What gear were you required to buy for AOW

[tursiops]

What you need for the five AOW dives depends on what the five dives are; only Deep and Nav are mandatory. Nav requires a compass, and a slate. The AOW crew-Pak comes with the slate. You do not need to own either but you probably should. For Deep, the student must have a light (because it might be dark at depth) and a slate (to write down info and questions). Again, you do not need to own either, but you should have a light. Other popular dives for the three electives are Night (requires a light, a backup light, a tank light, and a compass); Peak Performance Buoyancy (nothing special needed); Wreck (you need a slatemaybe a light, and might need a reel, depending on what your instructor decides to cover); Search and Recovery (compass, possibly a light, slate, reel, lift bag, rope, depending on your instructor); Boat (SMB or DSMB, compass depending on conditions). There are many possibilities for the three elective dives, and most of them have some kind of equipment requirement. But purchase of the additional equipment is not a PADI requirement, even though a particular shop or instructor says that.

 

[Etmutt]

I would have hoped that you as an instructor would appreciate students turning up as divers, having already purchased and learnt those items with you now able to concentrate on teaching them finer advanced points

it depends really :

if the student has already some gear and has been using it for his diving; then the aow would take it further and the student will end up learning more

if he doesn’t have gear and is buying it for the course then i would much rather have him wait and train first. this way he will know what is is buying and why. i ve seen too many time student turning up to course with a shiny expensive new gear that isn’t suited to the local conditions.

 

[chrisch]

... purchase of the additional equipment is not a PADI requirement, even though a particular shop or instructor says that.

Very much this. Everything I needed was provided and this was made clear when booking. OK for me it was a very long time ago but I would expect the same situation now.

The point of AOW is to get experience whilst supervised. How do you know what kit you will need at this stage?

Discussion about suitable equipment should form part of the briefing and teaching.

 

[rongoodman]

I was using a rented regulator with a console, so the only item I bought for AOW was an underwater flashlight. But I'd already bought one anyway...

View attachment 852913

I had one of those things for AOW too. As I recall, it flooded.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I had to buy everything including my own reg set w/console -compass, depth gauge, SPG, I already had a timing device, BCD, lights primary and back up/ tank light, basically the whole enchilada because that particular weekend they were running several classes and everything was already rented out. I don’t regret any of it because having your own stuff is really where it’s at.

 

[stretchthepenn]

I had one of those things for AOW too. As I recall, it flooded.

My King Pelican was a waterproof beast. Well, mostly. It flooded at one point, and Princeton Tec replaced the guts with upgraded parts (C-cells required instead of D-cells). After that, it stayed s-e-a-l-e-d. So sealed, in fact, that after a few years in storage, it refused to come unsealed and eventually busted when I tried to torque it open. *Taps plays softly in the background*

 

[Still Kicking]

My King Pelican was a waterproof beast. Well, mostly. It flooded at one point, and Princeton Tec replaced the guts with upgraded parts (C-cells required instead of D-cells). After that, it stayed s-e-a-l-e-d. So sealed, in fact, that after a few years in storage, it refused to come unsealed and eventually busted when I tried to torque it open. *Taps plays softly in the background*

Princeton upgraded a Pelican light? Now that's customer service

 

[happy-diver]

it depends really :

The point of AOW is to get experience whilst supervised. How do you know what kit you will need at this stage?

Discussion about suitable equipment should form part of the briefing and teaching.

Guys given that you have qualified I would hope that in the time between open water and advanced
you take the initiative, do heaps of dives and importantly learn using compass, dsmb and other stuff
so you can present at advanced more experienced than basic, to show the instructor you are serious

Well grounded, well rounded Divers

 

[Scubagermany]

Just the fact that you are doing your AOWD course does not in itself mean you have to buy things.
Everything I needed was provided.
The diving center advertised this service on its HP and named its price for the course including the equipment.
That was one of the reasons why I chose that center.
Personally I cannot see any need to 'proof' to my instructor my future intentions by buying stuff.

 

[Jai Bar]

Nothing, really. Some prefer to have personal booties.

You will know better what to buy once you gained some experience- assuming you will be hooked on scubadiving.

Before OW/AOW lots of people don't even know what they need, end up buying expensive stuff they don't really need.

There's no rush, finish learning then buy gear that suits you.