What first?

I am doing my final two open water dives tomorrow and hopefully will get my OW certificate. I hope to continue to dive as much as possible but to do that I need gear. Could anyone offer advice as to what would be smart purchases, and in what order. Below is info on the type of diver I am.

I am on a limited budget and plan to piece my gear together over the next 6 months. I am a midshipman at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and travel to various ports around the world, so the conditions I dive in change all the time. I will be doing most of my diving around Long Island for the next 6 months. What gear should I purchase first? With all of my travelling are there any recommendations as to what I should purchase?

I do plan on getting my AOW and probably moving on to Nitrox at some point down the road. I do not plan on doing technical diving.

I was in your shoes once upon a time. See if you can get a good serviceable set of basic used gear. BC, reg, etc. You can save a lot of money that way and build from there. Assuming you have your mask, snorkel, and fins, an exposure suit ranks high on the list. Seeing as how you will be diving in the Long Island area you want a well fitting 7 mm suit and hood or hooded vest. You can get one on line for ~$200 or less. A dry suit would be better but is probably out of your price range.

I place a regulator as a very important piece of gear as well. A dive computer is also worth considering. You can get some simple but good ones for $300-$200. May be you can get one used as well.

Good Luck,
AL

I bought everything the minute I was certified two years ago. Since then, I've "re-purchased" everything except my BC and reg.

If I had to do it all over again, I'd say BC and reg first. I know all gear is important, but when you boil it down, those are the two most important pieces of gear in your bag (for rec diving). I don't trust rental BCs or regs. At least if I own it, I am accountable for keeping it up to snuff..

I'll tell you what to get last...Your BCD.
You want to try as many different types and manufacturers as you can to find what works for you. You also want understand what you really need inthe way of lift before you purchase one.

I echo the 7mm suit as it can be worn many places even if its a little much for some. I would also be sure it was a one piece without the hood attatched. Eventually you will own the gammut of suits, I think I have seven including my dry suit. Then by all means piece your gear together!!! We all bought our stuff only to replace it when we figured out what we liked/disliked.

I too have been in your shoes and bought everything once and working on getting everything the second time around. If you can find a LDS with a pool that lets you try out gear you've got it made. Start with the important stuff, mask and fins (screw getting a snorkle). Be sure you find a mask that fits and seals well and a pair of fins that dont fatigue your ankles. I love my scubapro twin jets open heal fins.

Next on the list would be exposure protection and since you are diving in cold water start with a 2 piece 7mm suit and 5-7mm hood, gloves, and boots. I have a henderson hyperstretch 7mm that keeps me warm for an hour or so at 39 degree F water temps. Like everyone said you will eventually own one of every suit out there if you dive lots of different conditions.

Next comes Regs. Shop around but in my opinion go to your lds for this cause you will likely get a real warrenty. If you are diving water colder than 45 degrees look for insulated regs that are well known for working in cold conditions. Save yourself some time and money when you get your reg and order it with a 5ft-7ft primary second stage hose and get you bc with an inflator that doubles as a reg so you dont buy and octopus. I have a scubapro mk25/S600 but will be switching to a DIN mk17 soon, for cold ice diving conditions.

If I were you I would rent a regular jacketed style bcd than rent a back plate with wing, if you are anything like many of us you will like the bp/w better. After you have tried out a bunch of bc's get one but make sure you research it well.

I would wait to get tanks last cause you will end up being unhappy with you first tank unless you researched well. My advice is go steel and I like fabers.

If you intend to dive solo save yourself any issues and get a second regulator (identical to you primary if possible) and a 19cuft pony bottle. stay away from spare air and other premade pony devices. trust me on this one.

Its all about what works for you. hope this helps

We had purchased the basics - mask, fins, etc. after we completed our class and pool work. We didn't need to purchase them for the classes and we were able to try out different ones.

Before we went south for our referral OW dives, we bought our own 3mm suits for the Caribbean. After we got back from our vacation, our first purchase was our own regulator sets. I had sufficient difficulties with the ones that were provided down south that I wanted to have my own. Since then we've added to our gear as we've tried out other pieces of equipment.

The last piece of equipment that each of us purchased was our BCD's.

That being said, if we had wanted to stick to rentals, the LDS we frequent has very good rates and equipment. However, during the summer it can be difficult to reserve the equipment as the training season kicks in.

1st: Exposure protection (wet or dry suit)

2nd: Buoyancy Compensator

3rd: Regulator/Alternate Air Source and basic gauges (SPG and depth gauge)

4th: Personal Dive Computer

the K

Thanks for the responses

i was in your shoes a year ago. it took me a year to get the whole set of equipment.

make sure you try different types of every item before buying. Try split fins and regular ones unless you're going to dive DIR (no need for split fins). Choose a few reg brands based on your spending limit and try many of them. Also decide between jacket style BCD vs backplate+wing system. make sure you buy items you can service in many places, since you travel a lot. it's in particular important for regulator.
in terms of the order of purchase i suggest:
0. mask, fins and snorkle and possibly boots (many places don't rent them)
1. regulator + octo
2. exposure suit (wetsuit or drysuit)
3. BCD (jacket style or wing + backplate)
4. Gauges / computer
5. lights
6. tank
7. spear gun