Old Gear vs New Gear

[ev780]

As an inland diver I don't get our as much as those of you living in great dive places but, like most in Colorado we hold our own. So our gear doesn't get as much use. All my stuff is really old. My Poseidon regulator set is one of my original gear purchases in 2001, same with my fins. My lights are old C-8 and C-4 incandescent. I just wore out a second BC. I think travel is harder on BC's than diving. Ran my last computer until it just quit. Could hardly read the screen on land it was so scratched up. Wear exposure protection until it rots off of me or shrinks too much. Gear bags fall apart before I give them up.

I like having new things but for some reason I just run dive gear 'til it quits. So are you a new gear guy/gal or a old gear guy/gal?

 

[agilis]

My newest regulator is a Zeagle Flathead. I bought it in the late 1990s and still think of it as the 'new' regulator. My other regulators are mostly Scubapros, Mk 5 and Mk 10 first stages and a small collection of 109s, 156s, a 250 Graphite, a D300 and a D350. I also have a few older US Diver /Aqualung regs.

All my regs are in great condition. I do my own rebuilds and lavish love on them as if they were my children.

My favorite and most often used BC is a 15 year old Zeagle Scout.

I have mesh gear bags that are older than my current wife. They never fall apart. Zippers stick, but they never rot. Computer screens stay fairly clear because I mount them in a manner designed to keep them from getting scratched. Some old gauges are scratched up, from the old days when they hung free. I don't do that anymore.

I keep gauges and computers fairly updated, and seldom use a mask more than 3 years old.

I never let gear get even close to the point of quitting. I mostly dive SP Mk5s with 156 2nds, DIN. They are very old, but looks like new, inside and out. when they stops looking that way I rebuild, rechrome. it is a very bad idea to run anything into the ground, to the point where is is worn out.

I would say that except for very top of the line equipment like Atomic, the old regulators either meet or exceed the performance of most of what's current.

 

[TSandM]

I was thinking about this the other day. My backplate and wing setup was bought, used, in 2005, and it has been around the world since! My canister light is roughly the same age, although it has been so completely rebuilt as to be, to all intents and purposes, a new light . I still have my original set of Jet fins, although I don't dive them very often any more, having been seduced by the Mares Power Planas.

I replace stuff when it wears out, or when I'm convinced that something else will significantly improve my diving.

 

[divad]

All my regs are in great condition. I do my own rebuilds and lavish love on them as if they were my children.

That's creeepy.

 

[rhwestfall]

my regs (new to me in the 80's, and new in the 70's) are still rolling along, but I'm trying to figure out why my wetsuit from my athletic college years shrank so much to become unusable......

 

[tbone1004]

old gear. All of my tanks were bought used, all of my regs except the hogs were bought used, drysuit was new though , my nomad was new but I had one of the first ones that came out so used wasn't an option. Most of my gear I keep until it quits, no reason to buy new, let others eat the depreciation.

 

[Bob DBF]

I use gear until I can't fix it.

I pick up new gear, some just new to me, when the old stuff wears out or I have enough spare cash to buy something I want to try.




Bob
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I swear its not hoarding dear, I'm just keeping an adequate stock of equipment and parts. It's life support, you know.

 

[captain]

My newest regulator is a ScubaPro MK V/109 from the mid 1980's. The oldest regulator I use is a double hose Voit VR2 from 1957, actually I bought it new in 1957. My most used regulator is a 1968 double hose US Divers AquaMaster/Phoenix/HPR.

 

[rivers]

I've got a mix of both new and old. My steel backplate is new. My twinset wing is a halcyon explorer I bought used for £100. Not sure how old it is, but I'm at least the third owner and it still reads "DIR Dive Systems". My drysuit is a few years old, I'll dive it until its a sieve. Most of my gear I've had for over 3 years (when I started cold water diving), so it's "new" compared to some. But, most of what I have is bulletproof, so I'll dive it until it wears out, or I want something shiny.

 

[Colliam7]

I like having new things but for some reason I just run dive gear 'til it quits. So are you a new gear guy/gal or a old gear guy/gal?

For a long time, I was in the 'use it til it fails' camp. Now, while I am still generally in the camp, I am thinking of doing some recycling.

I have some extra gear - a couple of wetsuits - that I can probably sell before it is considered ancient. I have a couple of wings that I simply am not using (and which have essentially been replaced by newer models), and it is probably time to get rid of them, before they fail from age / rot.

I have some regulator second stages that are 'OK' but over time I have honed in on one particular second stage that I prefer for virtually all uses - singles, doubles, deco regs, and I am thinking of selling a number of my older second stages - they work just fine but are not what I now prefer

So, I have no problem with older gear. I can now see some merit in periodically recycling older gear while it still has some value - i.e. before it quits - and going with newer (used) equipment.