What gear to buy for a beginner

[USdiver1]

Out of all the gear what is the piece that gets serviced the most?

Anything with batteries has been my experience. I normally change at the beginning of the diving season, and depending upon usage, some equipment may require additional changes throughout the season. Regulators may require annual maintenance for warranty purposes (free replacement parts), other manufacturers may go two years for their service intervals. Straps (fin, mask, snorkel keep) should be in your fix-a-dive kit meaning that Professor Murphy will pay you a visit when you are least prepared/expecting. Also, the care that you provide (fresh water rinse, cleaning, dry storage) can have a profound effect upon your equipment's need for professional servicing. Your life depends upon reliable, safe dive gear. Make it a habit to keep it in great shape.

 

[brrrandi]

My $0.02 to the OP...

- Exposure protection. As a diver in a cold water location, most of the complaints I get from students involve the fact that their wetsuit does not fit them properly or that they are too cold to actually enjoy their dives. While I have some very strong gear preferences, I can be happy in pretty much any type of rental BCD or regulator. However, I will piss and moan like you wouldn't believe if I have to wear a rental wetsuit. They never seem to fit right and I'm always colder than if I was wearing my own. Wetsuits generally don't have a lot of features/differences, so you also aren't going to decide that you really wanted a different style in a few years

I really have to second this. I'm a newbie myself, so take this with a grain of salt...

I've found (after 25 dives on rental gear) that I'm still trying to figure out my preferences on reg, bc, computer, and etc. But with regard to my exposure suit, I really, really know what I DON'T want: an ill-fitting wet - or worse - drysuit. Fit is essential for a good dive, imho.

I wish I had bought my drysuit first and continued to rent my other kit for a while longer instead of just jumping in to get a bc/reg/computer combo as soon as I could afford it. Lesson learned for me [as I walk off, tugging at my rented exposure suit, grumbling]. :sigh_2:

 

[fjpatrum]

Yep, the most often serviced items are battery operated, in my limited experience.

I buy all used gear (except wetsuits) for the bulk of my purchases and have saved a lot of money that way. I'd recommend looking here on SB and in your local area for used dry suits. In the meantime, you can't go wrong with a 5mm full suit and then add a hooded vest. Total cost there should be between $150 and $250 for a reasonably priced suit that fits well. You can pay more, but why? (I admit I'm cheap that way... there are valid reasons to pay more money for a suit, I just don't find them particularly compelling.) Add some decent gloves/mittens and booties and you should be reasonably comfortable down to 50(ish) degree Fahrenheit water temps, if you're like most people. (I wear about 13-14mm of neoprene when diving wet in cold water.) You could similarly buy a 7mm and a 3mm (and still buy the hooded vest) and be completely prepared for almost any diving where wet is appropriate.

After good fitting exposure suits, I would personally just buy whatever hits your wallet the right way. If it's regs, get regs. If you can only afford a computer or BC, buy those instead. Again, considering buying used opens your options dramatically. If you look at my post history you'll probably find no less than 15 or 20 posts of me saying this. I've bought enough gear to outfit 5 divers with regs, 3 with tanks, 7 or 8 with BCs, and one with a dry suit (me, thank you very much) for just over $2k US. If I had bought new I couldn't even have bought the drysuit, much less everything else.

 

[ams511]

No one can answer what you should buy first except you. You need to ask yourself when I dive what is holding me back. If it is exposure protection then get a semi-dry or dry suit. If the LDS's regs are unreliable then get a good reg, Beaver's and NESS's deal are excellent. You get the picture. If everything is holding you back I would start with the items with the quickest payback period first. The last thing I would buy is a dive computer. Regardless of what the agencies are preaching now they are not a necessity for diving. They add little to a well planned dive. Given your area I would go directly to a BP/W setup, you will need the weight. I used to dive cold and carrying 20+ lbs on a belt is no fun. Dan's Dive Shop has good deals from time to time and they are in Ontario so you do not need to deal with customs.

 

[Colliam7]

Colliam, No-one's forcing you to read and/or respond to these posts if you're time is too precious. This is a "special rules" forum.

That's exactly right. My point is, there is a wealth of information on SB, why limit yourself to what you might happen to get with your / one individual post? My point is also not to criticize the poster, rather help them learn to use SB more effectively. Just as we often ask posters to provide more detail about their diving, or their diving goals, or whatever, before attempting to answer a somewhat general question, I think it is important to also help new members learn to use SB, including the search function.

 

[bbarnett51]

Exposure suit
BCD
Computer
Regs

That would be my choice.