Please rate my gears...

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Shooter26

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Ewa Beach, Hawaii
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Hey everyone, I'm Chris from Oahu, Hawaii. I caught the bug recently after going SNUBA diving off the Big Island. I am now registered to attend an 11 week Dive Master Course. Please rate the gears I will be getting. Please be honest about your opinions.

* Apeks Black Ice BCD,
* Legend LX regulator,
* Legend octopus,
* Suunto Cobra 3 Computer,
* X Shot fins,
* Aqua Lung MicroMask,
* Suunto SK7 Compass,
* Aqua Lung AquaFlex wetsuit.

Your input is greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for your replies.

Chris
 
Mask needs to fit, it is the single most important aspect, regardless of brand names. Same for wetsuit, proper fit is most important. Your regulator choice is very good, probably more than you ever need. I think a more impotant aspect for regulator is local support. So choose a model you can get serived locally. BCD and computer are not my choice, so I can't comment.

Have that said, I will say do NOT by any equipment until you get certified. In fact, even after certify, try to out a few more models before you make your decision. Dive gears are something that do NOT retain their resale value. So better get them right the first time.
 
Get experience with various brands and configurations. Jumping the gun with limited knowledge is going to cost you $$$$.

You listed scuba gear, not sure what "rating" you want??? No diving experience and already jumping into 11 week DM program. Someone has a eye on your wallet IMO.

You seem eager to drop a lot of $$$, can I provide you with my banking details?
 
Wait until after you're certified and then look at all the options available for gear. Why do you think you need to jump straight from non-diver to divemaster? Why not just get your OW card and spending a few year learning to dive before you put yourself in charge of other divers.
 
If your equipment fits you and works for you.....then its awesome. What it is and what is costs makes no difference if it isn't right for you.
 
These kinds of threads often turn out bad. Scubaboard is populated by various groups, packs and individuals who have in common that they are serious about SCUBA diving. They are serious divers, enthusiasts, some are professional in that they make money or have made money in some aspect of SCUBA diving or it has become a lifestyle for them.

So, I say this, take a seat if you are prone to fainting, not a single item you listed would I purchase in a country mile, save for possibly the AL Legend regulator which is a very good regulator, top performance, just not a darling of the tech/pro/enthusiasts. When my wife insisted I buy her a new regulator as in actually new and not something I cobbled together from left over pieces, she did INSIST, I bought her a Legend with the free Legend octopus. She will not even let me take it apart and fiddle with it :( .

Here is something critical to consider, virtually none of the "gears" that such persons would purchase is sold at the typical retail dive store. Now it is possible, of course, that in some larger cities you can find a retail dive business large enough to stock enthusiast/tech level gear, most simply cannot and instead push the generic mainstream vacation diver stuff.

Oh, if the Mini mask fits good, that is a good choice because it is also small enough to make a great free diver mask. Personally, for me, the universe begins and ends with the Atomic Frameless mask and I like my Omer Alien for free diving.

Most enthusiast divers, serious divers, who typically have been in the sport a long while, though not all with indeed notable exceptions, dive what is called a wing and back plate or wing/BP for short using a Hog (Hogarhtian single piece webbing) rig and prefer simple paddle type fins of various types using spring straps. They typically do not purchase "octopus" regulator outfits and instead practice a different style of OOA diver support that donates the primary and the supporting diver switches to the secondary, opposite of what is taught worldwide by probably close to 90% (maybe 99%) of dive intructors.

Now, there are some cowboys out there, some malcontents and non conformists but only a few of them would wax enthusiastic praise upon a "Black Ice" BC. Frankly, in my off center opinion, people put too much emphasis on buoyancy compensators and retail dive stores love these over stuffed, padded, fluffy things because they are a huge profit center for them.

If you have already bought it and cannot take it back, then dive the Hades out of it and in a few years when the rubber bands on the X fins are snapped and Xflex wetsuit is a pile of stinking neoprene (the destiny of all neoprene goods) and the Black Ice is melted, you can buy some more gear to dive the Hades out of and maybe in a few such cycles you can begin to hone in on what exactly you like to use as gear to suit your type of diving interests or you will have lost interest entirely and taken up golf. And you will not have to ask interweb experts their opinions of your cool new gears anymore :) .

Nothing says Nerd (to women) like SCUBA, not even a pocket protector. Just saying.

N
 
A little bit of a background, I am going through the certification due to the fact that I am going to be using my GI Bill as an Active Duty Soldier. The school are providing the gears listed above as the ones that they are giving use to keep to help us get in the water after the course is complete. After the 11 weeks are done, but we still do not have all the PADI Dive requirements, the Dive shop/School will still have their fleet of boats available for us to hitch a ride to if we desire. The reason I am asking for feedbacks on my gears are due to the fact that we have the option to upgrade or downgrade the gears before they get wet. Hope this clears things up.

Chris
 
There were several threads about a manufacturing defect in x-shot fins last year on this board. It seems AL addressed the issue, so you'll want to verify that pair of fins hasn't been sitting on a shelf somewhere for a year or so.
 
Get experience with various brands and configurations. Jumping the gun with limited knowledge is going to cost you $$$$.

You listed scuba gear, not sure what "rating" you want??? No diving experience and already jumping into 11 week DM program. Someone has a eye on your wallet IMO.

You seem eager to drop a lot of $$$, can I provide you with my banking details?

A little bit of a background, I am going through the certification due to the fact that I am going to be using my GI Bill as an Active Duty Soldier. The school are providing the gears listed above as the ones that they are giving use to keep to help us get in the water after the course is complete. After the 11 weeks are done, but we still do not have all the PADI Dive requirements, the Dive shop/School will still have their fleet of boats available for us to hitch a ride to if we desire. The reason I am asking for feedbacks on my gears are due to the fact that we have the option to upgrade or downgrade the gears before they get wet. Hope this clears things up.

Chris
 
If you are getting the gear for free, then don't worry about it. If you are buying it . . .

I'm with Nemrod. Except for the regulator, there is nothing there that I would buy. I don't like console computers, because I like having my depth gauge on my wrist, where I can easily see it all the time, especially during ascent. The SK-7 compass is an excellent compass with great tilt tolerance, but we went through a I lot of them, because the plastic case develops a leak and then the face sticks when you get to enough depth. We are using the Uwatech ones now, which are annoyingly tilt-intolerant, but we have yet to have one fail.

I played with the Xstreams. They're pretty -- very pretty -- but I didn't like them at all. They're too floppy for good precision kicking and too stiff to be easy on the legs. They are also expensive. You could do just as well with a set of simple paddle fins, and choose some that come with a spring or stretch strap.

Masks just have to fit. You pay what you have to, or as little as you need to, to get one that fits well and doesn't leak. Similarly, wetsuits have to fit to work well. Pay attention to the neck of the suit -- if it doesn't sit close to your skin, the suit will serve as a scoop to pour water down the front of your body, and it won't be warm. AquaLung makes good quality suits, if they fit you.

The Black Ice is at least a back-inflate BC, but it's also weight-integrated, which I honestly don't like. Like Nemrod, I'm a backplate fan, but it may well be that the shop with which you are working doesn't carry any gear of that sort, unless they support technical diving. You might want to check out Island Divers and look at some of the equipment they have. I've never been there, but they are the shop through which the Oahu GUE classes are done, so I suspect they would have the type of equipment I would recommend.

Finally, I want to echo some other comments: Why do you want to go directly from non-diver to professional status? Do you think that, at the end of an 11 week class, you will have very much to offer as a divemaster? If you are considering doing this for a living, have you researched job availability and pay on Oahu? I realize you are using GI bill benefits to do it, but is this the best use of those funds, in terms of preparing you for the future? The reality of working as a dive professional is rarely what people envision when they think about doing it.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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