scuba today?

[Larry H PA]

What is new or different in scuba equipment? I last used scuba when I was 25 years old ,Im 50 now. So what has changed, I want to start diving again as I will be traveling more now ,and will have opportunity to dive keys or other florida locations. If I had lived near ocean I would have been diving all along. I used to have two regulators ,octupus setup ,regular bc, tank ,fins mask ,wet suit. Is there alot of new equipment ? Im thinking of finding some dive buddys here in PA,maybee going to dutch springs,do they rent dive equipment there? We dove at bainbridge quarry is that still open?I could use a brush up course before diving again,thanks. Ive always wanted to do some spearfishing maybee somewhere down the road.

 

[knowone]

People.

 

[bfisher]

Where are you located in Pa. If close enough I could recommend a shop where people dive every weekend (usually Sunday). Too cold for me though.

 

[diversteve]

Is there alot of new equipment ?

Dive Computers are pretty standard now
Rebreathers are becoming more popular
Tech Diving is it's own specialized discipline
Nitrox has been universally adopted. My last liveaboard air divers were in the minority.

I used to have two regulators ,octupus setup ,regular bc, tank ,fins mask ,wet suit

basics are still mostly the same. A lot more back-inflate BC's now. Splitfins are a newer technology.
And new/more exotic materials are used in most things as you'd expect.

 

[softballer]

I would say a refresher course minimum and maybe the whole o/w course if it has been 25 years should be your first steps.

You should get all the updates and info about dive computers in that course.

 

[scubadiver888]

The basic gear is the same. Regulators have become better built and more reliable. If you used a jacket style BCD they are pretty much the same. Recreational divers now use technical gear so will see discussions of backplate and wing (BP/W). This is an alternative to jacket style BCD.

There is also a lot of crap out there too. Don't get sucked into gimmicks and marketing hype.

 

[herman]

Besides the big advance is computers, not much. Regs are about the same, maybe a little overall performace improvement in the second stages, first stages are pretty much unchanged if you ignore the useless sale fluff. There are more choices in BCs. Again mostly style change, no real performance changes, still a harness and bladder although horse collars are less common. Unless your gear is Dacor (they are no longer around so parts are hard to come by) just get your regs serviced and dive them. A refresher would not be a bad idea.

 

[diver 85]

theory's about the same---except ascend S-L-O-W-E-R than you smallest bubble, lol.....

 

[toddthecat]

No more CO2 cartridges in BCs :dance2:

 

[vladimir]

Most of us have abandoned the j-valve.