Starting your Gear Collection

[llessuryort]

Ok, so I have dove a handful of times already, and would eventually like to have my own setup someday.

I guess I'm curious as to what the "order" is that people typically go in acquiring their gear.

While at the local dive shop the other day, I was trying to consider some of this, and being a gear junkie, I wanted it all. Granted finances wouldn't allow that all at once, so I started to look towards a mask, snorkel, and maybe a set of fins.

I feel as soon as I open the wallet to gear here, there really won't be an end in sight to the spending...hahaha

 

[iamrushman]

Question:...what kind of diving are you going to do?...(warm water/cold water? / a couple of dives a year / dive every weekend?.)....get a wet suit / dry suit.

 

[kelemvor]

I feel as soon as I open the wallet to gear here, there really won't be an end in sight to the spending

You are correct. It's a money pit. You can manage it by buying used gear and avoiding new gadgets but I sure don't.

I'm surprised the dive shop you got certified with didn't make you buy mask/fins/snorkel prior to class. All the shops in my area do.

When I got my other gear (only about 4 years ago now) I started with regulator, computer, bcd, then tanks. Then a buttload of other items that make up my ever growing gear collection. Last month it was full facemasks.

 

[tbone1004]

Here is my list.

Mask-about $30 from Dive Gear Express
Fins-about $100. I prefer either Dive Rite XT, or the Deep6 fins. Add in booties of some sort, I prefer NRS kayaking boots to any dive boot I've tried
Snorkel-find one to borrow, you don't really need one, but Piranha has some cheap folding snorkels. You're scuba diving not snorkeling, buy a cheap one and take it off of your mask when you are no longer required to wear it.
IP gauge-$20 from DGX. Whether you own or rent regulators, that is the only way you can tell if the first stage is healthy if it isn't leaking. Very important to have.

After that, my 100% unequivocal top priority if you want to dive locally is exposure protection. In Michigan that is either a really nice 7mm/semidry or more preferably a drysuit with a nice hood. It's expensive, but it is what it is. Reason for that is you can almost always find regs/bcs/tanks to borrow or rent that are good enough but finding high quality exposure protection to rent is quite difficult. Current suit recommendation is from Othree

If you are a travelling diver only, then change that to a regulator set and computer. You can get a great computer for about $200 from Dive Gear Express with the DG03 that is truly all you need.

After you've got all of that, then get a bc of some sort. I highly recommend the Deep Sea Supply backplate and wings as I think they are the best value out there.

Tanks are last. I only recommend buying tanks in pairs, and only buying used tanks. That will be $200-$400 for a pair depending on aluminum vs. steel

So, call it $200 for Mask/Fin/Snorkel/Booties
$400 for a nice semidry wetsuit and hood from O3, or about $1500 for a drysuit with P-valve etc
I very much believe in buying a doubles set of regulators for the spare first stage. Saves a lot of grief if you have an issue. From Deep6 it's about $900, plus $200 for the computer
DSS bpw is $500.
Total cost is about $2500 for wetsuit with tanks, or about $3500 for a drysuit with tanks. That gear will last you basically forever, and if you get into any tech diving the only thing you have to buy is the double tanks and a wing. If you go to a pony bottle, you only have to get a reg hose and an extra spg. The most flexible system right there and that is the order that I recommend all students purchase gear in unless you randomly find a screaming deal on something out of order.

 

[icechip]

My acquisitions came in waves with the basics first: mask, fins, booties, snorkel. Then: wetsuit, hood/gloves, bcd, computer. Then: reg, spg, tank(s), weights. You might find some decent deals on Craigslist or Ebay.

Don't skimp but get a good fitting mask and a good fitting wetsuit.

 

[runsongas]

mask/snorkel/fins/boots/gloves for certification. i still have it all, only the mask gets used anymore though.

computer for first dive trip after certification. bought a zoop. sold the zoop about a year later when i switched to oceanics.

bc/regs/wetsuit/tanks to dive locally afterwards. that first set is all gone now, should've bought a bpw and DR or hog regs or used zeagle/apeks instead. I got the regs and bc used from a LDS off rental stock so I didn't lose much money at least. the tank was a pair of pst hp80 which got replaced for hp100s that I managed to break even on. the bare wetsuit got replaced by a fusion drysuit.

 

[mockney]

I think if I was going to start my gear collection again, I would start with a dive computer probably a wearable one so I could use it day to day as well as on dives. Being familiar with your dive computer and not renting is for me an important point. I would also place a high priority on my own wet suit that hasn't been worn by (pee'd in) hundreds of other divers. Mask, Fins would be purchased along with the wet suit, followed by Regs then BCD then welcome to the never ending money pit that is scuba diving!!.

 

[buddhasummer]

You are correct. It's a money pit. You can manage it by buying used gear and avoiding new gadgets but I sure don't.

I'm surprised the dive shop you got certified with didn't make you buy mask/fins/snorkel prior to class. All the shops in my area do.

When I got my other gear (only about 4 years ago now) I started with regulator, computer, bcd, then tanks. Then a buttload of other items that make up my ever growing gear collection. Last month it was full facemasks.

I'd say more akin to an abyss than a pit.

 

[Aviyes]

Still a smaller money pit than a boat.

 

[outofofficebrb]

Hi!

It would depend on how often and where you dive and what those conditions are. Mask, boots, snorkel, fins are the obvious ones for me. If you're a vacation diver and don't go very often, it might make sense to just do a dive computer and a warm water wetsuit, if that even applies. It's nice to know what your dive computer is telling you and to be familiar with it instead of trial and error or figuring it out along the way as you dive...or spending valuable vacation time trying to figure it out in the shop. Each time you rent, you might get something different. You'll have to do a little math to figure how much diving you're going to do in order to justify the cost of BC, regs, etc., and their servicing. If you dive a lot of local dives, getting your own tanks make sense because you'd spend a lot renting (they're expensive to rent around where I am). If you have a lot of cold water near you but don't dive it often, it might just be a rental thing or maybe you just get a well fitting wetsuit that keeps you warmer than the rentals and if and when you need the gear, you just rent it. If you dive enough to justify it, get it.