What regs & BC should my friend buy

Hi.
My friend & I have been diving for a year. We are both mature ladies & enjoy diving in UK waters and the Red Sea. I was fortunate enough to be able to buy 2nd hand Apex regs & a buddy commando BC & I love them. My friend would like to buy her own but there is so much choice. Obviously I have recommended apex & buddy but I have no experience of anything else, does anyone else have any recommendations.

What has your friend been using when she dives? Has it been different each time or is there a gear cinfiguration (kit) she has come to prefer?

I am an Aqualung/SeaQuest fan personally, but I recommend that a person buy what they find comfortable, reliable, easily serviced wherever they go, parts available wherever they go, affordable, meets their current and possible future diving needs.

Brand and model choice will end up being a user preference in the end. The important thing is that she be safe, comfortable, happy and not have buyers remorse.

I always advocate try before you buy and try to stress that at least three brands and multiple models within each brand be experienced.

Just because I love my Aqualung Legend LX doen't mean you will.

Hope this helps.

For regs, the usual recommendation is to get something that you can get serviced locally, or service yourself if that's your thing. Apeks has a very good reputation, but there are plenty of other top brands out there. I'm told Apeks provides free parts for service, but that may only be true in the US.

For BC, I use a backplate and wing setup with hogoathian harness, which is very popular on this board. Do a search for titles with backplate or wing to find out more. Again, there are many good brands, but I'm not sure what's available in the UK. There's a board called Yorkshire Divers, which I think has lots of Brits on it and they probably know more about what the best deals are in the UK.