What does your choice of scuba gear say about you?

[TMHeimer]

Have you never met a Yorkshire man!

BTW Scotsman has only one T, but at least you did not call yourself Scotch!

Right! That's the first time I'm glad my elders have all passed on and they're not here to tar and feather me.

RPJ, It's a scarey thought that (being so knowledgeable here) you are probably right in what you say about the sheeple and outliers. That's the first I've ever heard the word outlier. Not sure if I can escape the "net" by being somebody who just never wants to buy ANYTHING.

 

[descent]

... unless you always purchase the cheapest, generic, store brand of everything... you're probably not [an outlier]. (And even if you buy the cheapest, generic store brand of everything... guess who's marketing spell you've fallen under.) No one is everyone's target audience, but everyone is SOMEONE'S target audience.

How does a marketer reach a person who purchases only used items from Craigslist, Ebay, swap meets, or garage sales? Someone who has no interest in brand, only build quality?

 

[FinnMom]

How does a marketer reach a person who purchases only used items from Craigslist, Ebay, swap meets, or garage sales? Someone who has no interest in brand, only build quality?

Current reports on an established brand (Apex for instance) do reinforce my interest in buying their older products. Sometimes because the review of a new product mentions an older product or comments on how the older ones have been esp. respected for this, this and that reason. Sometimes because of the general idea that you don't get a product that good on your first go, chances are this great new thing is from a long line of pretty darn good things.

 

[CT-Rich]

Dive gear on a person who is 20 dives in or 50 dives in is more likely to reflect how they shop than how they dive. Tech nerds who have to have the I-phone are likely to be tech nerds that likely to buy the rig they read about on line as the "best gear for such and such." Or maybe they had a salesperson that loved Scubapro. after 3 or 4 seasons (in some places that might be 5 or 10 dives in others that might be 100+) they will likely be diving the same gear. I have bought a bunch of excellent gear that someone paid REALLY good money for so they could later get advanced certifications. Well, they didn't.

I don't really blame them or even think they were foolish to sink thousands into a sport they didn't stick with. They were just following their nature. I don't mind going with the newbie, but if were looking for competency, I usually look for the guy who knows what he is doing with his gear rather than the gear itself. Most gear on the market is safe, if used correctly and not every diver is going to ditch a $700 BCD to spend $500 on a backplate/wing unless the BCD has run its course. I know plenty of people that get satisfaction from reading and shopping but haven't got the experience in the water to match their opinions.

Personally, less is more, I still use a snorkel a lot of the time and dive with BFK, my weights were cast in the same mold since the 1980s (the belt still has the Dacor buckle) and a ratty, faded wetsuit. I love getting getting advice from newbies. Sometimes they even change things because they realize why I do it my way.

 

[Frosty]

Interesting discussion -I might be the guy sitting next to you in fairly new looking gear.--some of it brand new.
nope Im no follower of fashion or trends.Ive got a family that are growing fast so now one lad after the other inherits dads gear-that is less than 12 months old.eventually they'll all be grown up but for now I'm getting new gear once a year.

 

[rivers]

I think my dive gear says I'm thrifty but occasionally splurge on nice bits of shiny that I want.
My gear consists of:
used halcyon explorer wing I bought for £100. I'm at least the third owner, it's faded to buggery, but still functions like new so why replace it.
cheap steel backplate
seaskin drysuit (budget MTM) with knock-off chucks for rock boots
apeks atx-40s and ds-4s for twinset and stage regs. no single tank regs, just swap and change hoses in the off chance i dive a single
12w light monkey can light
couple of cheap-ish led back-ups
turtle fins that i bought on close-out
liquivision xen (splurge item)
halcyon h knife (gift for painting a mate's bathroom)
halcyon blob (splurge)
masks
My kit also says i like the colour black. a lot. I also do my own repairs when and where i can. My kit looks well loved and well dived, but i see no reason to replace any of it

 

[Skulmoski]

Two things you can discern about me from my equipment:
1) The equipment is all new so he's a newbie.
2) Good equipment choices so he must be reading and taking advice from the Scubaboard community.

GJS

 

[dmaziuk]

Dive gear on a person who is 20 dives in or 50 dives in is more likely to reflect how they shop than how they dive.

Also matching gear on couples I expect. In my representative sample of one (

), we have
- matching shorties because there was a "buy one get one cheaper" deal,
- same fins and snorkels because she liked mine,
- same computers for obvious reasons.

 

[timeandtide]

Mine mainly says I'm colour blind!

 

[Ana]

I have no idea what my gear says, about me or anyone else.

What I know is that until the 2010's or so, everywhere I went I'd look for a dive shop to visit, see what's new at that location, and many times drool a little about this or that.
I traveled for work to many many coastal places so the opportunities were abundant. Then it got to a point that I'd walk in and by the time I saw a quarter of the store, I'd walk out thinking I don't belong there. Before long I didn't bother, the most I'd do was to check what was visible from the outside.

Now I just replace in kind as needed, and most of the times it is a matter to place the order at DGX and drive by to get it.