noob needs gear

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hedonist222

Contributor
Messages
1,192
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762
Location
Dubai, AbuDhabi, United Arab Emirates
# of dives
500 - 999
So im a noob diver, interested in getting gear. I did some research and found its ok to mix gear. My instructor strongly suggests ScubaPro but a fellow diver suggests Mares.

So keeping in mind that I will be diving in the Arab Gulf (in United Arab Emirates), where waters right now are about 17 C' and getting warmer.

So what would you guys suggest?

thanks!
 
What would be most important besides your comfort level with your gear would be the availability of service for it. The best gear would be a waste of money if you could not get it serviced annually or if there was a problem.Also if you need to pay astronomical shipping charges to have it sent away and serviced would need to be figured into this as well as what do you dive with while it's away? I personally prefer oceanic and sherwood but neither scubapro or mares is bad. Unless mares goes the route of dacor that is.
 
Try both ScubaPro and Mares and see what you like best and mix and match if that's how it works out.
 
The important thing is to buy the gear you are going to use for a long time to come. Diving is an expensive investment to get into. Buying things twice is not a good goal. So the question is how do you see your diving in the future? Are you going to become a technical wreck diver? Dual tanks or singles along with dept of dives? Cave diving? or are you just going to be a fun loving recreational diver like most people are?

You can not go wrong with Scuba Pro as long as you get the right gear. There are many choices/brands available, and as said above having a store to service it is very important.

This board has a wealth of information. Learn to search it for the products you are looking for and spend hours reading up on gear before you purchase. If you can, try it out first, maybe even just in their pool.
 
JimLap, both mares and scubapro have service centers in the city im from.

DiveMe, I have no idea what Mares dooes well or what ScubaPro does well. From research, Mares has better feet fins than ScubaPro, but the latter has better mouth pieces (regulators?). Sorry im new to the terminlogy too.

Peter_C, I guess I will fall into the latter bunch of people, fun loving recreational diver but with a lot of flare for adventure. Im not scared to go deep down or into caves.

In regards to searchin for gear, well I have none in mind. I was hoping people could suggest such and such fins and tanks or suit from such and such (either mares or scubapro) ,then I can do the research on the products, check them out locally and see what I like.
 
I dive the mares abyss and love it. I've hung upside down at 150' and it breathed just fine. On the other hand the scubapro regs have been some of the standards for years in the tech community. if it's good enough for long/deep cave dives it's probably good enough for anything you'll be doing. For fins i've dove with mares quattros, mares volos, and apollo XT splits. Highly recommend the splits (with spring straps). They were my latest gear change and i wouldn't go back (don't tell the DIR board). For a BC more and more divers (including myself) are switching to a BP/W. If you can afford it, Halcyon makes excellent BP/Ws, but there are others out there. Hope this helps.

A
 
Corrupted_Diver:
So between ScubaPro and Mares, what particular equipment should I get?

For example, SP has the split or cut in the middle fins, where as mares doesnt have this...

Bear in mind that this is one person's opinion and it comes down to personal preference. For fins I would get the mares volos. I have heard bad things about the SP twin-jets (splits). The volos are excellent and actually have similar performance to a lot of split fins. For a reg I recommend the Mares abyss. It is non-adjustable, but then I've never been on a dive to any depth where I thought it needed adjusting. I have never dove one, but I have also heard very good things about both the SP G250 and S600 regs. See if you can get your LDS to let you try various regs out. Either way, I don't think you'll be disappointed in either brand. Can't really speak for either company's BC, but my philosophy has always been the simpler it is, the less can go wrong. Hope this helps.

A
 
LDS - Local Dive Shop
Non-Adjustable Regulators don't have any type of knob that you can adjust the airflow in the 2nd stage of the regulator. If you read around, you will read both views on whether this is really necessary.

BTW... I dive Mares regulators and BC and am very happy with both.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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