General advice to new scuba divers: do not waste your money!

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Thanks everyone for your input.
I'll try to make some other point on what some of you said:
  • on local dive shop, I do agree we should support them and dive with them. And I don't think that they would sell you something not fit for you with dishonesty: it's just business...and I do understand their point of view. they need to sell gear and they do have good contracts with that or the other brand and it is totally normal they will try to sell you that specific equipment even if it is not 100% what you need (even if it is a proper piece of gear).
  • on computers: does it make any sense to spend now 200£/$ on something you'll need to replace in 1 year? Most sophisticated multi-gas computer are as simple as the air/nitrox computer and the price are competitive. I mean, there are plenty of used multi-gas computer in the market at affordable price.
 
For a beginner diver to worry about buying equipment that will be good for technical diving later (if ever) is a great disservice. The overwhelming majority of divers never go to technical diving and never into multi-gas diving. This matter in regards to dive computers, BC's and to other equipment.

In regards to regulators, buy the best regulator you can afford and will cover your type of diving for at least the next 5 years. The most expensive or the least expensive aren't always the best value. Quality brand with international coverage and a wide area of dealers and support network is essential in picking your equipment especially regulators.
 
For a beginner diver to worry about buying equipment that will be good for technical diving later (if ever) is a great disservice. The overwhelming majority of divers never go to technical diving and never into multi-gas diving. This matter in regards to dive computers, BC's and to other equipment.

In regards to regulators, buy the one the best one you can afford and will cover your diving for at least the next 5 years. The most expensive or the least expensive aren't always the best value. Quality brand with international coverage and a wide area of dealers and support network is essential in picking your equipment especially regulators.
@"For a beginner diver to worry about buying equipment that will be good for technical diving later (if ever) is a great disservice"

I don't think so, and we should not label everything is typically used in technical diving as exclusively usable in technical diving. With a BP/W setup (and the rest) you can do all the recreational dives you want, and you can grow with it in all directions you want. It is not true the other way around.

I agree on prices of regulators though.
 
In addition to the shop selling you what they have in stock, many will sell you what they have the biggest mark up on.
Yep. There are many dive shops near me. Many, I won’t set foot in due to this practice, but I had to experience it and recognize it before I marked them off my list.

One example. I was shopping for a BC. I wanted to look at a Zeagle Stiletto. Yet, despite being a dealer for Zeagle, and having Stilettos in stock, the employee only wanted to point me to a ScubaPro Knighthawk. So, that shop lost out on a sale from me, as well as several additional sales over the years.
Possible but not necessarily. If you have a good honest LDS nearby, I would recommend supporting it. You can try out various items. Return it. Get your equipment serviced without sending out (thus maybe only few supported brands). However more importantly, establish relationship with the shop, get fills, go on trips together…
Trouble is knowing if you are in a good LDS or not. As a new diver, without a ton of experience, it can be tough to tell if the shop is being honest with you, or if they are just looking at you as easy money.
 
Yet, despite being a dealer for Zeagle, and having Stilettos in stock, the employee only wanted to point me to a ScubaPro Knighthawk.
On the other hand, if those were the only choices, I would have pushed the Nighthawk, too. Maybe he was being honest.
 
More on the shop inventory/displays...

When they have 18 masks on display, but only 3 different models (in all 6 colors available each), they don't have a great inventory.

I like to see a bit of clutter. When the boots are nicely displayed, they are trying to fill space. The "this box has our size 10 boots" works much better for me. Providing there are at least 3 or 4 different styles of boots to pick from.

Several years ago I took many years off diving. Life got in the way stuff. Went to get back in it and drove around town and "interviewed" several shops to find one I wanted to do business with. Being I owned my gear, and I had experience in the past, most of the shops were quick to sell me a vacation package. Do you realize I have not been in the water in about 5 years, and should at least have stuff looked at and do something local first? It was what they saw as something they could sell to me. Not work with me, just what will be money in there pocket.
 
Regulators: do not save money here. If you have a budget, cut half of it to buy the best you can. It is better to have a mediocre drysuit/wetsuit and fins than a mediocre regulator: it does not matter what kind of diving you are doing;
Disagree. Most new divers should start with regulators that are (a) affordable that works reliably and (b) which can be serviced.

The problem with the advice is when you're a brand-new diver, a lot of this gear is confusing, and you don't know what you're shopping for, and it's all too easy to spend a bunch of money on regulators based on bad advice from a dive-shop, and get something that is actually not suitable for whatever diving you intend to do long term. It's much better to simply start with something that works, doesn't break the bank, and only when you out-grow that initial set, and are ready for more advanced dives, start looking into more fancy regulators. Second, dive-shops will absolutely love to sell brand new divers regulators they can't afford and don't need.

Computer: think about buying a multigas computer…by now you can find it at the same price of an air/nitrox computer (e.g. Garmin G1) but it will serve you over the long period;
Again, disagree. Start with something that works and does the job. When you are more experienced, you'll likely out-grow any computer you buy as a beginner. You really don't need anything fancy as a beginner. The main thing I found useful as a beginner was the ability to upload my dive-log to a computer or cell-phone for storage.

When you're actually ready for more advanced dives, whatever computer you bought will probably get buried under a pile of scuba-equipment you forgot you had. If you're smart, you'll remember to sell it (speaking of which, computers around the $300 mark new are extremely cheap on the used market). At that point, maybe you'll want a fancy $1000 computer with Air integration, a really nice screen, and a bunch of cool features. If you spent $50 instead of $450, you'd have that extra $400 saved up for a much nicer computer.
Multi use equipment: although 90% of your equipment will be for scuba only, you can still buy few pieces of your configuration that will serve you in other hobbies or everyday life
Sure, when you happen to come across multi-use stuff, it's nice, but I'd say multi-use is generally a bad principle to follow.

1) Your list of multi-use equipment will generally be EXTREMELY tiny.

2) Multi-use creates complications. For example, tools. Scuba-tools are generally more compact and more specifically applicable to scuba-equipment by having the right sizes, and not a bunch of nonsense I don't need. 2b) Much of my scuba-tools and save-a-dive kit has some non-dive application, HOWEVER, I almost never go digging through my save-a-dive box for a tool because later, when I'm out diving, I might discover I forgot to put that tool back in my kit.

3) The other problem with multi-use equipment, is you end up spending more, for items that are less suitable for either purpose. That's very true of tools as I mentioned in point-2 above; carrying an entire set of hex-wrenches is a little excessive. Instead, you can get something like the XS Scuba Start Tool, which has all the right sizes, is stainless-steel (very rust-resistant), and in a tiny package can cover about 90% of my scuba-tool needs in a pinch.

I've been guilty of this myself and had to grow out of it, but the pursuit of trying to save money in this kind of way can actually end up costing you a lot more money. It's not a universal rule of course, but this is an area to be cautious around.
 
This… there are so many of us that have absolutely no desire to get into tech diving
Its not a matter of technical diving or not.
As I said before: almost the same configuration used for technical diving can be used for recreational one.
I understand the BP/W setup was born for technical diving, but it is not like that anymore.
 
This… there are so many of us that have absolutely no desire to get into tech diving

The overwhelming majority isn't into technical diving. Sometimes it seems that lots of divers are into technical diving but this is because they are loud and pushy :p
 
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