How your rig has changed over the years

[MXGratefulDiver]

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes ...

My first equipment purchases almost 12 years ago consisted of a Harvey's wetsuit, gloves and booties, TUSA back-inflate BCD, TUSA regulator, Suunto Favor (air-only) dive computer, Apollo snorkel, mask and Biofins, and two AL80 tanks. I was told at the time I had everything I would ever need ...

I loved that gear ... it got me in the water ... a LOT. Then I started changing it. First to go was the wetsuit. Come around late November I realized that diving a 7 mm wetsuit in Puget Sound was fine ... until I got out of the water. Then it got downright unpleasant. If I wanted to continue diving through the winter ... which I did ... I'd need a drysuit. By Christmas I'd replaced the wetsuit with a Diving Concepts shell suit. Next to go was the BCD. A part broke on it which required it going back to the factory for repair. Six weeks later I received from TUSA a brand new one, because they told me the part I'd broken couldn't be replaced. But in the meantime I'd been using s ScubaPro SuperHawk that I liked better. So I sold the TUSA for about what I'd initially paid for the first one (one of my better gear investments, since I got a couple hundred dives on the first one for essentially free) and went with the SuperHawk for about a year. Then I discovered BP/W ... my first one was a Dive Rite Transplate with Rec wing. I purchased that wing because I was told it would work for both singles and doubles ... and I had plans at that point to start diving doubles. At first I loved that rig ... it was a huge improvement over the SuperHawk when it came to stability and streamlining. But about a year later I had a chance to try an Oxycheq Razor singles wing, and realized how much easier it was to manage than the Rec wing ... so I bought one and started diving that. By now it was 2004 ... and I got an invitation to test dive a wing by this new company called "Deep Sea Supply". Turns out it was even more slim and streamlined than my Oxycheq ... so I started using that one, and the Razor was relegated to the "spares" locker ... today it's on my pool rig. Another year or so went by and DSS came out with a new, donuts style wing ... Torus. I got one of the prototypes to test ... and now, eight or so years later, I'm still diving it. I've since purchased several BP/W plates and wings ... FredT, Oxycheq, Dive Rite, and a few DSS plates ... several different size and style wings from DSS, Halcyon. Dive Rite and Oxycheq. Much of that gear got sold as my diving interests changed ... but I still own five backplates of varying weights and a half-dozen different size wings. My most recent acquisition is a Dive Rite Nomad sidemount setup.

I switched from split fins to blade fins in 2004 ... after having put over 650 dives on the Biofins ... which I then sold to a friend who is still diving them. I've since gone through Turtles, Jets, Slipstreams, and F1's ... and am currently using the F1's for most of my diving. I will shortly be purchasing a set of EXP's for travel.

Tanks ... I currently own a fleet ... five each LP95, HP119, HP130 ... four each HP100 and AL40, six AL6 argon bottles, and yes ... those same two AL80's I started with which are now used primarily for pool work.

Regs ... the TUSA RS130 is long gone. I've replaced it with an assortment of ScubaPro, Apeks, Dive Rite and HOG regulators ... eleven in all, configured for singles, sidemount, stage/deco, and argon.

Drysuits ... the Diving Concepts suit was replaced by a Northern Diver shell, which got replaced by a pair of DUI suits (TLS350 and CLX450) ... replaced by a White's Fusion (that I couldn't force myself to love), which got replaced by a Santi eSpace suit. And my current primary suit is a Bare compressed neoprene.

Undergarments ... been through a series of thinsulate and polartec type, used a Weezle for a while, and am currently using the Whites Thermal Fusion, which is a bit of a pain to put on but is overall best suited of any of them for the cold water I typically dive in.

Dive computers ... traded in that Suunto air-only computer for an Oceanic Versa Pro when I took my nitrox class in 2002. I've since purchased and used several different computers, each somewhat more feature-intensive and expensive than the last. My current primary and backup computers are a Liquivision X1 and a Shearwater Petrel.

I'd like to go back someday and find that guy who told me ... when I laid down my first couple thou$and on scuba gear ... that I now had everything I'd ever need ... dude has some 'splaining to do ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[pocky21]

I seem to change dive gear more often than underwear...

Started with a jacket bc, retractors, magnetic octos, and all those glorious ornaments. Coupled that with an aqua lung kronos and and Aeris console (Koozie you should remember me and this setup - think long haired blonde guy when the Sea of Cortez was chocolate milk). After that, picked up a used Oxycheq Sidemount system and a pair of atomic regs on long hose & bungie - played around with SM but ultimately lack the training ATM. I just picked up a Halcyon Eclipse system and a box full of bolt snaps which I am absolutely chomping at the bit to get a few (thousand) dives on.

Started with split fins, went to force fins for a while until I lost one in the river, back to splits after that (ironically, the dive in question was a "treasure hunt" *grumbles*). I've also managed to accumulate a pair of HP100 doubles - which I split into singles, then back to doubles. A well as a HP80 and an LP104 (AKA lumbar's scourge)

Bought a drysuit, but didn't have the undies or anything else due to supply issues (Whites was in the process of moving) so I'd ghetto it up with winter workout gear from Ross and use my wetsuit booties (good god that was a squeeze). FINALLY got my undies, boots, etc... then had to step up to Hollis F1 fins which, as I soon found out, are a whole lotta fin for my little legs - so now I have a gym membership.

Never seems to end...

 

[BluewaterSail]

Mostly I am adding and not replacing, in the big 2 years that I have been diving.

I did buy a few things in the beginning that I have needed to replace:

Crappy nameless compass to Sunuto
Crappy light to Halcyon scout and LED primary
Regular mask that fit perfectly, to a mask with readers that doesn't fit so well

Started with a perfectly good Aladin 2G computer, but fell in love with the Xen and had to buy it. Can I rationalize that its good to have a backup bottom timer?

But I am lucky that I had a sip of koolaid before I made any major equipment purchases, so I started with a BP/W, which has grown with my diving goals. It was an Infinity, and I have removed all of the Infinity gadgets, including the padding, pockets and cinch, to make a more streamlined tech-ready rig. This is probably my biggest "change".

Besides that, most of my purchases haven't been replacements, but rather expanding options.

I have my original Mares 3-4-5 wetsuit, added a lightweight shortie, and more recently a drysuit. All of which will continue to have their uses. For the wetsuits, I bought SP pockets shorts, but forgot them on a trip so I also bought Highland shorts.

I dive primarily doubles these days, but will still use my singles wing and weighted STA periodically.

Recently bought Argon tank for the drysuit, and a greater assortment of undergarments for different situations.

Still use my origianal SP MK25-G250V regs, but have bought more SP regs for stages and backup.

Original Jet Fins were size large, I now also have XL Jets for the drysuit, but will continue to use both.

Looking at this post, I am starting to see why I have been having recent cash flow problems!:shocked2:

 

[captain]

When I started diving the most common regulator was the doublehose, there were no BC's, no SPG's and very few other item except mask, fins snorkels and depth gauges. Over the years I switched to the single hose regulator, started using an SPG, BC computer and tried various other new and often useless items. I am now back where I started diving with a double hose regulator, no BC and depending on the dive no SPG, I feel free again.

 

[p1p]

In my 1.5 years of diving I've gone from OC to owning 3 rebreathers. Only thing I have left from OW, is my Zeagle Zx50 which is used on my GEM. Oh, and my Scuba Pro Spectra Mask. And some Faber 95's.

 

[philba]

Heh Heh Heh

In 1971 I got a NAUI cert. I had a steel tank w/straps (iirc, 72 but that WAS 42 years ago), J valve, voit regulator, weights, fins, mask and snorkel. No wetsuit, no spg, no octo, no lp inflator, heck no BC. No depth gauge. No computer. No release forms. I hated that J valve because one time the guy filling the tank got it wrong. Fortunately, I wasn't at 60 ft when I discovered it. My fault but I watched them like a hawk after that.

While I love the new stuff, I think it kind of gets in the way of learning the skills. Not having a BC meant that you had to get your buoyancy right from the start. None of this overweight, inflate and go stuff. In my recert dives, I spent way too much time fiddling with the BC/inflator. You really had to understand the tables and plan your dive pretty well back then.

On the NAUI cert. I don't think they called it open water back then but it was the entry level course. Frankly, it was a much much more intensive than my PADI OW recert course last year. 6 2 hour pool sessions and 6 2 hour classes, final test plus 2 open water "check dives". Taught by a couple of ex-Navy divers. And, they did flunk a several people. A lot of focus on emergency/rescue procedures as well a fair amount of diving science. We had a one hour pool session just on out of air procedures including doing 5 laps while buddy breathing (thank god for the invention of the octo!). And they really really drilled in the buddy concept.

 

[Rich Keller]

My gear has come full circle in the last 42 years. I still use my steel 72 that was 10 years old when I bought it in 1970, weights but not the belt and a small broad sword that strapped to my leg. I bought and sold a couple of rooms full of commercial diving equipment over 15 of those years and recently got rid of some newer equipment in favor of vintage gear. I have over the last few years bought, repaired and put back into service the kind of equipment I wanted as a kid but could not afford at that time.