Ok, so here's the deal... I just finished my OW certs and I've been pining and pining over what gear to buy (I know some of you advise against this, but I prefer to be accountable for my own gear and not rely on others to take care of my gear... I think it's a military thing). My LDS have been great, and offered tons of advice, but unfortunately, they have only the most basic of gear for rent/trial. It comes down to the fact, that I would like to take the advice from you all out there, and help use your experience to guide me to what roads I need to go down.
Here's the setup: I'm in Okinawa, Japan and will be doing all of my diving here for the next three years. I will definitely be doing the AOW, Nitrox, Deep Diver, etc courses, and would like to at least be a DM by the time I have to leave the island. I already have a Sherwood Magnum II, and a Mares X-Vision Liquidskin mask, snorkel, ScubaPro 5mm wetsuit, 2mm gloves and TUSA X-PERT Zoom Z3 fins with springs. I would like to spend around $1500 to have everything (or at least darn close) that I would need, and that ideally will last quite some time.
Now, I'm not asking anyone to go scour the internet for me and find me the best prices, but I would like to know what each of you would do in the situation provided. Approximations of prices would be just fine, but if you do know of a deal, I'd love to know that as well.
I know this might be a lot to ask, but I also know that some of the best opinions of the subject matter are right here on the board. As always, thanks in advance for all of your help!
Here's the setup: I'm in Okinawa, Japan and will be doing all of my diving here for the next three years. I will definitely be doing the AOW, Nitrox, Deep Diver, etc courses, and would like to at least be a DM by the time I have to leave the island. I already have a Sherwood Magnum II, and a Mares X-Vision Liquidskin mask, snorkel, ScubaPro 5mm wetsuit, 2mm gloves and TUSA X-PERT Zoom Z3 fins with springs. I would like to spend around $1500 to have everything (or at least darn close) that I would need, and that ideally will last quite some time.
Now, I'm not asking anyone to go scour the internet for me and find me the best prices, but I would like to know what each of you would do in the situation provided. Approximations of prices would be just fine, but if you do know of a deal, I'd love to know that as well.
I know this might be a lot to ask, but I also know that some of the best opinions of the subject matter are right here on the board. As always, thanks in advance for all of your help!