Tons of equipment and new divers

[oversea]

I am a fairly new diver, approx. two years since certification. I bought all my gear from the LDS that trained me. I feel they trained me well as I have seen other new divers doing things I was taught not to. But my question lies within gear selection. As new divers, we more or less worship the LDS's opinion on gear selection especially because we will also need their help with setup and learning as we begin to advance or at least breakaway from their shop and pair up with a club or groups of dive buddies. But now I find myself starting to "think outside the bun" so to speak. I've found wreck valley, scuba board and met a few people along the way. This, coupled with my own desire for what a gear configuraton should be for me has made me research equipment outside the realm of my LDS. As we all know there are millions of products available to divers, some are an obvious waste, others are questionable. Then one gets hit with the opinions of the diving community. As a new diver (and gadget freak) I love to look at things and sometimes buy. One that caught my interest was the HUB. It is clear for most, it is a waste, but I just had to see it. That being said, I have just began the transition to a bp\w in addition to my jacket bc (against my LDS recommendations). I've found it difficult to select gear as there is so much out there, tons of opinions and groups that insist there is only one way it can be done. Gear selection can be so difficult that even after I've made my decisions based upon my needs, I still find myself second guessing. Without being biased, whats the best advice to give a new diver to select gear and not waste time and money. Keep in mind, their biggest influence is the LDS that wants to sell equipment. I've bought a bunch of equipment, I really don't think any of it was a waste as it's all pretty good stuff but I can't help but feel my latest venture of bp/w is going to be a waste of money, mostly because I am going at it alone and hoping my combination will satisfy me.

 

[Vie]

Without being biased, whats the best advice to give a new diver to select gear and not waste time and money.

Visit ScubaBoard. Do a search, look through the threads. Plenty of opinions and knowledge here.

 

[ZoCrowes255]

I just made a post about this very same thing yesterday

http://www.scubaboard.com/t84278-.html

 

[simbrooks]

Do you know nobody in your area who dives a BP/W? I can think of a quite a few in your area, in fact roll down to Dutch and find a bunch every weekend who could give you stuff to look at. There are plenty of opinions to be had out there, but its nice to have these things in your hands and see how it works, what kinds of things you need and what you dont need.

I take it you havent already bought your BP/W, you are just researching still? If you havent bought one see if you can borrow one, or if you feel ok about doing it, once you have researched go out and get something - you can always ebay it afterwards (and in fact pick up some items off ebay to start off with). All you need for a BP/W set up is a BP, harness (either kit of webbing with a bunch of d-rings and keepers, buckle, and inner tubing) and a suitable wing, possible an STA if you feel the need or are advised to get one or will be switching out to doubles at any point. Is there a reason you want to go BP/W compared to your stab jacket? There are a few mainstream brands out there and some independant/small scale guys too. Are you looking at a full hog rig or just BP/W with a regular reg setup?

Of course LDS's want you to buy what they have and many will poo poo you looking at things they dont sell, its part of the business it seems. Plenty of info on here and other sites too for your research, but just like buying anything else its all up to you how you take the info and what you choose to do with it. There is a larger myriad of regular rec gear, vast arrays compared to the BP/W or hog style.

 

[oversea]

I just made a post about this very same thing yesterday

http://www.scubaboard.com/t84278-.html

You know what, you are right. I had read that just prior to writing this one. I guess I did not realize the context of your post. I was focused on the BP/W and how you mentioned you were not impressed with it. It got me thinking that maybe its all hype and I may not like it better. I sure would hate to be wasting money. I already tried the one piece harness and an oms comfort harness and have my issues with both plus I've never been in the water with either. BTW, I am sorry for pirating a post you had posted and will see if I can delete it.

 

[ERP]

I think a lot of peoplr in this sport have an equipment fetish.
And yes I agree for a new diver it's difficult to pick the "right" equipment.

If you are interested in a BP and wing and the long hose configuration, consider taking a DIRF, they are great places to find like minded buddies, and a part of the course is about how to select equipment that will work in that diving style. You could rent the equipment for DIRF, get first hand experience using it and have a good idea what if any of it you will want to buy afterwards.

 

[oversea]

Do you know nobody in your area who dives a BP/W? I can think of a quite a few in your area, in fact roll down to Dutch and find a bunch every weekend who could give you stuff to look at. There are plenty of opinions to be had out there, but its nice to have these things in your hands and see how it works, what kinds of things you need and what you dont need.

I take it you havent already bought your BP/W, you are just researching still? If you havent bought one see if you can borrow one, or if you feel ok about doing it, once you have researched go out and get something - you can always ebay it afterwards (and in fact pick up some items off ebay to start off with). All you need for a BP/W set up is a BP, harness (either kit of webbing with a bunch of d-rings and keepers, buckle, and inner tubing) and a suitable wing, possible an STA if you feel the need or are advised to get one or will be switching out to doubles at any point. Is there a reason you want to go BP/W compared to your stab jacket? There are a few mainstream brands out there and some independant/small scale guys too. Are you looking at a full hog rig or just BP/W with a regular reg setup?

Of course LDS's want you to buy what they have and many will poo poo you looking at things they dont sell, its part of the business it seems. Plenty of info on here and other sites too for your research, but just like buying anything else its all up to you how you take the info and what you choose to do with it. There is a larger myriad of regular rec gear, vast arrays compared to the BP/W or hog style.

This is what I am doing or have done thus far. I could get an opinion from just about anyone on this board and will get an equal amount of varied opinions. I first looked at what people like and dislike about a plate. It seems some buy halcyon and others based solely upon their affiliation with dive groups and or themes (not everyone). I read a few posts about likes/dislikes, ie weight, size, sta's available etc. and made my choice based upon that. Understanding the theory of a one piece harness made me opt for it although I am not sure it is what I wanted. The wing seemed to have limited variables which did not make one stand out over another (at least for me). All in all, I picked up the HammerheadII SS plate, STA, oms comfort harness and Dive Rite trek wing. But it is all a guess. A guess as to whether the combo will work good, If I'll like it and if I will be ebaying them later. I have zero interest in HOG. or DIR or anything of the sort. I did pick up a few ideas I have read and liked but that is the extent. With my present config, I am planning on single steel tanks although maybe doubles could be in the future but am not sure. I basically dive wherever, beach boat and hopefully more wrecks.

 

[simbrooks]

I already tried the one piece harness and an oms comfort harness and have my issues with both plus I've never been in the water with either. BTW, I am sorry for pirating a post you had posted and will see if I can delete it.

That is actually the big problem with LDS's and such, trying things on out of water and only guessing at how they feel in the water. Its surprising how some things loosen up or tighten up UW and feel completely different to wearing them on land. Whilst i dont like things that arent comfortable on land if it had to be a choice between the two i would take comfort UW as i spend at least 10-20x as long wearing my gear there than out of the water. This applies to anything be it a BC, BP/W, DS, in fact any equipment designed to do its job might not feel right until you are actually doing that very thing rather than standing, sitting, fitting up.

 

[oversea]

I think a lot of peoplr in this sport have an equipment fetish.
And yes I agree for a new diver it's difficult to pick the "right" equipment.

If you are interested in a BP and wing and the long hose configuration, consider taking a DIRF, they are great places to find like minded buddies, and a part of the course is about how to select equipment that will work in that diving style. You could rent the equipment for DIRF, get first hand experience using it and have a good idea what if any of it you will want to buy afterwards.

My biggest problem with DIRF is that I want to do it my way, within the rules of safe diving, but my way. I can best compare DIRF to collecting classic cars, (bear with me as it is my other passion) Classic cars (corvettes especially) can be notorious for sticklers and opinionated people. What I mean is that in that world of collecting, serious collectors will have no quams about telling you something is wrong and it should be done their way when in reality all I want is a good safe clean car to drive. Does that make sense? I don't want to get into one of those groups, I just want to dive. The one thing I think I agree on, and I am not sure it is DIR, but a minimalistic approach to my gear. I don't want alot of stuff, just necesities.

 

[simbrooks]

The wing seemed to have limited variables which did not make one stand out over another (at least for me).

Right equipment for the right job, unfortunately that doesnt equal cheap, but you dont have a huge wing for a single tank, nor tiny wing for doubles.

All in all, I picked up the HammerheadII SS plate, STA, oms comfort harness and Dive Rite trek wing. But it is all a guess. A guess as to whether the combo will work good, If I'll like it and if I will be ebaying them later.

Those all sound like reasonable purchases, i have heard good things about smaller independant folks like hammerhead and FredT, the harness is cheap to swap out to a single piece (costs $15 total) if you wanted to try that, when wearing a DS or wetsuit you wont notice that extra padding of the comfort harness. The wing is a bit of a compromise, the donut shaped wings like the Halcyon Eclipse or the DR Venture wing might be better suited to a single tank, but its not hard to use the trek wing, you might even take double AL80's on it if you decide to go that way (more tech) later.

I have zero interest in HOG. or DIR or anything of the sort. I did pick up a few ideas I have read and liked but that is the extent. With my present config, I am planning on single steel tanks although maybe doubles could be in the future but am not sure. I basically dive wherever, beach boat and hopefully more wrecks.

Talking of going more tech later - if you go to doubles, most likely it will be for a reason, needing extra gas or redundancy for going deep or penetrating caves or wrecks - not much point otherwise. In that case the BP/W would be useful, and most instructors would like you in a hog style config if at all possible. I am still putting together all my gear for that line of diving, getting there slowly.