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Medicaptain

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Hi all, great board. Anyways...lets get to the point. I want to purchase ALL of my and my wifes gear before our certification class starts and exactly the same stuff so we are familiar with each others gear and have interchangeable parts. My thinking is we will get the most familiar with our equipment and get a chance to have our instructors teach us the most about our particular set at the time of training. Is this true in all of your well educated opinions?
2nd...this is what I am ordering soon....what do you all think?
Dacor Rig BCD's
Sherwood oasis
viper tec octo
Genesis resource computer console
Mares plant Quattro
Cressi sub mask and sherwood snorkels
And yes we have pre fitted everything except for the "Rig"
I am paying about 1800 shipped for everything of two each.....any comments>?
 
Hello Medicaptain,
Welcome to the boards, you've come to the right place to quench your thirst for knowledge.

Look's like you've done your homework for gear selection, I have one single peice of advice though. Your wife may be more comfortable in a BC that is designed specifically for women. Generally speaking they are designed with shorter torso's to keep the weight pockets off of their hips. Going with a different model may allow her more comfort in the water and out while luging around the gear. Going with a different model won't necessarily change configuration, so you will not need to worry about familiarization issues.

Also a minor thing, but I recommend you take a look at the US Divers Impulse 2 Snorkel with Flex hose. It's by far my favorite snorkel out there.

Good luck with your certification, keep us posted one questions and progress along the way, and we'd be happy to help as much as possible.
 
Well I'm sure you will get plenty of advice here, and that's a good thing.

I don't know anything about you or your wife except what you posted, so based on that I'd say it's not a great idea.

1. Do you know that you'll both enjoy diving that much that the investment is worth it?

2. Your instructor(s) may not be as familiar with YOUR gear as with some other manufacturers, so the benefit there may be lost.

3. You don't have ANY experience yet, and I feel that's worth a lot in determining what/where/how often etc.. you want to dive in the future. This may prompt you towards different buying decisions. Experience also let's you see other equipment and talk to divers that have used it.

4. Having two sets of like gear is not necessary. I personally don't see any great advantage there. My wife doesn't care to dive cold water, or below 70 - 80 fsw. So she is not my cold water or deep diving buddy.

My food for thought.
 
Hmm....I agree with Mario and DiverInAk.

You really need to test out the gear before you choose. At least in a pool, but if the dive shop will let you, that means taking the gear for a dive that will closely resemble the type of diving you and your wife will be doing.
That all boils down to testing after you and your wife are certified and have enough experience to know what you really want.

I wouldn't worry about choosing different gear between the two of you....you will most likely, quickly become accustomed to each other's gear package once you have a couple of dives under your belts.

Just an opinion.....BTW: Welcome to the boards. :)
 
Aside from all the other reasons to buy from the shop where you dive, a dive shop sinks or swims on its retail sales. They do *not* survive on what they charge for air, rentals or dive instruction.
I, for one, don't know much about stuff bought from mail order houses, other dive shops or over the internet, even if I do.
Capice?
Rick
 
You said you would be ordering your gear soon. Who will you order it from, your local dive shop or online suppliers?

There are lots of pros and cons about ordering online vs. your local dive shop, part of which has already been mentioned. All your life support gear should be bought from your local dive shop for easy warranty service. Alot of the online suppliers sell brands without the manufacturers permission. And as such the factory warranties are no good. The supplier may have in house services available but I sure wouldn't trust it. I like knowing who is working on my gear and in effect, holding my life in their hands! The extra money the gear will cost you from a dive shop is well spent in the support you'll receive.

I don't have any experience in most of the gear you have listed but I'm sure others can comment on it. Fins and especially masks, need to be tried on to get a good fit... all sizes are not created equal! Also, your wife will need a different fit to her gear than you do. The same brand and model of gear may not be appropriate for the both of you.

My husband and I also have had to buy everything in 2's and it isn't always easy. Please think about the reponses you've gotten here before ordering your gear. We have learned and formed these opinions after years of experience and only have your best interests in mind.





 
Medicaptain,

I can't agree more than with what the others here have said.

My partner has finally been dragged kicking and screaming below the waves, and is starting to build up her kit. There are items that I would ike to replace of mine, and we thought about trying to get a good deal buying two of a kind.

Firstly, we realised immediately, with the exception of the regulator, and possibly computer, nothing that is suitable for me is suitable for her.

Secondly, If you are spending enough money with them they will give you a good price anyway.

If you are going for equipment similarity, then I would suggest

1 - same reg setup
2 - have same BCD inflator regardless of BCD make chosen - shops will do this for you - most come with a basic inflator, and can be upgraded. The club I was in had a mix of Scubapro and Buddy (a british company) jackets. so that the regs were interchangeable, we had scubapro inflation valves fitted to the buddy jacket, at no extra cost.
3 - when you get a computer get them the same algorithm - there are several manufacturers that use the same maths, but they all present it in different ways. you need to play with computers first, and decide what features you want. certainly my computer is different from she who must be obeyed.
4 - get everything else to your personal choice.

This has the advantage that the MAJOR bits of kit are interchangeable, but that you also have you own, that will be comfortable for you.

As a lot of the equipment is personal choice, I would suggest that as everyone else here has said, get some diving in first. Dive with different styles of kit, find out what type of diving you are doing, and what kit is most appropriate.

This is one of the reasons that PADI has pretty much taken over from BSAC in the UK providing entry level qualifications. On PADI courses you almost always get provided ALL the kit. If you don't buy a Mask / Fins / snorkel it is provided, BSAC as a club based system used to make you buy mask fins snorkel, suit, and in some cases BCD and Reg as well before you could do the checkout dives. PADI stores have found generally that it is better to provide all the kit, and then encourage people to spend money when they start diving, building up good store-client relationships. This also goes to a lot of the PADI shops actually running clubs, where they make very little money if any on regular trips to training sites etc. but they make it back on future courses etc. and equipement sales as people get more involved (and obviously the store organised trips to nice places).

Personal opinion is that your kit should evolve, rather than suddenly all arrive at once. This is partly to avoid costly mistakes. $1800 for kit before you have started the lesons is a lot, unless of course you are a milionaire!

Q - How do you make a small fortune diving?
A - start with a large one.

Don't fall into this trap!

Jon T
 
Boy,

I was just sitting here thinking about all this free advice. Where was Scuba Source when I started diving. If my time machine wasn't broke I could go back in time and save a small foutune on dive gear I shouldn't have bought.

All the "newbies" have our years of experience and mistakes on bad purchases to learn from.

This is really neat.

Hope you have learned from all of this info.

Sincerely yours

Orsen Wells

 
He meant H.G. anyway...
Rick
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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