What Dive Gear & Accessories Have You REMOVED from Your Kit, or replaced with something different?

[Jim Lapenta]

Too much stuff to list. I fell for the BS of the shop I took OW through and bought all the doodads. Most of it was gone within a year. Replaced with lots more stuff. Bought and replaced probably 5 or 6 BPW's because I could.
I still have 7 or 8 pairs of fins. Have two sets of prototype Hollis Bat Fins. Black and yellow tips. I pretty much only dive my HOG tech fins now unless I'm using my MAKO freediving fins.
Replaced 1st drysuit with a HOG and then an Otter suit. Have both of those but thinking of selling the HOG. Nothing wrong with it, the Otter just fits better. And I'm not into cold water as much as I used to be.
6 sidemount rigs I still have. Two of them I made myself.
Like some others here, I have enough stuff to fully outfit half a dozen rec divers or 3-4 tech divers.
I've got regs in various configurations including individual stages. Going to get some of those serviced and start selling them off so they actually get used.

 

[Pressurehead]

Going to get some of those serviced and start selling them off so they actually get used.

My advice [for what it's worth], just sell them as is, you will never cover the cost of the service selling 2nd hand.

 

[NothingClever]

Great thread.

Similar experience to everybody else….started out with a recreational BC (back inflate horseshoe wing) with lots of knick-knacks on retractable tethers and shed them over time to arrive at a simplified BP/W in DIR configuration.

Have definitely added the DryFob aft of a D-ring on the right side waist belt. Proper bit of kit for shore diving, IYAM.

 

[halocline]

I learned early on to be pretty judicious with my purchases and still have my very first regulator (MK2) and mask and even fins, although I rarely use them. I also like full foot fins for warm water boat diving.

Probably the only big thing I've bought and then ditched was a LED canister light to replace my old HID, which had failed for the final time on a cave dive. The expensive LED light I was able to buy at a discount due to a warranty on my HID, but it was still pricey and I just never really liked it. Now I'm in a holding pattern light-wise, having bought a cheap ($500) handheld that looks really good in the water, is very convenient (no cord to mess with) but has crappy burn time. (2hrs, not enough for long cave dives) And I don't have a lot of faith that it will last several years, but when it's basically 1/3 the price of a good canister light, you can afford to buy two, keep one in the pouch as a spare, and replace the batteries every couple of years.

Still looking for the perfect cave light; cordless, looks just like HID, ultra reliable, and 4 hour burn time. Oh yeah, and cheap. I'll keep dreaming until someone actually comes out with one.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

My advice [for what it's worth], just sell them as is, you will never cover the cost of the service selling 2nd hand.

That would only be true if I had to pay to have them serviced. I'm a dealer and reg tech instructor for the brand I have. All it will cost me to service them is a little time and parts that I get at dealer cost.

 

[Pressurehead]

That would only be true if I had to pay to have them serviced. I'm a dealer and reg tech instructor for the brand I have. All it will cost me to service them is a little time and parts that I get at dealer cost.

OK, lucky you.
I was a reg tech 'many moons ago' working on Conshelf XIV Regulators and earlier models, one of the many jobs the Navy trained me in, regulators have not changed much in that time, a Mk 5 and a XIV set the standard IMHO, and copied forever on.
Back on topic, my advice if you are not in Jim's position [which is a good one], sell as is ,unless it will sell at a premium, I see SP G250 sell very well though.

 

[Jafo19D]

Machete/swords -- A short but stout dive knife that fits in the pocket (Remora). Easily cuts through thick rope. Large knives, especially on your lower leg, are hard to get to and can trap line. Quickly learned that.

Line cutters -- on the waist belt and the computers on both arms. Work exceedingly well for cutting fishing line and netting to rescue crabs and critters caught up in the ghost fishing nets. Massively better than dive knives which are rubbish cutting netting. Try it.

Quackers and shakers -- no. Just no. The DiveMaster might have a use when herding a bunch of divers, but everyone else doesn't need to hear your racket.

Cheap torches -- seems that quality costs money. After going through maybe half a dozen cheapo far-eastern torches that fail within a few dives, finally stumped up the cash for a decent torch which is still going strong after 500+ dives. Alas you pay for these torches. Now have several!

Recreational fins -- those crazy ScubaPro things which are rubbish at finning. Replaced with proper Hollis H1s which are heavy and work very well for all forms of finning techniques: frog, mod-frog, back-kick, helicopter turns.

Retractors and other recreational tat -- just do it properly; clip torches off on your chest D-ring or put stuff in your pockets (yes, you do need to get them fitted to your suits)

Big suit pockets -- changes your life! Two SMBs, reels, spare mask, knife, wetnotes. All fit in without problem.

BCD -- replaced with a backplate + wing. BCDs are so cumbersome in comparison.

Big, heavy 100m/330' reel with self-inflating SMB -- so much easier to put up from all depths. Just works without the faff of inflating one with your drysuit hose / regulator.

Octopus -- replaced with a simple necklaced backup on a short hose, with 2.1m/7' longhose. So much better.

Backmount -- replaced with sidemount if doing shallow open circuit dives

Open circuit -- replaced with a rebreather of course! A deep dive with helium for $30. Plus thousands for the unit and training ;-)

Oops. I just got these two. Will put the GoPro selfie stick on the retractible line and the flashlight on the other one

 

[NothingClever]

Don’t let your dingle dangle in the dirt.

 

[SlugLife]

Oops. I just got these two. Will put the GoPro selfie stick on the retractible line and the flashlight on the other one

Retractors I just realized I have zero on my SideMount kit. I didn't intentionally remove them. I just can't find a good use for them at the moment. In hindsight:

• Compared to a backplate, with sidemount you want as little on your harness as possible. Other than d-rings, I only have 2 cutting devices on my harness.
• I now have D-rings in very specific spots, where I can easily find them. The primary chest-d-rings are where my thumb meets my shoulder. I also have front/rear crotch-d-rings, & 2-d-rings by the waist-strap buckle. The other waiststrap d-rings are reserved for sidemount tanks. I sometime have a wrist-d-ring too.
• All items have clips, usually a decent sized bolt-snap. When not in use, the buckle-d-rings are my usual go-to for quickly or temporarily stashing items.
• Stuff I rarely use has gone in the sidemount butt-pouch.
• Primary 2nd stage is on a necklace, around my neck. Secondary 2nd stage is on a clip, which always clips to the right-upper-chest-d-ring.

The TLDR is having d-rings in spots I can consistently find them, has made retractors somewhat obsolete for my current setup.

 

[Jafo19D]

Don’t let your dingle dangle in the dirt.

Pick up your dingle dangle and tuck it in your shirt