Starting Open Water Classes in 2 weeks

[large_diver]

Liquid,

I disagree for the following reasons.....

Mares Volo Fins -- there's been a lot of discussion here and elsewhere recently about the lack of durability. IMHO, the Volo is not worth the high price.

Booties -- cheap is good if you're doing a lot of warm water boat diving...... Most of the shore diving I do here in New England is on VERY rocky shore line. I am often donning my gear at my car and then mountain goating over rocks to get to the water. Cheap booties won't cut it in this type of environment. To SHW -- evaluate the diving you plan to do and choose your booties based on the environment.

Wing BCs -- this is personal preference. Rear inflation BCs are fine for beginners, as long as they are comfortable with the positioning/trim

 

[joewr]

Steelheaderswife,

Your name sounds like a German word! Well, if you stick around this Board, and we truly hope you will, you'll get used to my off-the-wall comments.........

At any rate, if you are just starting your OW classes and you have snorkled,just start with that gear. Your first "dives" will be in a pool and all the elegant equipment will not really do much for you. So,if you have a snorkle, a snorkler's mask, and snorkler's fins, you will do fine for the first couple of lessons.

Now, you can use this time to look around. Look at what your teacher is using. Look at what your local dive shops are selling. Get on the net and check out that gear--this site even has a place where you can look(check at the top of Forums Page for ScubaSource). Look around.

And, if you are in no hurry, rent some gear and try it out. Now, if you are a plutocrat like me, just go out and buy what you like; then when you find out that you really do not like it, put it in your closet. Then you can be just like me!

Oh, yes, one more thing: there are all sorts of scuba diving--some of the gear you will hear about is perfectly adapted for very specialized diving. Others can be used for very general diving. Stick around and you will learn to recognize the differences...there are some very savvy folks here--Lost Yooper, don't get a big head!

Joewr--who just loves to stick smarta** things like this on the tail end of his messages

 

[Lost Yooper]

Doh!!! Thanks Joe. Too late, I think I feel it swelling right about now actually. :boom:

Stealheaderswife, just to elaborate on Joe's post a little, some gear can be purchased once and used for virtually anything you'll ever get into. Pssst...it doesn't have to cost a fortune either (sshh). I've made my fair share of mistakes buying expensive, "less than adaptable" gear over the years.

Good Luck.

Mike

PS. Have fun.

 

[Liquid]

large_diver:

about the volo-they do lack in durability, you are right here, but for beginners they have one HUGE advantage- aspecialy for bad swimers-they make it posible to swim with bent knees, bend as much as you like, you'll go forward if you intend to.

about wing BCs- what i am telling now is from a profesional point of view- i saw a lot of people (probly thousands) trying to control their bouyancy using all kinds of BCs. for someone that is not VERY experianced, it is a problem.

bad bouyance control dosent mean only going up or down not when you want to, it means also body positioning, and wing BCs make correct body postioning a hard task.

 

[Mario S Caner]

Hey there steelheaderswife, your gear selection will change with the environment you are planning on diving in. There are many example I can point to, to be specific. But first, if you just let me know where you plan to dive and if there are any other active sports you participate in, I can hep nail down some unbiased specifics for you.

 

[Lost Yooper]

:nono: But I'll bite my tongue.

Good luck Steelheaderswife.

Mike

 

[BetterLateThannever]

Come on LY,

We know it's killing you. Let's have it. Time to separate fact from fiction; don't you think?

 

[Lost Yooper]

Ah, sorry Jim. I'll open the doors to different ideas and the rest is up to them to sort out.

Gotta go fill my tanks.

Mike

 

[ifukuda]

I do not think you should spend alot on equipment before getting a few dives under your belt. You will have a much better understanding of why certain pieces of equipment are worth spending a few extra bucks on and why others are not, after you log a few hours of dive time.

For your OW class, I'd try renting equipment or (if you're lucky) borrowing from a friend that dives.

I made the mistake of buying my equipment before my OW certification. I chose my equipment then for all the wrong reasons. I've replaced every piece of equipment (except for the snorkle).

All that said, the 2 basic criteria I use to choose all my equipment is: fit and comfort. <- Simple but very important.