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DivemasterDennis

DivemasterDennis
ScubaBoard Supporter
Scuba Instructor
Divemaster
Messages
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Location
Lakewood, Colorado
# of dives
500 - 999
I try to be helpful in guiding divers toward equipment suggestions when the issues come up in the forums, but the fact is, I think everyone should do their own shopping. Go to a couple of shops, get on a ton of websites. Get a feel for what is out there, from lights to bcd's to regs and computers. Compare prices, go to manufacturer sites and compare specs. Learn before you buy. Too often it seems someone asks strangers here on SB what BC to get, or light, and then acts on limited, incomplete and sometimes bogus recommendations. It's like someone asking where to dive on Grand Cayman and the responded says Eden Rock and Sting Ray Bay, because that's the only sites they ever dove. Better to have more information, and then choose the best sites for you, just as more information will result in getting the best equipment for you. Take some time, learn about equipment, don't look for shortcuts. That's my take and I'm sticking to it.
DivemasterDennis
 
Well said Dennis.

I would add, go diving, look at other diver's gear, ask them about it. Likely they will let you try it during SI.

Some advanced LDS have pools on premises, they invite test splashes.
 
Also, when you ask about equipment, instead of "what's the best....", ask " what features do you like or wish the product has/had?".
 
I understand your point of view, but consider the flip side from a newbie's:

1.) Forum members who are obviously drastically more knowledgable and seasoned than a newbie can be often hotly debate a variety of issues - jacket BCD vs. BP/W, what size tank to get, to split or not to split (fin), whether A.I. is a desirable and worthwhile feature in a computer, etc… A newbie who wants to make a decision sometime, oh, say, in the next couple of weeks and isn't going to research like he's doing his dissertation on scuba gear can get frustrated. It's like, if people far more advanced than I am can't even agree, how am I supposed to figure out what's right for me?

2.) People post about wishing they'd known about x product before they bought y (again, BP/W vs. Jacket, or getting a good can light up front, or a better dive computer), and they could've saved so much money. A newbie afraid of making a few hundred dollar mistake that could've been avoided by some quick advice wants help.

3.) At some point, escalating information/choice shifts from empowering to paralyzing. I suspect that's one reason BP/W, with it's great customizability, hasn't taken over more of the BCD market quite yet. With a jacket, you put it on. Nobody asks what wing, what wing capacity, whether you want it padded, aluminum or steel back plate, shall we fit you for webbing, etc...

4.) We rely on the contrasting opinions and debate to help appraise newbies about their choices. Some threads where me and another forum regular debate over whether A.I. is a desirable feature in dive computers are an example. This helps avoid the issue you used Grand Cayman site rec.s as an example of; advising only from one's very limited experience.

I don't presume my gear choices are optimal for everybody, or even for me. But for the newbie with glazed over eyes befuddled by the large array of dive computers, for example, it can be helpful to say your main options are console, wrist (watch vs. puck), A.I. or not, look at the Geo 2, VT3 and ProPlus 3, and on the higher end console, the Cobalt 2, Suuntos have a rep. for usability but conservatism limiting bottom times a little, and you can usually get a good buy at ScubaToys but mention you're a ScubaBoard member and see if they still do the discount.

This guy might get a Shearwater Petrel. Or a Suunto or a Sherwood. But at least he's got a rough idea of the representative categories, and a reputable example of each to help compare.

Richard.
 
Digging through the internet for gear is half the fun! Once I've narrowed it down to a couple similar items I will consult SB.
 
Once you have a general 'overview perspective,' that kind of digging is more practical. I, too, often consider a couple or few items, then go to LeisurePro and maybe ScubaToys or Scuba.com and read reviews by owners, to get a sense of their experience and sometimes alternatives they recommend. If the product is discussed on ScubaBoard, so much the better. DiveNav has the website that helps compare dive computers by feature set, and that's helpful.

I figure a lot of the recommendations we make on the forum lead to targeted shopping, not just somebody buying, oh, say, a given dive computer just because one of us said it's hot stuff.

Richard.
 
It's absolutely true that you will only get opinions from people about what they own or use, and for all of us, the spectrum will be limited.

However, threads like the one I started years back about what people bought that they regretted can deliver an interesting consensus of what dead-end streets are with respect to dive gear.
 
When I first got into diving, I spent HOURS researching gear from the more popular online sites. I would obsess about stuff, and learn everything I could about them.

It was not until I actually walked into a LDS and asked questions about stuff, that I really learned. My first day there, he spent over 2 hours talking to me about gear, and why he recommends certain stuff. Never once saying anything bad about what he did not recommend.

Asking questions on here, although can be entertaining to read, is really fruitless, and always breaks down into arguments between BPW and jacket divers and HOG and Scubapro divers...You really learn nothing.

There are a few divers out there, that I will trust their opinions, but most I feel are just parrots, and repeating what they have heard about the gear they like or what they have heard about what they dont like
 
I'm finding more and more that most people who dive (outside of Scubaboard) really don't care about what gear they use as long as it works and they are comfortable in it.
They just use whatever a dive shop tells them is the current equipment. They just take their word for it and don't know any different. If their LDS is nice to them and supportive and does a good job I can't blame them.

Internet geeks like us who hang out on boards discussing our percieved issues with the dive world to infinity and splitting atoms over BP/W, jackets, fins, computers, air 2's, DIY, used vs new, bad LDS's, the current state of training, whatever it is, most of this stuff we hash out time after time and it repeats itself like a bad 8 track that you can't shut off. We're not going to change the diving world, we're not going to change a damn thing. We're an extremely small minority who thinks we are way bigger than we are.
No, BP/W's aren't going to rule the world just like double hoses or going back to tables won't.

Most divers in the world, (like 99%) don't hang out on boards, they could care less. And that's all sorts of divers, not just one-time-a-year vacation divers.

I was just in my LDS today picking up some things I needed. There were divers in there getting fills, returning rental gear, renting gear, buying stuff, trying on wetsuits, looking at masks and fins, all the usual stuff that goes on in a dive shop.
If I was to walk up to any one of them and ask them about any of this stuff we hash out on a daily basis here they would just look at me like I'm nuts.

So who is right? why are we so right in our minds about our gear choices and they are so wrong. Maybe it's the other way around?
They seem to all be having fun and ready for adventure, while we are way over thinking this whole diving thing and way too fixated on gear choices.
If somebody isn't "in the know" but has a ball anyway and doesn't care either way, what does it matter?
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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