank to get the "full" amount of gas it's supposed to hold. Some people will also say that it can be hard to get HP tanks filled to their full pressure (3442 psi or 3500, depending on the specific tank). I suppose there are places that can't fill that high, but all the shops I've ever gotten fills at had no problem filling to 3500 psi. Regardless, if you're going to mostly use your own tanks for local diving, it might be worth checking with the shop where you'll be getting fills to find out if they will do overfills (aka cave fills) and if they can fill to 3500 psi.

 

[claymore]

Trauma shears. $8:
DGX Titanium EMT Shears

Pouch for trauma shears. $8:
MSM Shear Pouch - MIL-SPEC MONKEY STORE

Line cutter. Ceramic blades. $18:
DGX Sharp Cut w/ Sheath

Dive light (i.e. narrow beam). $60
XTAR D26 XM-L2 U3 LED 4 Mode 1100 Lumens 26650/18700/18650 Diving Flashlight BK | eBay

Video light (i.e. wide beam - the ball mount post unscrews and comes off). $37
https://www.amazon.com/Evolva-Technology-Underwater-Photography-Flashlight/dp/B01FD3QQBU

I have and use all of the above and I think they are all good AND great values.

My experience is somewhat limited, but I have never needed an actual dive knife. Shears or a line cutter seem to generally cover all the bases. If you do get an actual knife, give some thought to whether you want a blunt tip or a point. A point makes it really easy to puncture things that you don't mean to - like yourself.

Tanks: Watch your local Craigslist. It's hard to go wrong with steel HP100s, if you can find them. If you are taller, HP120s are also really nice. I am 6' 1" and have some of each, but I generally prefer the HP120s for pretty much everything. But, there are lots of other options that would probably work just as well. Considerations are: HP100/120s are 7.25" in diameter - the same as a normal AL80. Some steel tanks are 8" in diameter. Those will not fit in the tank racks on some boats.

For a given physical size of tank (i.e. tank height and width) a HP (high pressure) tank will hold more gas. Some people will say "look for an LP95 because it will hold the same amount of gas as an HP100 with a normal fill and it will hold more if you get it overfilled." But the thing about that is: One, you may or may not be able to get it overfilled. None of my local shops will overfill tanks. And, two, the LP95 is physically bigger. If you want a physically bigger tank (than an HP100), then why not look for a HP tank that is physically bigger? An HP tank that is the same physical size as an LP95 will hold more gas than an LP95 (unless you get the LP95 WAY overfilled). And you never have to overfill an HP tank to get the "full" amount of gas it's supposed to hold. Some people will also say that it can be hard to get HP tanks filled to their full pressure (3442 psi or 3500, depending on the specific tank). I suppose there are places that can't fill that high, but all the shops I've ever gotten fills at had no problem filling to 3500 psi. Regardless, if you're going to mostly use your own tanks for local diving, it might be worth checking with the shop where you'll be getting fills to find out if they will do overfills (aka cave fills) and if they can fill to 3500 psi.

The draw back to HP tanks is that you may not be able to get a full HP fill in some places. If the fill person is willing to fill a HP tank to rated pressure let it cool to room temperature and top it off and their bank has 3500psi in itYou should be able to get a full fill on a LP tank at any fill station that can fill an AL 80. Diving locally I have never had a problem getting at least a slight over fill on my LP tanks and never a problem when I fill my own tanks.

 

[chrisreedrules]

Trauma shears. $8:
DGX Titanium EMT Shears

Pouch for trauma shears. $8:
MSM Shear Pouch - MIL-SPEC MONKEY STORE

Line cutter. Ceramic blades. $18:
DGX Sharp Cut w/ Sheath

Dive light (i.e. narrow beam). $60
XTAR D26 XM-L2 U3 LED 4 Mode 1100 Lumens 26650/18700/18650 Diving Flashlight BK | eBay

Video light (i.e. wide beam - the ball mount post unscrews and comes off). $37
https://www.amazon.com/Evolva-Technology-Underwater-Photography-Flashlight/dp/B01FD3QQBU

I have and use all of the above and I think they are all good AND great values.

My experience is somewhat limited, but I have never needed an actual dive knife. Shears or a line cutter seem to generally cover all the bases. If you do get an actual knife, give some thought to whether you want a blunt tip or a point. A point makes it really easy to puncture things that you don't mean to - like yourself.

Tanks: Watch your local Craigslist. It's hard to go wrong with steel HP100s, if you can find them. If you are taller, HP120s are also really nice. I am 6' 1" and have some of each, but I generally prefer the HP120s for pretty much everything. But, there are lots of other options that would probably work just as well. Considerations are: HP100/120s are 7.25" in diameter - the same as a normal AL80. Some steel tanks are 8" in diameter. Those will not fit in the tank racks on some boats.

For a given physical size of tank (i.e. tank height and width) a HP (high pressure) tank will hold more gas. Some people will say "look for an LP95 because it will hold the same amount of gas as an HP100 with a normal fill and it will hold more if you get it overfilled." But the thing about that is: One, you may or may not be able to get it overfilled. None of my local shops will overfill tanks. And, two, the LP95 is physically bigger. If you want a physically bigger tank (than an HP100), then why not look for a HP tank that is physically bigger? An HP tank that is the same physical size as an LP95 will hold more gas than an LP95 (unless you get the LP95 WAY overfilled). And you never have to overfill an HP tank to get the "full" amount of gas it's supposed to hold. Some people will also say that it can be hard to get HP tanks filled to their full pressure (3442 psi or 3500, depending on the specific tank). I suppose there are places that can't fill that high, but all the shops I've ever gotten fills at had no problem filling to 3500 psi. Regardless, if you're going to mostly use your own tanks for local diving, it might be worth checking with the shop where you'll be getting fills to find out if they will do overfills (aka cave fills) and if they can fill to 3500 psi.

Great all-around advice I really appreciate you taking the time. Bought the sheers and some lights. I figured that we'll hold off on any knife purchase for now until we start diving a little more and get a better feel for what we may need. Sheers will probably do the trick for us just fine for now for any diving we plan on doing. If we find ourselves doing more ocean and reef diving then we may revisit the knife idea. Plus I want to see what other people carry and how they carry it and the only way to do that is to get out and dive!

As for tanks, we are definitely interested in getting our own. But I feel like it's opening Pandora's Box so to speak. So many different ones and so many different uses for the different sizes. I know we want HP steel. And when we get our nitrox certification we want to have the option to fill with either nitrox or oxygen. The other thing is size. My wife and I are going to be dive buddies but we both have very different physical sizes and oxygen consumption. I'm 6'2" 330lbs and she is 5'2" 100lbs soaking wet. And she seems to use about 65% of the amount of oxygen I use. So I think she could definitely go smaller (the AL80s we used for our OW cert were big for her) and I'm fine with the size of the AL80 or maybe even a little bigger would be no problem for me.

 

[chrisreedrules]

Also, what does everyone think of the Light and Motion dive lights? They are a bit pricey but they have good reviews online and the LDS sells them for decent prices and highly recommends them. I'm leery of buying expensive accessories like cameras and lights until we have a better understanding of what exactly it is we want to do with this new-found skill of ours.

 

[RainPilot]

I have 2 Light and Motion lights, have been great so far.

 

[BreeAbyss]

I love the Light and Motion sola lights! My husband has a sola 800 with the interchangeable flood and spot option. It is really nice and I use it when I don't feel like bringing my can light. I use sola 8000 video pro lights for my video camera and they are great. Light and Motion has really amazing customer service too. I also have a couple of the small gobe lights from L&M and they are nice too.
The lights are expensive but I have only good things to say about them.