Buy a BC or get AOW/Nitrox???

My b/f posed a hard question last night. Because money is an issue....would I rather go ahead and take the AOW/Nitrox course offered immediately after our OW ceritification OR buy our BCs and regs?

I am leaning toward more training....any thoughts from those who are wiser and more experienced than me???

Thanks in advance!!!

Laurel
Working on getting my avitar LOL

ut:

FLArmyBrat once bubbled...
My b/f posed a hard question last night. Because money is an issue....would I rather go ahead and take the AOW/Nitrox course offered immediately after our OW ceritification OR buy our BCs and regs?

I am leaning toward more training....any thoughts from those who are wiser and more experienced than me???

Thanks in advance!!!

Laurel
Working on getting my avitar LOL

ut:

Click to expand...

I'd go for the gear and start saving up for the classes.

It doesn't take all that long to recover the cost of gear in terms of savings on rentals.

Normally, it will be a little while before nitrox will do you much good anyway. A new diver's gas consumption takes some dives to improve.

OK ... here's my take on it ...

Go for the equipment, and limit your dives in terms of depth and conditions until you can afford more advanced training.

My reasoning is that, as new divers, it's more important to work on your basic skills ... such as buoyancy control ... than it is to get certified to increase the range of conditions in which you dive. Your own BCD and regulator will help you do that, because you will not have to get used to a different rig every time you go diving. Rental gear is not ideal for improving your basic skills, and in fact makes them more difficult to master.

I'm a big proponent of furthering your diving education ... but using your first few dives after OW certification to work on basic skills will help you get more out of the AOW course because you'll be more comfortable in the water as you attempt newer, more challenging, diving environments.

Furthermore, if money's an issue, then a Nitrox course should take a lower priority to a Rescue course. Although breathing Nitrox decreases your overall risk of DCS, there are far more important safety concerns that you will learn to handle in Rescue ... in the long run both you and your dive buddy will benefit from the knowledge a well-run Rescue course can give you.

Just my 2 psi ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

and you'll probably get some varying opinions. I'll give you my experience and just hope it helps.

I was OW certified in May 2002 and bought all my own gear before my check-out dives. Since then I've replaced just about everything and what I haven't replaced, I plan to replace. That said, one of the hardest things for me to do as a new diver was just remember how to do everything. I think that if I'd had to dive with different gear on every dive in the early days, it would have been harder to progress with my diving. Every piece of equipment has different characteristics that can effect your diving and it may or may not be easy to tell what part is gear and what part is you. I'm grateful that I did my early diving with familiar gear.

As for wanting to do your AOW/Nitrox right after your OW. I don't think I would have gotten as much benefit from my AOW if I hadn't done some diving between OW and AOW. I still haven't taken a Nitrox class as my diving would not have benefited significantly from its use.

I hope this helps!

Rachel

Get at least some dives in before AOW, I agree you'll get more out of it. Our instructor insisted we do some diving before doing AOW, and I think that was a good idea. We had a couple months in between and went diving most weekends.

If possible I'd try and rent a few types of gear before buying, especially BCs. I think you can do ok buying an untried reg as long as you do the research. But a BC is a more personal thing as to what works best for you. If you can try a few you may start to realize you prefer weight-integrated or not, prefer a certain style of pocket, attachment points, closures, adjustments, dump valves or whatever.

Nitrox is nice but I'd put that last of the 3.

When I started I bought all my gear then training came second.

That being said I did take AOW right away I got it at a discount $45 if I bought it the same time as OW. I think I had 5 or so dives plus my OW when I took the AOW class. As far as Nitrox I think it has it's use but not important. You can still be just as safe and dive the same rec depths with air. Nitrox allows you to extend your dive time. As a new diver you won't have as good a SAC rate so will end up haveing to deal with not enough air as opposed to NDL limits.

I would sug to concentrate on the basics (diving within your current training level) and gear first then save up for more training.

I'll seond NWGratefulDiver's comments...

Go for the gear and limit your diving to what's comfortable to you for now. As already noted, the cost of rental gear adds up in a hurry and owning your own gear will be offset by that fact... esp. if you plan to be diving actively. The second advantage is that your own gear will be in far better shape than rental gear and you'll know exactly how well it's been cared for and when it last was serviced. And the third benefit is familiarity... being comfortable in the water means being comfortable with and confident in your equipment. When you own your own gear you know how it works, how it fits, where all the pieces parts are, etc. etc. etc. Being able to reach for and hit the dump valve without even thinking about it is a wonderous thing. Not having to figure out your gauges every time you dive is pretty nifty too.

What you save in rental costs will quickly pay for the gear, you'll be more comfortable and familiar with the gear and you'll be confident it is in good repair. You can always budget for added training later and rack up some nice experience points in the meantime.

jmho of course.

Don't forget what the SC in "SCUBA" stands for. I agree. Buy the gear.

Laurel,

Perhaps neither.....

I'm assuming from your post that you are in the midst of your BOW course. If so, I would wait on the gear. I would agree with Rachel -- if you rush out to buy gear now, you will end up replacing it later because you are making uninformed purchase decisions. You can do tons of research on what gear you want, but until you have some dives under your belt and get experience with various types of gear, you won't know what gear you really want (weight integration, pockets, rear inflate, etc., etc., etc.). Your local dive shop will sell you what they have in stock.........as to whether this is the right gear for you....... This is probably less of a risk with regulators.....although some folks have strong preferences for and against things like first stage swivels, DIN vs. yoke, etc.

Rachel also makes a good point about trying to cut down on the number of variables while trying to refine your skills -- still, I would wait as long as possible before buying your gear....you'll end up much happier.

About the course -- again, getting more experience is important before taking that course.....having some post-BOW dives under your belt will help you get much more out of the AOW course than if you go into right away. Think of it like going directly from receiving your driver's license to race car driving school. It would be hard to start learning advance skills before you have the basics down. Also, if you don't own your own gear, do you really want to start doing deeper dives with rental gear....?

My $0.02.

-Chris

FLArmyBrat once bubbled...
My b/f posed a hard question last night. Because money is an issue....would I rather go ahead and take the AOW/Nitrox course offered immediately after our OW ceritification OR buy our BCs and regs?

Click to expand...

Simple. Sounds like you and your b/f are getting certified together. Just tell him you want both and he can wait till there is more money available....