Another.. if you will.... investment.

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Kray_Z

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Some of you may have helped me on my other thread about gear (thanks i only spent $456.48 incl. shipping) my next question is wether it is worth it to buy a cheap reg or go for an 3m wetsuit which is all i need but either way i will have to rent one or the other (or both if pursuaded.) I am in the process of loosing some weight(new workout) so im not too sure on the wetsuit but at the same time regs just seem like a waiste when i can rent them... the only thing about both is that they are both about $12 a day to rent so nocking off one of those expenses would be nice and could possibly pay for itself simply over the summer(considering i could by a cheap 3mm for about 100). Man... everyone is going to know me as the most cost effective person in no time on this board. :D but hey could you really blame me.... i'm a college student that gets about 550 a semmester.. try and dive on that and birthday money :wink:

-so stick with renting or buy one?

-Thanks :D
 
IMO if you have to choose which to purchase next I would go with the reg. Regulators are obviously a main piece of your equipment and any time you can get away from having to rent such an important piece is a good thing. You want to know your regs very well and be personally responsible for there maintainance and upkeep. You can't or shouldn't assume that rental equipment is always serviced when it should be. By becoming familar with your own equpiment you can more easily tell if something is malfunctioning. If you rent you really don't know if this is the way it is supppose to work or not. Finally, regulators are directly related to life and death underwater, where as a wet suit is a comfort issue. I would want the life and death equipment to be my own.................
 
You can find a 3mm suit that does the job much cheaper than any reg worth buying (unless you buy a used reg, which has a whole other set of arguments pro and con.) Unless you really think you're going to lose enough weight to make a difference, I would lean towards the suit as it's really nice to have your own and it sounds like it pays off quicker than the reg. Presumably if you buy a suit you would have money left over to rent a reg - if you buy a reg would you have money left over to rent a suit?

As far as a reg, it's certainly better to have your own but I don't think this is a bad thing to rent in your situation, if you are renting from a place that does a good job of keeping them serviced and in good repair. If that is not the case then I'd be considering it more seriously. One thing about regs is that you need to get them serviced usually annually, so that is another expense.
 
as far as the wetsuit goes... I am "one of those guys" that si 6'3" so i usualy get a XL for the length. As far as how i fit into it(I not realy fat i just have a bit of a beer belly that i am working off) i fill it in just fine now and i am pretty comfortable so i was just afraid that if i lost any it might not fit the same and be loose enough to not do its job... any experiance with this?

you bring up a good point too... buying a decent reg would close the books so being able to rent a suit would be.. difficult.

-Thanks :)
 
Yea it's the disaparity in the $$ that stumps me.

You will have a hard time spending $200 on a 3mm suit.

On the other hand a regulator/alternale and basic instruments aproaches $500. to get into the game.

If you are an easy suit fit off the rack I'd get the regulator for the peace of mind factor. This assumes you regulator research is at a point where you are confortable with a selection.

Pete
 
still working on that.. i have looked around quite a bit though and i have found the mares V16 Proton for 210 and i have an extra 2nd for octo and i found a cheap guage cluster for 80 so 300 seems like the range for cheap regs but i dont think i will be able to get as much out of them as i would want(why not save up for something a lot better that will go with me as i expand my diving) where as the suit as most have said is cheap and at $12 a day will pay for itself in about 7 dives. Besideds a suit is something will stick with me.. there's always a need to have a good 3mm for some river and gulf diving so even if i start doing a little more cold stuff I wil have somthing to come back to when I want to check out the tropics :)

I should probably wait for my first set of gear to come in before I place another:D
 
Personally, the word cheap and scuba diving always scares me. I've bought a lot of equipment over the years and every time I tried to save a dollar, I regretted it within 6 months -- wished I had bought the better product ....

Buy right; buy once!

jcf
 
scubajcf:
Personally, the word cheap and scuba diving always scares me. I've bought a lot of equipment over the years and every time I tried to save a dollar, I regretted it within 6 months -- wished I had bought the better product ....

Buy right; buy once!

jcf

I agree! Every item I ever purchased from Tritan I ended up throwing out(sherwood I didn't trash, but just dont use it), Every piece of Scuba Pro, DUI, or Dive Rite I still enjoy and use.

I would say if your easy to fit, rent the wetsuit and buy a reg. However it sounds like your so strapped for cash, I think you should (if money is burning a hole in pocket) buy the wet suit and wait on the reg untill you can drop some cash and get a good set.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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