Purchasing Equipment

[Squidley]

Thanks for all the great responses.

I think I will go for the wetsuit & BC first, then work my way down the list.


Gary

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Fortunately I was in a position to buy all of my personal gear and life support equipment (reg set, bc) at the same time. After the first class session I got a wetsuit(3mil from ebay for 50 bucks and it was new with the tags). By the first pool session I had two lights, knife, and a steel HP80 and my computer ordered. That was in July of 04. I now have a dozen tanks including two argon bottles and my 19 and 40 cu ft pony's. 3 bc's, six regs, 6 or 7 sets of fins, two wetsuits, a shell dry suit, cannister light and so much odds and ends my den looks like a mini shop. Once you start it just keeps growing. But the up side is you tend to dive more.

 

[Ber Rabbit]

By the first pool session I had two lights, knife, and a steel HP80 and my computer ordered. That was in July of 04. I now have a dozen tanks including two argon bottles and my 19 and 40 cu ft pony's. 3 bc's, six regs, 6 or 7 sets of fins, two wetsuits, a shell dry suit, cannister light and so much odds and ends my den looks like a mini shop. Once you start it just keeps growing. But the up side is you tend to dive more.

"Hi my name is JimLap and I'm a Scuba-gear-aholic"

Follow the recommendations people posted above. Don't be afraid to veer from your planned purchasing course if you come upon a great deal on something farther down the list. Do your research when you find a great deal to make sure that's really what it is and take shipping costs into consideration.

I'm not even going to admit how much stuff I have that I don't need because it was a great deal. It really WAS a great deal but how many wetsuits/regulators do I really need? Be careful purchasing the deals though, if you have two divers you only need two sets of stuff, don't go picking up those irresistible extras

Happy shopping!
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[Kydonia]

This has been very helpful. I'm jumping into this full throttle, and am already planning a trip.
I'm thinking of buying a BCD, Regulator, guages (or computer)

Questions:
1. It makes sense to me to streamline and possibly eliminate Octopus and get alternate air source built into the BDC inflate / deflate hose.

Any thoughts on this ? Any recommended BCD's ??

2. Wireless vs hose computers/guages?

3. Is it better to buy these major items from the local shop or is it safe to buy them online ? If I buy them online, do they guarantee them? Do they put everything together and test them ?

 

[scubatoys]

This has been very helpful. I'm jumping into this full throttle, and am already planning a trip.
I'm thinking of buying a BCD, Regulator, guages (or computer)

Questions:
1. It makes sense to me to streamline and possibly eliminate Octopus and get alternate air source built into the BDC inflate / deflate hose.

Any thoughts on this ? Any recommended BCD's ??

2. Wireless vs hose computers/guages?

3. Is it better to buy these major items from the local shop or is it safe to buy them online ? If I buy them online, do they guarantee them? Do they put everything together and test them ?

It depends on the on line shop. Yes, at our shop, everything is assembled and tested before it leaves. Right on your invoice you will have the IP and crack pressure readings from our bench test after we assemble everything... But a good question, as not all on line stores (or even local shops) do that.

Your other questions have been addressed many times on the board here, and people have very varied opinions. Me... I like Zeagle BCs, I think wireless is great, and the octo inflator is fine in my book. But folks will have very strong opinions on these issues... so sit back and get ready!

 

[SharkDiver36]

Simple question really ... in a true emergency of some kind and you need to do an emergency ascent with your buddy, do you really want him breathing off your inflator/otoc????? I sure wouldn't!

Why would anyone want a less than equal alternate as compared to their primary?

That little hose/reg hanging off the bc isn't going to cause that much drag....spend the couple extra bucks and get the real thing for an octo.

 

[scubatoys]

And then the other side of the coin would be this: I have thousands of dives, and never once have been involved with an actual out of air situation. Probably because I always know how much air everyone around me has. I don't wait for a situation to occur.

Now I have seen people go for others air... in training exercises. So on a platform with folks that actually all have full tanks, going through out of air exercises (saw it a lot more in the "good ole' days" when we taught buddy breathing) and something goes wrong with the exercise and the "out of air" diver grabs the reg out of the others mouth.

So then the situation is, if someone just snatched your reg out of your mouth, which is faster and easier to get to: the octo that the last time you saw it... about 40 minutes ago... it was on a clip on your side, or the octo inflator that you have touched multiple times throughout the dive, and is hanging on your chest about 4 inches from your mouth?

So, one less hose, one less entanglement factor, a product that in all likely hood you will never use, and if you do have to use it, it would be faster for you to get an octo inflator into your mouth than a standard octo... Hmmmm..

2 sides to every coin! This is one you'll have to decide for yourself!

 

[3-Ring Octopus]

Sharkmaster...the standard protocol for those using a combo 2nd/inflator (AirSource, Air2, etc) is to donate their primary 2nd stage to the OOA diver and resume breathing from their combo. No one else should be breathing off that device...for one, it's way too short of a hose for some else to practically use (and that also means that your primary 2nd stage should be on a bit longer hose if you choose to go with a combo..), and two...you would have to give up your own bouyancy control along with that combo...not something I want to give to an OOA and potentially panicky diver.

And ScubaToys brings up another good point...how many panicked OOA divers are actually going to WAIT for you to find an octo? It actually makes a bit of sense that they breathe off of your primary 2nd stage, since more than likely they're just going to rip it out of your mouth anyway! Better to be able to just say "you keep that" than trying to wrestle it back from them.

Just some thoughts (and what I thought was common practice when air-sharing while using a combo inflator/2nd)

Cheers,
Austin

 

[Kydonia]

Many sincere thanks from you pros. I am so new here that I will try to absorb as much as I can. the above points make 100% sense though.

 

[beach89]

The one thing that I didn't like about octo inflaters was that it was hard to breathe and control my buoyancy at the same time. If I was involved in an ooa situation, then I wouldn't want to have any more problems to deal with. So I got a normal octo.

Try different things and see what you like.