Best quality gear?

[Jim Lapenta]

Recent threads have brought questions of what gear is the best quality and everyone obviously has their own opinion. But when it comes right down to it, today, nearly every brand of equipment out there is pretty damned good. Manufacturers are not going to put junk into market and risk getting sued by someone that gets hurt. Many new divers see high prices, flashy ads, and "reviews" in magazines and on websites and are led to believe that this or that brand is "the best". In actuality the high prices allow the companies to buy these ads and provide the reviewers with gear AT NO COST TO THE REVIEWER and supposedly get an honest and unbiased review. Really?

When a review reads like an ad you can pretty much bet that it is. Choosing gear today should not be done based on price or name. Look at the actual features and see if they meet your needs. Even bench specs can be misleading. Is a stage with a flow rate of 300 cu ft a minute better than one with 100 or even 80? On the bench yes. But who dives on a bench?

More to come tomorrow......

Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk

[jar546]

You an your inferior Droid X2 posting here with 2nd rate Tapatalk. How dare you! My iPhone is 0.0000021 Mhz faster according to test studies.

[SeaCobra]

This should be good:popcorn:. And just how do we get an unbiased opinion? We really can't. Sometimes an LDS is criticized for recommending XYZ brand, folks will remark, 'of course that is what they would say, its what they sell'. But when an individual recommends a particular brand, even when it is what they sell, then that's ok. Hmmmm, a bit of a double standard.

Should a diver believe a post on an internet forum by someone they have never met, or should they believe a spiffy review published in a magazine?

[Brendon]

Recent threads have brought questions of what gear is the best quality and everyone obviously has their own opinion. But when it comes right down to it, today, nearly every brand of equipment out there is pretty damned good. Manufacturers are not going to put junk into market and risk getting sued by someone that gets hurt. Many new divers see high prices, flashy ads, and "reviews" in magazines and on websites and are led to believe that this or that brand is "the best". In actuality the high prices allow the companies to buy these ads and provide the reviewers with gear AT NO COST TO THE REVIEWER and supposedly get an honest and unbiased review. Really?

When a review reads like an ad you can pretty much bet that it is. Choosing gear today should not be done based on price or name. Look at the actual features and see if they meet your needs. Even bench specs can be misleading. Is a stage with a flow rate of 300 cu ft a minute better than one with 100 or even 80? On the bench yes. But who dives on a bench?

More to come tomorrow......

Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk

Jim,

I guess that’s one way to look at it. I don’t think your conspiracy theory works well. Yes it does happen, but not all brands fit that stereo type. What you say, is a pretty broad statement when referring to scuba gear... Best really can be determined by performance, reliability, component materials & composition and that can vary by what environment your diving in. Maintenance costs, serviceability, ease of use, and comfort are other things to consider on a personal level. This is where one may garner an opinion. Something may be the best based on facts and what’s available in your area, but might not suit you. So your best may not work for someone else. However it is a great place to start your search for any particular item. I really don’t believe advertising holds much sway when it comes to diving. Yeah you might get me to look at something, but even a new scuba diver with a decent amount of common sense can see thru the BS and realize when something is a POS... I’m probably giving to much credit to some but, I’m trying to look at the whole picture. With that said, I have never found an item that was the best and the cheapest either. Example you go out and by an Atomic T2x for around 1k, you just bought a badass regulator. There are others in that price range but yours just might be the best... VS you go and by 250.00 Unnamed*** Cheapo and guess what you just bought a POS. 90% of the time in this industry you get what you pay for plain and simple. No that was not an ad for Atomic and no I did not get anything free for saying that. By the way, I might not dive on the bench but I start there.

[DevonDiver]

When a review reads like an ad you can pretty much bet that it is.

The same could be said of many forum posts, which are supposed to be a sharing of knowledge amongst the community, but instead just pimp products and read just like ads.

I'm guessing that most forum members can recognise those for what they are also.

[dumpsterDiver]

Jim,

..... I’m probably giving to much credit to some but, I’m trying to look at the whole picture. With that said, I have never found an item that was the best and the cheapest either. Example you go out and by an Atomic T2x for around 1k, you just bought a badass regulator. There are others in that price range but yours just might be the best... VS you go and by 250.00 Unnamed*** Cheapo and guess what you just bought a POS. 90% of the time in this industry you get what you pay for plain and simple. No that was not an ad for Atomic and no I did not get anything free for saying that. By the way, I might not dive on the bench but I start there.

Do you really have experience in diving inexpensive regulators? I've used many regulators over 35 years and I do not feel you need to spend a ton of money. For example, Scuba Toys was selling out of Scuba Pro MK-2 first stages several years ago... they were $50 each I think. This is cheap aXX, unbalanced, first stage. I figured it would work fine for a pony bottle reg and was nearly as cheap as getting my other old first stages overhauled. To my surprise it worked fine (I bought two of them)

A little while later I noticed that another diver was using this same first stage as his primary reg and he does (strenuous) spearfishing dives to 130 feet. I asked him if he ever had any "issues" with that reg? Said he has been totally satisfied with it for a few years now.

As for "the best" ??? Who has money for that? I would rather have "the best" house, boat, truck etc., but who can afford (or needs) that?

I look for value, simplicity, functionality, repairability and robustness in scuba gear. I use a 30 year old metal second stage because it is stronger (and for me better) than any of the new fancy light weight regs...It has SEVERAL significant dents (each of which would have almost surely destroyed a modern, polymer second stage) and who really cares about a couple of ounces, especially if it is just a back up reg?

I used to use a very inexpensive Sherwood Brute regulator for commercial golf ball diving. I would breath from this reg for maybe 4 hours a day. 3 -4 days a week and I never had it serviced in over 3 years... plus it was old when I got it... Every 6 months, I would take the firsts stage apart and lub up the piston. This regulator was much, much less "needy" than my high end Scuba Pro MK 20 with G-250 Graphite second stage I used for deeper ocean dives.

I have similar feelings about very expensive BC's.... i prefer a weight belt and don't use integrated weight pockets etc.... I prefer a simpler, less expensive BC.

[ranchonodinero]

"What is best", if you are using a local dive shop, may be limited to what they are authorized to sell. I recently started putting together a backplate and wing-my LDS doesn't even carry them. But the forums as well as visiting many on-line etailers quickly educated me. Same thing on regulators-in this case the LDS had a great deal on a quality reg. Good luck in your searches and reading.

[GrumpyOldGuy]

Jim,

I guess that’s one way to look at it. I don’t think your conspiracy theory works well. Yes it does happen, but not all brands fit that stereo type. What you say, is a pretty broad statement when referring to scuba gear... Best really can be determined by performance, reliability, component materials & composition and that can vary by what environment your diving in. Maintenance costs, serviceability, ease of use, and comfort are other things to consider on a personal level. This is where one may garner an opinion. Something may be the best based on facts and what’s available in your area, but might not suit you. So your best may not work for someone else. However it is a great place to start your search for any particular item. I really don’t believe advertising holds much sway when it comes to diving. Yeah you might get me to look at something, but even a new scuba diver with a decent amount of common sense can see thru the BS and realize when something is a POS... I’m probably giving to much credit to some but, I’m trying to look at the whole picture. With that said, I have never found an item that was the best and the cheapest either. Example you go out and by an Atomic T2x for around 1k, you just bought a badass regulator. There are others in that price range but yours just might be the best... VS you go and by 250.00 Unnamed*** Cheapo and guess what you just bought a POS. 90% of the time in this industry you get what you pay for plain and simple. No that was not an ad for Atomic and no I did not get anything free for saying that. By the way, I might not dive on the bench but I start there.

The best quality reg is the one you learned to maintain yourself. If you can't do that, at least keep it cleaned and check IP and cracking pressure yourself. I believe this is much more important the the brand or cost of the reg.

I don't claim there is no difference, just not very much and price is not the driver. With the possible exception of a couple of cheap safe seconds, non of my 4 sets of current regs (cost from $200-300) is remotely a POS. I have owned top of the line Scuba Pro in the past, not much difference. The basic designs have not changed all the much in the last decades and its easy to achieve parity on performance.

Now talk something like lights, which continue to develop rather quickly and price does seem to pay a more important roll and there are cheap pieces of plastic junk out there.

[tstormdiver]

I feel the best quality equipment is the type that serves the purpose of the diver. If it is high end balanced regualtors for going through he heavy currents,.... OK, if it is a cheap unbalanced regulator that does well for warm water, easy going vacation diving, then so be it. It is in the "breathing of the beholder". To each their own.

For the diving I do, I prefer the high end stuff that I KNOW will give me the air I want/ need in any situation at a minimum of effort. I have 9 MK25/S600's & 1 unbalanced Hollis O2 regulator for decompression. The decision is mine how I spend my money & that is how I chose. If someone wants to use lower end stuff, that's their perogative also.

[Capt.Gene]

If you were blindfolded underwater and doing a comparison test of high end regulators with the same mouthpiece on them,you probably could not pick the same winner twice in a row. There are many great regulators.

The same can not be said about bouyancy compensators.