Equipment reviews?

[dmentia]

I know that Rodale's does lots of equipment reviews but it seems like they only do certain manufacturers. Does anyone know where there are reviews for all manufacturers' equipment? Also, how do you feel about reviews? Do you think they are good places to start? Or the last thing to factor? Or to be ignored completely?
Thanks!
dmentia

[NJdiver85]

Try DIVERNET.COM. They have both comparison tests and indvidual equipment reviews. I've found them to be somewhat more balanced then Rodales and they review many things that Rodales does not. Hope this helps.

[large_diver]

Hi Dimentia,

To me the reviews in Rodale's are a good place to start. For most pieces of equipment they will give you at least a basic description of various brands and their features. No product review source is going to be 100% complete in terms of models, however -- there are just too many. Also -- the reviews are rather "general" -- if your typical diving profile/philosophy/gear configuration is different than that of the reviewers (cold water, technical, DIR, etc.), things that are important to you may not have even been evaluated by the author(s).

So, as I started diving last year and buying equipment, I used Rodale's as a starting point, but it was discussions on boards like this with other divers and face-to-face conversations with divers here in New England which had the biggest impact on my decisions.

Bottom line -- the RSD reviews are a good place to start and should be considered one useful data point in your purchase decision,but they are certainly not the only data source you should consider.

Hope this helps.

[Aegir]

Rodales is an ok place to look at reviews. But interestingly , as you already pointed out, they seem only to review certain brands of gear. That makes it smell a bit "fishy" in my opinion so i prefer to look on diver magazines online site, divernet ---> http://www.divernet.co.uk

[OceanSpirit]

I agree with Aegir about Divernet. I use this very often to gather data about all aspects of diving, not just equipment. The comments about Rodales only reviewing certain equipment is no doubt true but must be in part due to the availabilty of certain brands across the pond. For instance Atomic regs are very popular in the States and elsewhere but next to impossible to buy in the UK.

[WetDane]

I think it is more than availability - Rodales claim to evaluate any eqipment that are *submitted* to them.
That means that companies like Cochran and Dive Rite who make great equipment does not get rated - however, from my days in a different business I recall another veriasion on the Rodale evaluation - you get evaluated if you advertise in the magazine - simple as pie...
I have not looked to confirm this in the diving mag though.

Other than that - I would say that any comparison is a good one as long as you remember that testers are human and they may not like what you like.
I would advise you to keep the magazines to being a starting place - talk to as many divers as you can and rent as many different pieces of equipment as you can - you will stumble onto things that are just great and things you expect to be great, but aren't...

Cheers,
Terkel