Any equipment buying regrets ?

[Ghosty]

The last bag I overbought, and it should see me through till it finally wears out with more than enough space for a full set of gear.

I've seen a few poor souls on dive trips with those medium size dive bags and they struggle so hard and hate them. I made sure my first bag (that wasn't a "snorkel trip only" bag for just fins/mask/snorkel), was HUGE. I bought the big Tusa black mesh backpack. My next one will have rollers. But this one is just enough to carry EVERything:

BCD, regs, bag, fins, mask, booties, snorkel, small GoPro drybox, dive computer drybox, a beach towel, and plastic dbl-bag of misc. extra shirt/wallet/phone. Not sure how anyone can get by with just a medium size bag.

As for "regrets", the only one I have is my dive computer, which I'm working with tech support on fixing. Will report back if it ever works.

 

[Bent Benny]

I've got some regrets and I've only been diving a couple months. Hopefully I've learned something from them.

The spare air I bought the day I got certified.
All of my AL80's
My Jacket BCD that I used for 20 dives or so before switching to bp/w
7mm farmer john 2 piece. I should have just got a drysuit and skipped the wetsuit.
The first mask I bought, it hurts my nose.
Crappy compass that doesn't work well, on a retractor.

 

[deeno]

Reef safe brand sunblock that I bought at a dive shop in Palau. Turns out it's not so safe for the reef, but it did open my eyes to the idea and now we only buy sunblock that is actually safe for the reef.

 

[kelemvor]

I bought the big Tusa black mesh backpack. My next one will have rollers. But this one is just enough to carry EVERything:

The roller bags are a double-edged sword. They make the bag considerably heavier. They also make the bag much more difficult to fit into a suitcase and they usually have some metal components that will eventually rust. One of my buddies switched to a roller bag, but after a few months, she switched right back to a "normal" bag. If you're not flying and you're not doing shore dives, they can be a nice option. Of course there's lots of people who love their roller bags. Different strokes.

Personally, I love the mares cruise mesh deluxe. The mesh is rubber rather than cloth like a lot of bags use. That means it's almost instantly dry. Although I paid almost $100 for my first one, I later found them on amazon for under $40. It doesn't have wheels but it's got padded shoulder straps. It also has handles for carrying it vertically or horizontally.

 

[jadairiii]

All those Poseidon Odins i bought when i started tech diving!

 

[JamesBon92007]

Personally, I love the mares cruise mesh deluxe. The mesh is rubber rather than cloth like a lot of bags use. That means it's almost instantly dry. Although I paid almost $100 for my first one, I later found them on amazon for under $40. It doesn't have wheels but it's got padded shoulder straps. It also has handles for carrying it vertically or horizontally.

My girlfriend got me one for Christmas. I have used it to carry gear for two, walking a couple of miles and it was surprisingly comfortable. I don't suppose she had that planned when she got if for me? I got her one so now we each carry our own gear

 

[drbill]

Years ago I bought a Scubapro Classic BCD. My regret was that I didn't register it. It developed a well known failure and because I hadn't registered mine, I wasn't notified of the recall. It still sits unused in my dive locker after about 20 years. All my other BCDs are the old version of Scubapro's X-Tek series and I love them (even though that version hasn't been made in years).

 

[vovanx]

I've seen a few poor souls on dive trips with those medium size dive bags and they struggle so hard and hate them. I made sure my first bag (that wasn't a "snorkel trip only" bag for just fins/mask/snorkel), was HUGE. I bought the big Tusa black mesh backpack. My next one will have rollers. But this one is just enough to carry EVERything:

oh, I recalled one more puchase I regret: the big Tusa black mesh backpack. This bullwaste keeps tearing everywhere, and zipper runners keep disconnecting from one side of the zip. my gear weights about 20kg wet and about 15kg dry, so this backpack is not suitable for weight higher than 15kg.

Tusa mesh backpack

 

[Billy Northrup]

I try to buy the good stuff, before diving I already had the buy ounce cry ounce philosophy.

I've owned and tried a few variants of 100HP doubles, horrible trim. Split them or sold them

 

[Ghosty]

oh, I recalled one more puchase I regret: the big Tusa black mesh backpack. This bullwaste keeps tearing everywhere, and zipper runners keep disconnecting from one side of the zip. my gear weights about 20kg wet and about 15kg dry, so this backpack is not suitable for weight higher than 15kg.

Interesting. I've had the opposite experience and have used it a ton. All zippers intact, nothing has torn or gone wrong. And I've been lugging it around on my back with 15+kgs. of dive gear, crammed full. Maybe we have different models.