Overwhelmed by equipment choices

[SNorman]

I'm hoping to get a regulator/bcd setup soon, and I'm really overwhelmed with all the choices available. I don't want to get some cheap crap, but I don't feel the need to get the best of the best. Hopefully something that will have everything I need so I won't have to "upgrade" soon because I find out it won't work in really cold water, or doesn't work well deep, or something. But, I have no idea how to find out that information.

I feel my LDS just suggests the most expensive gear, which is also marked up a lot. For example, last dive as we were picking up rental gear we asked about cameras and housings and stuff and we were told we needed to spend at LEAST $3000. Okay... and we went off and took pictures that were good enough for us with my friend's $400 Cannon digital camera with an underwater housing (which might have came with the camera, either way it was cheap). A cheap solution that worked for US, but was not even mentioned by the LDS.

Is there a place to go for reviews of different equipment? Or what features to look for? I see all kinds of options on regs like "environmentally sealed" and "so and so balanced"...

Thanks in advance.

 

[Maule]

My advice, if you are definately going to buy equipment, is to buy moderately priced equipment to begin with. As you progress in diving you will discover the equipment you want and it probably won't be the equipment you first purchase, expensive or not.

 

[namabiru]

While I'll eventually be in the same boat with wanting to buy dive gear, do you have the option of calling in to another dive shop for a visit? You might find a better vendor. Have they bothered to talk to you about what kind of diving you WANT to do, and how much you want to spend? If the shop is merely recommending stuff that seems expensive, I'd say call in to another shop for a chat.

Or, if you want to go the online route, I've heard great things about the guys at Scuba Toys. It sounds like if you call them or e-mail, they're really good about getting you sorted.

Here's what helped me understand the various features of dive gear. I picked up a copy of The Certified Diver's Handbook and read it. Clay Coleman gives some good tips, and he's been there. It was really illuminating.

Sorry I'm not more help, being a newbie diver myself, but that's just what I've discovered so far.

 

[diverdown247]

First off, I'm glad to see you considering purchasing as opposed to renting. How about posting up what your dive and budget needs are. Then let us know just how cold of and what type of water you will actually be diving in.

I have a Mares Axis full regulator set up that I purchased in 02 w/ 60+ salt water dives on it as well as nearly 35 fresh water dives; of which at least 5 of those were in water 60 degrees or colder.

Being that you're in Washington, the water will surely be colder than 58 degrees (my last dive). That said, I've yet to have a cold water issue with my Zeagle or my Mares regulators near 60 degrees. From my experience, I would say that if you're going to be diving extremely cold water, that you may need to avoid plastic housings as plastic becomes quite brittle in extreme temperatures.

There are plenty of quality options out there, so educate yourself. I've found that the best education on gear is hands-on. I can easily sell a set of Vortex V-12 fins or Scuba Pro Twin Jets on the final dive of an OW class simply by offering up my fins to a student for a dive. Ok, maybe "I'm" not selling the fins...they sell themselves.

The 2 primary concerns are fit your needs; fit your budget. Somewhere in there you should find some quality gear.

 

[ScottB]

My personal philosophy, was to go modular.. so if there was one facet I didn't like, it would be so difficult to change...

I set up a Dive Rite transpac for a single back mount, and then quickly transitioned to sidemount.. added the sidemount kit to it.. took a little fiddling to get it to the point of where I felt it was totally comfortable.. and right now I am working on setting up a more task specific setup.. I'll post about it later if it works

I second Scubatoys.com, and have also had good luck with Scuba.com. Size critical things, are generally easier to get at a local shop however (gloves, boots, wetsuits). Some online dealers have a reputation of being very easy to deal with regarding sizing, sometimes even sending you more than one size for you to try/send the one you dont use back...

Take care and good luck with your choices..
Scott

 

[TheTrickster]

I think the easiest option to start with is to go with one manufacturer for everything - and the manufacturer that your local lds sells.

At the entry/regular user level all the manufacturers are going to be the same in terms of price and performance. (Roughy)

And that way you can get help with your equipment from your lds and once you have got used to your equipment and started diving with others, you will begin to see other makes and models and start to see the differences in the higher end gear...also as you have the same stuff as the lds they made part exchange stuff with you...

 

[TSandM]

Looking back on the last year, I don't think there is any way you can really know at the beginning what gear you will eventually want to dive.

We were very lucky, in that our LDS didn't aim us toward the most expensive thing in the store. We got good advice about reasonable, very useful equipment. The fact that I replaced almost all of it within six months is not the fault of the LDS. I learned more, and made different decisions. In the meantime, I dove . . . A LOT . . . and I wouldn't have if I hadn't have had gear. I don't regret a single purchase. I just revisited the decisons when I had more data.

 

[jpsexton]

I've said a few time before that buying equipment is as steep a learning curve for someone new as the academics portion of the OW course itself. I researched all of my decisions here on ScubaBoard and so far I've been happy with everything I bought. There is much information to be found if you search for each indivdual item you are considering. Also like diverdown247 said, post your budget and diving conditions and I'm sure you'll get lots of reccomendations. And last but not least, Call ScubaToys! Larry helped me make some of my decisions and gave me a incredible deal to boot.

 

[SNorman]

Thanks guys. I will probably be diving a lot in Puget sound, most of my dives so far have been in the low 50's F as far as tempurature. I'd like to get a BCD, regulator (including octo), and gauges for around $1000. I'm trying to decide though whether to get old fashioned gauges, and a bottom timer, or a dive computer, and if so whether air integrated or not....

 

[namabiru]

Here's a thought:

If you ARE a newbie, and you're not sure what kind of diving you'll end up at (if you have dreams of eventually doing technical but don't quite get there), would it maybe be a decent idea to go with used for your first set, get some experience, then resell for what you can and go with upgrade to new?

I'm just wondering, because an LDS will be having a tent sale, where they sell off used rental gear, soon. I've been told a lot of the stuff is recycled about every year, and I'm thinking that although rental gear *will* have harder use, if it was owned by a reputable dive shop that did maintenance at least the gear was maintained.

Can anyone support or refute this hypothesis? I'm thinking of going to a sale the 30th, so would love to hear any experiences/opinions about going used first.