Order of Equipment Purchases?

[J75]

Also, make tanks one of your last purchases if you live near a dive shop. The price of rental tanks is usually only a $1 or $2 more than the price of a fill. Eventually, you'll want your own so that you don't have to worry about returning them to the shop, and you'll be able to dive whenever, not just when the shops are open. But in the beginning, it makes more sense to rent than to shell out a few hundred bucks on tanks.

 

[RJP]

1: Exposure protection - bet it wet suit or dry suit
2: B/C
3: Regulators/gauges

Makes sense - the first two should be "a constant" as you start to dive as they will effect your bouyancy and trim. You need to get that nailed first, gotta be able to control your position in the water with no thinking/adjusting/futzing with stuff.

There's not MUCH differences in how regs breathe, and what little differences their are will not effect your overall diving technique.

ALSO - I'd agree with the BP/wings approach. I wish I had done that first. So much easier, less bulky way to dive. With a SS plate I now dive with ZERO weight. Talk about being unencumbered. Like diving naked.

Remember - the biggest waste of money is the gear you bought INSTEAD of what you should have bought! (If you don't believe me, then I have a like new BCD, a like new Air 2, a like new reg set, a like new console computer, and a like new dry suit I can give you a hell of a deal on!)

 

[RJP]

1: Exposure protection - bet it wet suit or dry suit
2: B/C
3: Regulators/gauges

Makes sense - the first two should be "a constant" as you start to dive as they will effect your bouyancy and trim. You need to get that nailed first, gotta be able to control your position in the water with no thinking/adjusting/futzing with stuff.

There's not MUCH differences in how regs breathe, and what little differences their are will not effect your overall diving technique.

ALSO - I'd agree with the BP/wings approach. I wish I had done that first. So much easier, less bulky way to dive. With a SS plate I now dive with ZERO weight. Talk about being unencumbered. Like diving naked.

Remember - the biggest waste of money is the gear you bought INSTEAD of what you should have bought! (If you don't believe me, then I have a like new BCD, a like new Air 2, a like new reg set, a like new console computer, and a like new dry suit I can give you a hell of a deal on!)

 

[DivesWithTurtles]

I've done this one before, so I'll repeat myself:

My opinions, and most people disagree with me:

1st priority: exposure suit. It's personal equipment. It's all over your skin. It's like underwear, and I won't wear other people's underwear. Also, like a mask, fit is everything. Buy it locally. Try on a lot of them and buy the one that fits right. Don't try them on locally, then buy online. That's not ethical to use stores that carry stock as a free fitting service.

2nd priority (and here is where my opinion differs from many): regulator. One, it's also personal. People put them in their mouths and breath into them. I'm happy to swap spit with my wife, and I would with my girlfriend if I could find one, but I avoid sharing toothbrushes with strangers even if they are washed thoroughly. In an emergency, sure, no problem. But not on a regular basis with a wide variety of who knows who. Two, it's most important that you know that your reg is in proper working order and that it has been properly cared for. Most rental regs are kept well serviced, but not all are. It's a crap shoot to rent.

BCs vary quite a bit not only in general styles, but also between models of the same style. The differences can only be felt properly in the water, not in a store. Rent a bunch of different kinds before buying and try them in the water. It's the only way you'll get to see what you like. (And you may have to look long and hard to find a place to try out a BP/W, but I think it may be worth it to you.) In contrast, buying any reputable reg, even without trying before buying, will work out for you for a long time.

 

[o2deep4o2long]

Nin what order should I purchase my gear

The first thing you should buy is a proper dive gear bag, so you have a place to put all of your subsequent purchases.

 

[mstevens]

With a SS plate I now dive with ZERO weight.

No, no, no. I keep seeing similar claims, and they're just not true or even close. You are most definitely diving with weight. You may be diving without a weight belt, but the whole point of that SS plate instead of aluminum is to add (wait for it...) weight.

Weight is not bad. It keeps divers from inappropriately ascending. Sure, excessive weight is bad. However, fetishizing "no weight" diving by buying the heaviest gear you can find and bolting on weights here and there just means you're diving with no *ditchable* weight.

Listen to the Kraken and Larry about the order of gear purchases. Put computer dead last. We just bought our first computers (from Larry) a year ago after somehow surviving 25 years without them. Think of it as a chance to get very familiar with tables.

 

[JodiBB]

I used to think purchasing the wetsuit and BCD would be the best to purchase first with the reg set-up to be 2nd for all the reasons stated....

However, after having a dive where I had to rent gear and finding that my octo freeflowed at 45' because of a cracked case and a damaged diaphragm (which couldn't be determined externally and worked during my BWRAF), I decided to revise the order in which to purchase gear.

I would want to get my reg set-up first. My BCD second and the wetsuit third. My logic is that I need to depend on equipment to breathe and remain safe. While a wetsuit is also important, I don't need it to breathe....

 

[CompuDude]

I concur with the wetsuit/bc/reg/computer/tank order of purchase crowd.

UNLESS you are one of those people who get the heebie-jeebie's out of putting a reg in your mouth that has been, at one point in time, in someone else's mouth, even though it has since been washed thoroughly (wash it yourself to be sure, if it concerns you that much). If you're that paranoid, then you won't be happy until you own your own regs. One thought: I've seen people buy their own mouthpieces and detach the used one. Might help if you're one of the overly-squeemish.

And also, in deference to JodiBB's point, however, I can agree that if your LDS is not renting you quality gear (it is your responsibility to check your gear thoroughly before allowing your life to depend on it!), and their rental equipment is known to have problems, then again, it may make sense to switch the BC/reg purchase order. If that was the case, however, realize that you can get into just as much trouble with a malfunctioning BC as with a malfunctioning regulator.

All that said, as long as you can live with rental regs for a time (we're not talking about forever, just next in line on the purchase plan!), nothing will help your diving more than working on buoyancy control, and for a new diver especially, nothing helps that more than having consistent gear so you have the chance to do repetitive dives with the exact same buoyancy characteristics, allowing you to dial in your weighting and get comfortable operating your BC at depth, clipping things to D rings, finding things in pockets, etc.

 

[Falco]

Generally, I'l buy those "personnal" items first, items that require good fit, or that need to be customized in order to fuction correctly should be purchased first. I bought my drysuit first (needed a custom to fit properly), then my BC and finally the regs.

 

[Damselfish]

You can make an argument for almost any order so I'll try a different spin. If you're diving locally, you know what you can rent and what it's like, so buy the thing that is most undesirable to you to rent. Like if you know they maintain their regs well but you have a hard time getting a rental wetsuit or BC that fits, go for those first. Or if nothing jumps out at you buy the one that saves you the most money, then you can buy other things sooner, or the thing you find a deal on.

If you have a trip planned someplace, try and get feedback from people who have used the same place on what the rental gear is like and that may tell you what to buy next. I would normally say computer last, but these are very useful if you're diving a lot over multiple days, so it would be worth considering sooner.

Get reg/oct/gauges all at once, whenever you do it. Octo and gauges aret that expensive and it's not typical to rent pieces separately and add them on to what you have.