Starter Scuba Gear Package

[jcole]

Hello,

I'm a new diver, 36 years of age with about 6 dives under my belt. I own my own wetsuit, but have rented all other equipment up until this point in time. I'm heading to the Cayman islands with family in August and I'm considering investing in some of my own gear. I plan on diving for about 4-5 days there and after that probably travelling once a year and doing several lake dives locally going forward.

I'm interested in pricing out a good package including at least a reg, bc, console and octo. Does any one have recommendations for someone with my skill level and diving frequency? I'm hoping to spend less than $700.

Scuba.com has some interesting looking dive systems at:
http://www.scuba.com/shop/DiveSystems.asp?Category=126

Does anyone have any thoughts on these?

Thanks!
John

 

[PerroneFord]

This is a tough one while buying new gear.

In all fairness, a new bottom end BC is about $350, and a new decent reg set is about $300. By the time you add at LEAST a timer (watch), and a pressure guage, you're going to be well over 700, and you don't have weights, boots, fins, mask, etc. Maybe you already have some of that stuff.

You could go used on the BC which would make the most sense. I'd be leery about buying used regulators unless you knew the source. If you want to run your tables manually, without a computer for a while, that will save you some cash, but if you want one, you're into $175 for a basic unit.

If it were my money, I'd buy a BC and regs, and rent everything else in the Caymans. these two things are your main safety gear. If you can run a table, you can forgo the comptuer at the expense of bottom time. That's liveable. You an lose a fin and not ruin your trip. You can deal with some other faulty gear, but being able to float, and being able to breathe are the top considerations underwater. And I wouldn't leave them to chance.

I looked at the packages on offer at the link you provided. I'd be pretty leery of some of that gear. Not that it's "bad" per se, but its your life you're talking about. Are you really interested in saving a couple hundred bucks that bad? The other bad part about this, is that over a fairly short time, you'll likely want to upgrade most of this gear, so you'll have spent $700 on stuff with poor resale value, and you'll take a bath on it. I'd rather buy quality gear, a piece at a time, and rent the pieces I don't have.

Just my personal opinion.

 

[oscar_2424]

[ It all depends on what do you plan on your future diving, if you only are gonna dive 10 times a year in shallow warm water then you can buy a package for $700 or 800 like mares or oceanic, but if you are gonna get serious on diving you dont want to buy twice the equipment and just get some quality products only once, it all depends on the type of diving yo are gonna make

 

[jcole]

Thanks for all of the feedback so far. I've already got fins, mask, snorkle, and wetsuit.

Realistically, I probably only will be making about 8-12 dives a year in relatively warm and shallow water for the most part...at least for the foreseeable future.

However, I appreciate the words about upgrading and not buying cheap equipment. I can probably come up with an extra couple hundred dollars if it makes sense to do so.

Best,
John

 

[PugetDiver]

Hello, John.

I purchased my gear from Scuba.com they are a legitimate dive shop out of Rancho Santa Margarita California and I would not hesitate to buy from them again. Try putting your own package together. Check out www.scubadiving.com and www.divernet.com and do some research on the regs and BC's you are looking at.

Good Luck!

 

[H2Andy]

jcole, a good alternative, and low in price, is to buy SeaElite regs. for
example, their XR3 is under $100

http://diverssupplyusa.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=457

(i have used their regs and find them very nice -- nothing fancy, just solid,
reliable regs)

also, the Dacor Talon, for example, looks like a nice BC for $230. i had a
Dacor BC, and it worked very well for me. never gave me trouble.

http://www.leisurepro.com/Prod/DCRTL.html

also, check out http://scubatoys.com, and contact Larry if there's anything you like. sometimes he'll give you a discount

 

[Al Mialkovsky]

Well I'm not a new diver and in all honesty I don't get the cheap type of purchase. These days guys don't think twice about plunking down 20 grand for a Harley but they balk at spending 10% of that on a quality diving system.

I'd wait until you can get quality gear

 

[H2Andy]

These days guys don't think twice about plunking down 20 grand for a Harley but they balk at spending 10% of that on a quality diving system.

well.... i'd love a 20k Harley (even if it's an overpriced 20k Halrey)... but not
in this lifetime

at the time i bought my initial gear, i had two choices:

1. continue renting and hating it while i saved for nice gear; or
2. buy what i could afford at the time

i chose 2, and have not regretted. since then, i've come to upgrade my equipment
to suit the directions my diving has taken. for example, i could have bought
a $500 BC, but i still would have had to move over to a bp/wings

so... my $250 BC served me very well while i needed it. my original Dacor Fury
is now my secondary reg. i still have my original wetsuit, even though i've
gone dry. i could have bought a $400 wetsuit, but my $120 one continues
to serve me well when i need it.

and so on

there's lots of value to be found out there if you don't let the big names
scare you out of buying expensive

 

[jcole]

Thanks for all of the continued input. So how much does 'quality gear' cost?

 

[PugetDiver]

Well I'm not a new diver and in all honesty I don't get the cheap type of purchase. These days guys don't think twice about plunking down 20 grand for a Harley but they balk at spending 10% of that on a quality diving system.

I'd wait until you can get quality gear

He can get a quality reg for a decent price. Its not about how much you spend. Its about what kind of deal you can get. The perfect example is the GS2000 ($425 MSRP) ($249.00 Scuba.com), which by now we can all agree, is a proven regulator. It may not be the best but it is a pretty reliable easy breathing regulator. It also has a sealed first stage and adjustable second.

In all actuality there are many other quality, Safe and affordable regs out there for the novice diver.

Puget