Gear Help for Cold Water.

Hi guys,

I'm a newbie, and I am very interested in purchasing my own gear. I'll be diving mostly in Newfoundland year round, which is obviously pretty cold. I've done some looking at scubatoys.com and am impressed with their prices, and prompt replies through email - this is what I have narrowed it down to - please let me know if the gear I'm looking at is decent and feel free to offer any other suggestions (keeping in mind, I'd like to keep this at a reasonable price)

BCD/REG/OCTO/COMPUTER
Mares Epic BCD
Mares Brigade Viper Octo
Tusa SCA-343
Tusa RS-130
for 790.00
OR
Mares Limited Edition Morphos Metal Tech BCD BC
Mares Limited Edition Metal Tech Regulator
Mares Brigade Viper Octo
Mares RGBM AirLab Computer
for 1248 (and a free pair of mares quattro fins)

DRYSUIT:
Whites Nexus II Dry Suit Package (699.99)
or
Bare Nex-Gen Mens Drysuit Package (499.99)

With the tusa package and white suit, I could get it to my door for 1400.

Does this sound good? What are your opinions on the gear? Any help would be much appreciated!! And what else should I be looking for?

Thanks!
gb

redblanket:

Hi guys,

I'm a newbie, and I am very interested in purchasing my own gear. I'll be diving mostly in Newfoundland year round, which is obviously pretty cold. I've done some looking at scubatoys.com and am impressed with their prices, and prompt replies through email - this is what I have narrowed it down to - please let me know if the gear I'm looking at is decent and feel free to offer any other suggestions (keeping in mind, I'd like to keep this at a reasonable price)

BCD/REG/OCTO/COMPUTER
Mares Epic BCD
Mares Brigade Viper Octo
Tusa SCA-343
Tusa RS-130
for 790.00
OR
Mares Limited Edition Morphos Metal Tech BCD BC
Mares Limited Edition Metal Tech Regulator
Mares Brigade Viper Octo
Mares RGBM AirLab Computer
for 1248 (and a free pair of mares quattro fins)

DRYSUIT:
Whites Nexus II Dry Suit Package (699.99)
or
Bare Nex-Gen Mens Drysuit Package (499.99)

With the tusa package and white suit, I could get it to my door for 1400.

Does this sound good? What are your opinions on the gear? Any help would be much appreciated!! And what else should I be looking for?

Thanks!
gb

Click to expand...

Dude, those fins will not be free. They'll just not be a charged line item

Why are you buying online rather than local? Not that there is anything "wrong" with online, just curious to know why you are spending so much apparently not locally.

First, Welcome to ScubaBoard - there are many great people here with a wealth of information and expierence. I too am a cold water diver, although not necessarly to the extremes you will most likely encounter I am regulary in 40 (f) water and colder.

The first thing you need to keep in mind when buying gear is that this is the stuff that keeps you alive while diving. There are many places to read gear reviews online but I don't know of any who regulary preform their tests in extreme conditions like cold water. Look at it this way, saving even a couple of hundred dollars today will be worthless if dives are blown because of a freeflow due to a frozen reg (I have seen this happen more times than I can count, and I have just under 100 dives!). Worse, if you need to abort a dive at depth, you could injure or kill yourself. All for saving a couple of hundred bucks??? If you are going to buy gear online, going with a SB Sponsor is always a good idea and I understand them to be a reputable vendor. However, I don't believe anyting can replace the value add your local dive shop. Those folks know the conditions you dive in and do it on a daily basis and have great expierence in what will work in those conditions. Take a look at what they trust their lives to and take that to heart. These people will most like not sell you the wrong thing if you tell them where you are planing on diving and should stand behind their recommendations if something isn't right. Also remember, the initial purchase of gear is only part of the picture. Regulators and BC's need annual servicing and if something isn't quite right, you can always take it in to them. With an online dealer you need to ship it to them and wait for them to return it to you. If you need a minor adjustment you will need to do the same thing. Many local shops won't service gear they didn't sell or will not give you any discounts or special considerations on service should you need it. These are also the people you will dive with on a regular basis, will provide your air fills, training, and schedule trips with. You might be able to save a couple of bucks buying on-line but it won't take long to eat that savings up with potential maintenance and service issues.

As much as I support the LDS, I also have bought some things online. All my hangers, dive lights, knives, reels, tanks, drysuit and some other stuff has come off the web in one way or another. That being said, I wouldn't buy regulators or probibly even a BC online. Too much at stake in my book (frozen inflator valve can launch you into orbit). As for the gear you mention, I don't know anything about Tusa and not much about Mares. What I know about Mares I would go with the Metal reg or preferably a Metal Ice. The other thing I understand about Mares is they seem to have a tendancy to discontinue parts avaliablity for regs that are only a few years old. All the serious the cold water divers I dive with use either Dive Rite, Poseidon or Apex regs. I also know there are several other very good cold water regs out there but I don't have any exposure to them. I personally use Dive Rite regs and have never had a freeflow or freezing problem and think they are a very good value for the money. If I had more to spend, I probibly would go with Poseidon. I have also never seen an Apex reg freeze up. The other thing you may want to consider is that it looks like you may have a slant towards more technical diving. If that is actually the case, I would strongly encourage you to look into a back plate and wings. I have never seen a real technical diver using anyting else, not saying they aren't out there just that I haven't seen it. Trust me on this one, I origionally purchased an Oceanic Probe which is a cross-over BC and a little over a year later I was buying a BP/W combo - wish I could re-think that origional decision and saved myself $500

We all have budgets we need to work within, I just think life support, expecially when diving the extremes, isn't some place to cut corners.

Just my $0.02 and not guaranteed to be worth anyting more than that.

Good luck!

Thanks TripleT - I appreciate your input. I think I will visit my LDS for a chat.

I too would be careful about buying online. Often regs come with a warranty that is lost when purchased online. I personally have not dove a Mares reg, but a buddy of mine had one and so did his girlfriend. They had not even had 30 dives on the regs when the regs both needed servicing. Because of both regs having problems so soon I will not buy Mares. Checkout your lds. Aqualung, Apeks, and Scubapro make great regs.

I was recently given a 25+ year old Mares reg and had no problems getting it serviced. I was told the parts are still widely available, in fact I think they still sell that same first stage (MR12). I haven't really dove the reg in other than a pool but it seemed to breath real nice in the very shallow water I was in, better than my Aeris Atmos Pro. So I thought I'd step in and at least say I do have some things positive to say about Mares.

As for the local vs Internet, I think you're making the right decision by going to a LDS. I have nothing against ScubaToys, in fact I bought nearly all my gear there as they are my LDS and that is where I have received all of my training. I just don't think they could offer better advice than your LDS can.

If I could buy gear all again at the start.......

Back plate and wing style BC....Dive rite or OMS Or Zeagle Stainless plate and ditchable weight pouches. Wings rated for 45 pounds lift. (currently have a Zeagle ranger also a very nice BC)

Regs...Have Sherwood blizzard since 91, works great minimal service, back up is also a blizzard for cold water.

Drysuit right off the bat. Have a large 7mm Scuba pro wet suit and do not use it much. Have a Bare XCD2 pro Dry and use it lots. Just added CT 200 thermals for added warmth...nice set of undies.

Fins:turtle or jet. I have turtles now and they are great. Dive Compro fins with the wet suit and they are fine also. Both fins are slightly negative, I don't need ankle weights

In Newf I would consider a heavier dry suit than the Nex Gen, you can probably get a good deal on a CD4 which would require light undies in the summer and you'll want a bit heavier CT-200 for the winter.

Just my opinion but also try divetank out of BC. Talk to a guy named Richard in sales and see what you can set up. As everything is in CAD funds then you don't have to worry about duty etc....free shipping if over $200 in purchase and they are a BARE rep....just my 2 cents

Red,

First and foremost, take that gear list to several LDSs and see if they can service what you're buying. If not, you're simply throwing your money away because of the costs for shipping and servicing if it can not be done locally. Buying locally has huge advantages, even if it costs a bit more in the end (not that I want to push local sales or net sales). Cheaper isn't always better.

As for the cold water diving. See if you can find a member who is well versed in cold water dives to get regulator advice. There are definately some regulators that simply fail in water temps below 50 degrees. I currently own a Mares Axis (2002 model) and a Zeagle Envoy (2004 model) that I've had minimal issues with. Both have functioned quite well down to 44 degree water at depths of 100 ft or more.

Mares gear: if it's got a lifetime warranty, be sure to read the conditions of the warranty. It's VERY specific on having documented servicing once a year or the warranty is voided (according to the documentation). Their gear is generally priced well so that a diver can start inexpensively (less than $900 U.S. on a package).

Tusa gear: never been a fan of Tusa. The LDS I worked for where I did my OW refused to work on their stuff in 2002 due to the difficulty getting parts to service their regulators and how often they were coming in (every 90 days or so).

For $1400 that sounds to good to be true. I really appreciate all the advise given so far.

I bought my stuff at the LDS as already mentioned, service ability. If there is a problem or I need something explained, they are right there. No long distance phone calls, delivery time and costs, etc... I already have had a couple minor adjustments needed and I was in and out in a day.

FYI, I outfitted my set up just last month (everything) for, um, ouch, $4400 CDN. I did splurge in some areas as it would be cheaper now than replacing things later. I dive on the west coast, British Columbia

I wanted to add my 0.02$ as a fellow canadian who orders from internet to this because I disagree somewhat whith some of the things that have been said. But this isn't to flame or attack anyone! Just to give a different perspective!

1-Mares service: my local LDS services Mares gear old and new. They have no problems getting parts for rerasonably old gear (I'm not talking 30 years old here!!!!!, I'm talking 15 years). You should check this out with your local Mares dealer...

2- I agree 100% if you can't get it serviced near you, don't buy it. But I don't think your LDS will turn down servicing your stuff just because you didn't buy it there... $$$$$ he makes money on the servicing... It isn't free!!

3- I agree that the LDS will know what works locally and look to get you the best gear for your use.... But this implies that you actually have a competent LDS near you who isn't solely interested in selling what is most profitable for him. Or LDS with salesmen who actually know about the products they are selling. And unfortunately, this isn't always the case.:shakehead I know I get better service over the net sometimes...:shakehead What is yours like? Ask fellow divers about this...

4- Mares regs a great. I've been to 95 feet in 7ºC (45ºF) water with my V16 Proton XL, which isn't designed for cold water. It worked great. Now I would recommend going for a metal reg (as suggested above), rather than plastic for your cold water needs, such a a proton metal... You can even have it externaly sealed for cold water. The internet vendor can swap this out for a few $$ Also, I'd get the octo changed out for a Proton. The viper is the old DACOR design which I didn't like much (although it did the job it was supposed to do) and isn't made anymore. There are other good regs too (so keep your options open), but Mares is definetly a fine brand.

5- Price... I ordered my full gear over internet. Just with the BC, reg/octo/gauge, computer I ordered... I saved near 1000$ canadian from what my LDS was charging for the same gear. I really am sorry to say this, but for us Canadians, buying through internet is a big savings that is worth it. I couldn't afford to pass this savings up... and with the $$, you can pay for many many services... You can even pay to have it inspected if you want before using it! I don't know about your LDS, but mine doesn't give special deals on service just because you bought it there. It's a shame... But it's the truth....

6- Oh yeah, there are no duties on dive gear... Taxes, Yes! But no duties...

7-Scubatoys is an authorised Mares dealer, so yes you will get warranty. And yes, you will need to send it back to them for it! But for service, you'll just need to bring it to a local Mares dealer.

8- With internet, you definetly need to know exactly what you want. Size, etc... So that is definetly a drawback from the LDS. You need to research carefully your gear. But if you love diving as most of us here, this usually is enjoyable!!

OK, this all said, I agree that when possible, we should encourage local commerce. That's up to each to decide if it is worth it. But Internet ordering is definetly a viable way to go and should not be snubbed! Especially if your LDS is mediocre...:shakehead

Anyways, as I said, don't take this as a flame. I'm just trying to give another point of view on it!