Next step for a new diver II

[kmarks]

Edit: I haven’t rented in a long time, but I would say I would rather rent a regulator than a wetsuit.

I agree with this. I certified 5 years ago, got a bad rash from my rented wet suit, bought my own and never rented another. My brother-in-law's brother got a staph infection from a rented wet suit about a decade ago.

I don't have my own regs and BCD because I don't dive often enough (yet) to justify the cost over renting. A wet suit is inexpensive and, to me, highly personal, so I would go that route first. You may think you'll dive a lot when you're fresh out of training, but find that life gets in the way for a few years and your gear collects dust.

Of course, mask, fins, and snorkel were required for training, so I own those as well.

 

[Dan]

Sounds great. I think reg will be the next step after fins and boots.

No wetsuit? You like to wear a rented wetsuit with someone else peed on?

 

[EireDiver606]

Don’t dismiss cold water, it may surprise you. Buy good quality gear, buy cheap buy twice. Only get what you need, don’t get carried away.

 

[iamrushman]

i say get the WET SUIT...all the above reasons and scabies from personal experience.

 

[Bratface]

I agree with adding regulator. If you will be traveling and renting gear, it’s easy to pack your mask and reg. I haul my stuff wherever I go which you will do too once you invest in your own gear.

 

[Snoweman]

The first thing I wanted was a reg and mask. People barf through regs. I don't anything like that in my mouth. Best thing I added to my reg was a moldable mouthpiece.

I rarely use a wetsuit. I only warm water dive, and just dive with a rash guard. But, I would rather wear a peed in wetsuit than a barfed through reg in my mouth.

 

[FinnMom]

If you want to learn more about diving in general at least take a drysuit try dive in a pool. You might be amazing how warm and cozy it is to dive cold water. I love diving dry even in sub-tropical waters; I've towel-dried my hair and sat down to lunch when the wetsuit divers are still showering.

 

[scubadiver888]

We need to start to build our gear and we are looking for info on the order that seems to work best. We have Mask and Computers. We know we will need Fins and Boots first. I'm not sure how much local diving we will do as we do not like cold water. (we will give it a go but may rent gear for now) I don't see us hauling all our gear on vacations so I'm not sure where to start.

Hi MC,

Regardless of whether or not you want to local (cold water) diving or not, I'd recommend getting a good set of open heel fins and boots. When I first started diving I was just diving in the Caribbean but I still opted for boots and open heel fins. If closed heel (water water) fins don't quite fit they can cause cramps or it feels like they are going to fall off. I'm talking about the fins might come in 7 and 7.5 but you need 7.25. The size 7 will be a little tight and cause cramps but the 7.25 will feel a little loose, like they are going to fall off. With open heel fins you'd buy a medium fin and 7.5 boots. Not too tight so no cramps but you can tighten the strap and they won't feel like they are going to fall off.

Additionally, if you do any shore dives, taking the fins off and walking out of the water is nicer when there are rocks.

Haul your gear on vacation. Once you get it nicely set up and it feels good, the diving is much nicer. You spend less time getting used to rental gear and more time enjoying the marine life. I started seeing so much more (vacation and locally) when I get my own gear and brought it on vacation with me.

Diving cold water is a real personal choice. I rented my first cold water wetsuit. At first I wondered if cold water diving was for me. Getting into 14mm of wetsuit (two layers of 7mm), getting gloves on, diving with a hood, etc. was a real pain... until I got in the water. Then that wonderful feeling of weightlessness. After a while I just got used to getting ready for a dive. Now that I dive locally, a lot, I got a drysuit. But dropping $2000+ for a drysuit took a while to justify. So I'd recommend trying wetsuit for local diving. If you find local diving might be for you, save up for a drysuit but buy a wetsuit.

When I started diving locally, I just bought a whole package. It was affordable and got me everything I needed, except tank, to start diving. I just rented the tank. It wasn't great gear but it was mine. Now that i owned everything, I started diving more. As I went diving more I meet more people, I learned things, I started buying replacement gear (better gear) and selling the old gear. After a while I replaced most of it. I still had the original boots and fins. I switched from jacket and console (SPG, compass, computer) to BP/W and the compass plus computer moved to wrist mounted.

Bottom line, buy something good to get started. This will get you diving. More diving and you'll learn what you like and don't like. Trying to figure this out reading posts or talking to others just doesn't work. Everyone is different. If you buy good gear to start and it isn't quite right for you, you should be able to sell it at a reasonable price. So it won't be a complete loss.

 

[AZNetEng]

First let me say welcome to Diving! When I finally convinced my wife to start diving I anticipated she would only dive a few times a year. I elected to get her gear that she would use every time, would work the same way etc. As it turns out, she absolutely loves diving and has completed 90 dives in the last 18 months. We take everything but tanks and weights because I want her to be comfortable and I want to have gear that works.

Now, there is nothing wrong at all with renting gear for a bit until you figure out if you are going to dive alot, a little, or not at all. The equipment I would choose to buy would largely depend on how "regular" I was and what kind of challenge it would be to fit myself. The more regular and the less Im diving the more I'd be inclined to simply rent what I needed beyond personal gear. Stuff like computers I bought right here on SB at a considerable savings. Same with BCD's. New masks, regs, fins and booties. Whole closet full of neoprene for her, I dive in trunks and a rashguard all the way to 70 degrees.

My only real advice is to not feel like you have to buy gear up front. Get some dives in, figure out how much a part of your life it will be, and adjust accordingly.