Buy all equipment before certification classes?

[jsheffer]

I bought my equipment after not diving for awhile and found I did not prefer the weight integrated bc that looked so attractive. I'd wait til you try a few rentals and try some of your buddies gear.

 

[mels_2]

my husband and i purchased fins, snorkels, boots, and masks during our cert classes. rented gear for our cert dives. as soon as we got certified we went and bought all our gear. I had a hard time picking out a BC and suits I was a hard fit...... I love all my gear except my snorkel luckily its the cheapest thing to replace it's a little heavy and not a good option for diving however i will use it for snorkeling if that makes any sense. They actually told us it was a heavy snorkel but we liked it and thought it would work...lmao we soooo should have listened to them. We did have help picking all our gear, our LDS has great customer service and gave us good info showed us all the differnt gear they had and options on gear they didn't have. We were able to test our gear in a pool to see if it worked for us, if it hadn't worked out we would have been able to switch it out for an alternative piece. We didn't need to.

 

[LyneMarie]

If you are really itching to go shopping, I would go for the wet suit - nothing like owning your own. And because I have small feet, the fins was a good investment. But I think that you should try different gear before buying - even masks... see what you like.
Also, you have to consider where you will dive. I live in Canada, and dive in the Carribeans. So I don't really want to have to carry a lot of gear in my luggage... especially since, so far, all the rentals have been really good. But again, I do love my wet suit! I am comfortable when I dive. AND it sure beat slipping into a humid one that was worn by someone else the day before.
Cheers!
Lyne Marie