Hi there! Great choices in gear all around...I dive Oceanic and US Divers/Aqualung equipment, usually mixed and matched as needed. My opinion (and it probably stinks as well) is that you dive with the best possible configuration you can afford for the diving you do. Price is always important, but if it was the most important consideration, then we would all be using Brand X regs, comps and bc's. I like Oceanix products and I dive Oceanix CDX5's as my primary recreation reg, I use Oceanic computers and actually dive Aqualung BC's. All my stage/deco bottles have US Diver/Aqualung 1st stages on them (except for the OMS hand-me-down). My very first computer was a Suunto and I loved it....so get what YOU want and feel most comfortable with.
A quick note re: dive shop loyalty...if most divers knew what the markup was on that piece of gear they just bought from their LDS buddies with the "loyal customer price", then there would be some hurt feelings out there
Thats true, it would be very interesting to see what the mark up really is.
