I did not know selecting gear (BCD+REG) would be so confusing???

[rhwestfall]

have you ever bought a car?

 

[WantSomeScuba?]

Yep, It is the prices that vary so much. That worries me. I hate when I go out a spend $500 or more on something and then someone says to me "I got something twice as good for Half as much" I just hate getting Ripped Off and being a Sucker. Man, I work Hard for my money. and I just like to make Good Informed Intelligent decisions, when I spend it.

By nice or buy twice. Seriously.

Nobody is going to agree on what the best is, but this one of those rare industries where you're generally going to get what you pay for. Get connected with a shop you trust, read reviews, etc, just like you would in literally any other situation where you're spending a decent chunk of change. I outfitted a guy yesterday with a full setup (regs, BCD, SPG, tank, etc.) for a little over a grand. It's all good, solid performing gear. I would feel safe diving all of it and have in the past.

That said, if he ever wanted to get into more advanced diving (and he was explicit that he didn't) he would have to purchase a whole new set of gear. Figure out what you want to get out of diving, and purchase gear with that end in mind.

 

[tilikum]

See? We are already getting into a wide assortment of opinions. Something else to think about is are you really going to dive on a regular basis or will you buy gear that winds up collecting dust?

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

And i do not want any Deep6 (Costs To Much)stuff either.

I don't want to be rude, but (and you know there's going to be trouble when someone says "but", but I'll try to be nice) you are going to have a bit of a sticker shock when you look at regs. Deep6 makes some excellent gear (what I will have in my future dive op) that is at a much lower cost than Atomic, Apeks, ScubaPro, etc... If you think that Deep6 is overpriced, I don't know how you can find a high quality reg at a lower price. You just can't.

 

[dmaziuk]

See? We are already getting into a wide assortment of opinions. Something else to think about is are you really going to dive on a regular basis or will you buy gear that winds up collecting dust?

OPs location says Florida so the ass-sumption is it's the former. For one dive trip a year deal, renting is hard to beat on the cost basis alone.

 

[tilikum]

And they have a return policy better than anyone else. When I get back into diving again I will definitely go with Deep6.

 

[northernone]

Yep, It is the prices that vary so much. That worries me. I hate when I go out a spend $500 or more on something and then someone says to me "I got something twice as good for Half as much" I just hate getting Ripped Off and being a Sucker. Man, I work Hard for my money. and I just like to make Good Informed Intelligent decisions, when I spend it.

Dive gear purchases is similar to any other product in a free market system. Try to buy the best pencil, or car or even hamburger at the best price and you'll get 1000 answers and options.

In the rest of life how do you make purchase decisions, shoes or anything else similarly priced to dive gear?

Regards,
Cameron

 

[Chip Elliott]

It's totally subjective. As you have seen and will see from the responses here, there is no "best" when it comes to scuba gear. I like Zeagle for my BCD, others don't. I like my Apeks regs, others don't. I like my Atomic Cobat II computer, others hate it. It is up to YOU to get the gear that will satisfy YOU. I would suggest to try out some rentals from your LDS before you buy. Try different bcd's, fins, wet-suits, regs. The only thing you need to get right off the bat and like it A LOT is your mask. Even then price does not equate quality or comfort.

Do your homework, talk to your LDS, and then go out and get what YOU want. Damn the torpedoes.

 

[Diver0001]

I can not seem to get a general consensus on the best manufacturer or model of equipment to get??
I just want to spend my hard earned money properly. Have the equipment work properly, and get a lot of use out of it. I see dive packages for sale but most have a dive computer included, and I already spent $300 on a new Suunto Zoop. Can anyone help me. And i do not want any Deep6 (Costs To Much)stuff either.


Yep, It is the prices that vary so much. That worries me. I hate when I go out a spend $500 or more on something and then someone says to me "I got something twice as good for Half as much" I just hate getting Ripped Off and being a Sucker. Man, I work Hard for my money. and I just like to make Good Informed Intelligent decisions, when I spend it.

If you have time then one way you can go about this is to start by totally ignoring the price and just getting familiar with the products that are on the market.

There are a number of main manufacturers on the market who offer a full range of products from BCD's to regulators, computers, fins, masks, suits..... etc.

Then there are a few on the market who really specialize in one thing. Certain suit manufacturers do that. certain computer manufacturers do that.

Then go literally shop around. Find out what features things have. Touch it, put it on, make notes. Decide if those features are important to you or not. For example, a regulator might be "balanced" or "unbalanced". There will be a price difference but there will also be a performance difference. Decide if high performance is worth a high price tag to you or not.

BCD's are the worst because in fact the simpler a BCD is the better it will probably work for you. But the shops will try to convince you that you need all kinds of "luxuries" like padding, extra straps, extra D-rings, bells and whistles (literally) and so on for the BCD to work. Integrated weights are a good feature to have if you need it, for example, but how often are you going to use it? Do you even need that?

Be critical and make a list of features. Decide if those features are "must haves", "nice to haves" or "don't care". If you have questions, ask them here. people will give you 1000 things to consider. Again, sift through that to decide what you care about and what you don't.

With your list of "must haves" and "nice to haves" then you can make a short list of gear that qualifies. Line them up, sort them by feature or by price or whatever you want and then make your final decision like we always do, based on which one you "like" the best.

This might sound like a big project but it can be done in a couple of days of shopping, I would think. Any way you look at it, the shopping could be fun and no matter what you will have learned what's out there.

That was my $0.02 worth.

R..

 

[Storker]

I like AquaLung and Apeks for regs.

Apeks regs are the bee's knees here on the right (yeah, I know, bad pun) side of the pond. They're rock solid, and most - if not all - of their 1st stages are diaphragm sealed and suitable for cold water. However, I have the impression that they're a bit on the expensive side - both WRT buying price and service costs - on your side. So if I were located on the West side of the pond, I'd probably look at a suitable reg from e.g. ScubaPro. Or AquaLung.