RetroBlader
Guest
I know the "what xxxx should I get as a new diver" question has been asked countless times before, but after reading quite a few of them, I feel my situation is slightly different, and may warrant a new thread on its own....
Background (skip down to "My main question" if you are attention-span-challenged):
My wife and I got into diving at the same time, and we've always dived together.
We are warm-water divers since Day 1 -- did our PADI classroom and pool stuff in Toronto, but check-out dives in Aruba and Curacao. Since neither of us really want to try diving dry-suite in the frigid water of the Great Lakes, we only dive when we go somewhere warm.
Since certified 3 years ago, we've done 45 dives in (what we consider) a good variety of places: St. Thomas (USVI), Grand Cayman, Roatan, Belize, Cozumel, Florida Keys, French Polynesia (Moorea, Bora Bora and Tikehau) and most recently, St. Lucia.
We started out being casual/cruise divers, but as my wife got more comfortable with diving, we started to plan more dive-oriented trips. We just came back from a week in St. Lucia (stayed in an all-inclusive resort, but diving 2 tanks every day), and soon we will be spending a week in Scuba Club Cozumel in February.
Up until now, we have been fairly happy with our minimalistic approach to diving:
- rental gear (except fins and masks)
- always DM-guided (we paid extra for DM guidance when we were in the Florida Keys)
- no dive computer
- day dives only
However, with our SCC week coming up, where we will have the opportunity to do unlimited shore dives on our own, we feel we need to "gear up" (and potentially get more training as well).
We thought about getting AOW (plus/minus Nitrox) certification, we want to get a diver computer (or two), and we will need dive lights. However, we are definitely not ready to get our own BC and reg yet.
My main question: Should we buy two of everything (most likely entry-level for both), or should we try to "stagger" (i.e. buy a basic model and a more advanced model, so if we were ever going to upgrade, we can upgrade the basic model and wait a bit longer to upgrade the more advanced one)?
In case you are wondering, here are the models we are looking at:
1. Computer: Since the Gekko is no longer available, Mares Puck seems to be the cheapest computer that offers Nitrox. (Stupid question: We should each have a computer, right? We will be doing all the dives together, and we vowed to stay closer together after reading the "how far should you be from your buddy" thread....)
2. Dive light: I've heard good things about the Princeton Tec Torrent and the BigBlue CF-250.
- Princeton Tec has the combo pack (one "laser gun" and one Torrent), and is available from within Canada (not having to worry about shipping across the border is a big plus): Light Packs Ultimate Dive Set: Amazon.ca: Electronics
- BigBlue CF-250 is available from B&H, a NYC camera store which I've dealt with many times in the past and trust 100%.
I know people suggest carrying minimum of two lights, but since we will be staying very close (my wife is still a bit nervous about doing a night dive), and we will only be doing a few night dives, do you think we can get away with me carrying the big "radar gun" light and her carrying the Torrent (or vice versa) and be each other's back-up light?
For what it is worth, I'm also considering getting the FIX Mini BuB Light Saber to put on my Canon S95/WP-DC38 housing, so there will be some redundancy:
FIX Mini BuB Light Saber with YS Mount and Rotary Hotshoe Base [fix.bub.set] - $128.00 : Reef Photo & Video!, The Underwater Photo Pros
3. Certification: We are still quite torn about getting AOW while we are there, since our RMD package already includes 2 boat dives every day plus unlimited shore dives, and we plan to do at least one boat night dive -- leaving not much time to do courses and the associated dives.
We are also thinking about diving Nitrox (either getting Nitrox certified before our trip or while we are down there), but SCC's Nitrox course requires AOW and will take up 2 days (plus 1 boat dive), so we don't even know if it'll all fit. The fact SCC charges $10/tank for Nitrox also gives us pause, especially since we'll have to rent BC and reg at $9/piece/person/day.
I know it's a very long-winded post -- many thanks for putting up with it.
Any comments and suggestions will be most welcome.
Thanks in advance.
Background (skip down to "My main question" if you are attention-span-challenged):
My wife and I got into diving at the same time, and we've always dived together.
We are warm-water divers since Day 1 -- did our PADI classroom and pool stuff in Toronto, but check-out dives in Aruba and Curacao. Since neither of us really want to try diving dry-suite in the frigid water of the Great Lakes, we only dive when we go somewhere warm.
Since certified 3 years ago, we've done 45 dives in (what we consider) a good variety of places: St. Thomas (USVI), Grand Cayman, Roatan, Belize, Cozumel, Florida Keys, French Polynesia (Moorea, Bora Bora and Tikehau) and most recently, St. Lucia.
We started out being casual/cruise divers, but as my wife got more comfortable with diving, we started to plan more dive-oriented trips. We just came back from a week in St. Lucia (stayed in an all-inclusive resort, but diving 2 tanks every day), and soon we will be spending a week in Scuba Club Cozumel in February.
Up until now, we have been fairly happy with our minimalistic approach to diving:
- rental gear (except fins and masks)
- always DM-guided (we paid extra for DM guidance when we were in the Florida Keys)
- no dive computer
- day dives only
However, with our SCC week coming up, where we will have the opportunity to do unlimited shore dives on our own, we feel we need to "gear up" (and potentially get more training as well).
We thought about getting AOW (plus/minus Nitrox) certification, we want to get a diver computer (or two), and we will need dive lights. However, we are definitely not ready to get our own BC and reg yet.
My main question: Should we buy two of everything (most likely entry-level for both), or should we try to "stagger" (i.e. buy a basic model and a more advanced model, so if we were ever going to upgrade, we can upgrade the basic model and wait a bit longer to upgrade the more advanced one)?
In case you are wondering, here are the models we are looking at:
1. Computer: Since the Gekko is no longer available, Mares Puck seems to be the cheapest computer that offers Nitrox. (Stupid question: We should each have a computer, right? We will be doing all the dives together, and we vowed to stay closer together after reading the "how far should you be from your buddy" thread....)
2. Dive light: I've heard good things about the Princeton Tec Torrent and the BigBlue CF-250.
- Princeton Tec has the combo pack (one "laser gun" and one Torrent), and is available from within Canada (not having to worry about shipping across the border is a big plus): Light Packs Ultimate Dive Set: Amazon.ca: Electronics
- BigBlue CF-250 is available from B&H, a NYC camera store which I've dealt with many times in the past and trust 100%.
I know people suggest carrying minimum of two lights, but since we will be staying very close (my wife is still a bit nervous about doing a night dive), and we will only be doing a few night dives, do you think we can get away with me carrying the big "radar gun" light and her carrying the Torrent (or vice versa) and be each other's back-up light?
For what it is worth, I'm also considering getting the FIX Mini BuB Light Saber to put on my Canon S95/WP-DC38 housing, so there will be some redundancy:
FIX Mini BuB Light Saber with YS Mount and Rotary Hotshoe Base [fix.bub.set] - $128.00 : Reef Photo & Video!, The Underwater Photo Pros
3. Certification: We are still quite torn about getting AOW while we are there, since our RMD package already includes 2 boat dives every day plus unlimited shore dives, and we plan to do at least one boat night dive -- leaving not much time to do courses and the associated dives.
We are also thinking about diving Nitrox (either getting Nitrox certified before our trip or while we are down there), but SCC's Nitrox course requires AOW and will take up 2 days (plus 1 boat dive), so we don't even know if it'll all fit. The fact SCC charges $10/tank for Nitrox also gives us pause, especially since we'll have to rent BC and reg at $9/piece/person/day.
I know it's a very long-winded post -- many thanks for putting up with it.
Any comments and suggestions will be most welcome.
Thanks in advance.