Time to buy my own gear... need some advice

Hows it going, I just got done with my AOW class and have 22 dives and now I'm looking into getting my own gear, Right now I'm In the Marines on Okinawa and a lot of the shops around here have great deals on gear..a lot cheaper than the states, so before I go back I want to pick up some gear. The only thing is Ive been diving in warm water and not sure if when I go back to California the colder water there will have any affect on my gear. this is just a set up that I am ready to buy and just need some inputs if it will be ok, I plan on doing some travel with the gear when I'm back so that's why I picked the smaller gear...

Scubapro Equator BCD w/ AIR2
Aqualung Mikron reg
Sunnto Cobra 3 dive computer

Is there any other recommendations for gear?
will this set up work in the colder waters of so cal?

and of course any body that has experience with this gear please tell me how it worked out for you and the the pro/cons.

Thank you very much,
-Dan

The BC may not have enough weight capacity for California diving (7mm wetsuits or drysuits). You will find most divers on the board will recommend a backplate and wing setup (BP/W). Many , myself included, find them to be simpler with fewer things to break or get tangled up on stuff in the water. Searching for BP/W will give you a lot of information.

I'm not familiar with the regulator, but you should consider reading about cold-water/ sealed regulators before making a purchase, if you are going to use the reg in California.

All the brands you mention are good reputable brands......

As mentioned before, many on SB prefer a BP/W to a BCD, I started with a TUSA BCD and now use a BP/W - which I prefer......I say, as long as you can achieve good horizontal trim and comfort underwater then use either......

As far as lift, think about your local long term dive location, if it is colder water then more lift is needed than warm tropical water.....I suspect many divers end up with at least two rigs.....on for local diving and one for travel......

AIR2 - I have used the similar TUSA Duo-Air......I liked it, one less hose, always know where it is.......but, it means that your buddy gets your primary which is normally on a relatively short hose and when you share air you are very close. Now you can put a longer hose on your primary, like a five footer. Many on SB have very strong negative feelings about the AIR2 type unit....I say as long as you practice using it and get a longer hose then why not.......I just bought a Sherwood Gemini to put on my travel BP/W.........just practice ascending and controlling your buoyancy while using it……

Suunto Cobra - it is air integrated and conservative. Nothing wrong with conservative, just know that it is conservative compared to many other computers - my family and I dive Suunto's......we prefer wrist mounts and use a simple pressure gauge. I look at my depth and NDL far more than air pressure, so a wrist mounted unit works better for me.

I have heard good things about the Mikron, our son dives a Titan which I understand is the same first stage but bigger second stage......so no real comments on the reg....

Good luck with your gear selection.......

Hope this helps...M

I would reccomend:

Dive Rite Transpac, and Trek Wing
Atomic Aquatics M1 and Z2 octo
Dive Rite Nitek Trio
Dive Rite SPG
and if you get a tank get a steel tank so you can take lead off your belt

the above gear is very travel friendly, and perfect for warm and cold water, also if you plan to move into Technical/Overhead enviroment diving it makes for a perfect set up

Dive Rite makes good stuff.....

I have two DR AL back plates.......and most of my rig hardware is from DR.

I prefer a plate with simple harness to the TransPac and I think the Trek wing might be discontinued......

Here is the link to the DR website......lots of good information and products.....

EXP Wings by Dive Rite - Dive Gear Express

The Nitek computer is less conservative than any Suunto.....

Atomic makes great regs......if you are thinking of going technical in the long run get two of the same second stages......that way you are ready for your twin set......

M

The Air2 is a very good piece of equipment but IMHO it is better to dive with a conventional alternate until you have a lot more experience. With an Air2 in order to share air you need to give your primary to your buddy and then take the Air2 yourself. It may sound simple and it is for an experienced diver but for a new diver - and 22 dives is very new - it can cause additional stress in an already stressful situation.

There are many threads about AIR2's on SB.........

I agree it is more task loading than a standard alternate............

In a real world scenario a panicked out of air diver will most likely grab the reg in your mouth with no warning so you end up in the same situation.......

If it is “more controlled” and you see the OOA diver coming towards you then you have time to switch regs and hand the OOA your primary.......

An important point is that you practice and practice and practice with your gear and sharing air......whatever your configuration, it needs to become second nature and can be done in the dark, with bad vis, upside down, eyes closed, no mask, in current……you get the picture……..

M

I second the recommendation of a backplate/wing; I'm just getting into my divemaster and really want one now. Can't justify buying a new BCD yet though because I just bought the one I have now a few months ago...

I dive in LA and Laguna, shoot me a message if you're looking for dive partners around here, there are a lot of good people around here

Atomic_Diver:

I would reccomend:

Dive Rite Transpac, and Trek Wing
Atomic Aquatics M1 and Z2 octo
Dive Rite Nitek Trio
Dive Rite SPG
and if you get a tank get a steel tank so you can take lead off your belt

the above gear is very travel friendly, and perfect for warm and cold water, also if you plan to move into Technical/Overhead enviroment diving it makes for a perfect set up

Click to expand...

Why the Trio? The OP didn't mention a desire to get into staged decompression diving using three different gas mixes. That's a bit overkill for a rec diver.

I've heard lots of people love the Cobra...one of my acquaintances dives a Cobra 3 and he hasn't reported any problems with it. One thing to think about is whether you might prefer a console or a wrist mounted computer. A wrist mounted computer is a bit more convenient to read, since the info is right on your wrist.

The Micron is a scaled down, modified version of AL's, Legend, same working guts in a smaller package. The basic design is a well tested time tested design and it will be easy to service world wide. It is perfect for what you want, travel and it will do nicely unless you are diving very cold water. The SP BC would not be my choice because I don't care for jacket style BC's and it has excessive lift for warm water diving but then again I don't really care for traditional BP's either. My choice is a small travel style back inflate of some varity. Don't make the mistake of trying to make one reg/BC do it all. While you can press almost any equipment into any service it's never the best choice. For now what you seem to need is a lightweight traveling setup. Forget the idea that one is going to do it all from warm water travel to cold tech diving. Some are going to tell you the BP is a "one BP will do it all rig" but that is simply not true. Sure you can use a steel backplate and a 45 lb doubles wing for tropical travel diving but to do it efficiently you need 2 back plates- one light one and one heavy one and an assortment of wings if you intend to dive effeciently. For all practical purposes you have bought 2 BCs so you might as well buy what you need to do the job at hand and plan on buying another set for cold deep diving where weight and size are a secondary consideration. Your main issue for now is packing size and weight. More lift in a BC means more weight and size, a 20 to 25 lb wing is more than enough for warm water diving.
So what to get? In the BP line, Kydex back plate with a 18-20 Lb wing. In the back inflate varity I like either the Zeagle Express Tec or the Scout. Both can be gotten with a 25 lb wing and weight in at under 4 lbs, the Exp Tec packs a good bit smaller (see Netdoc's thread on the ET). Both are fairly inexpensive at about $220-260 USD.