I hope you won't discount your local dive store (LDS). Whatever you decide to buy, you'll want to make sure there's someone close by to service your equipment or troubleshoot...unless you're going to guinea pig yourself trying to service your own equipment, while gaining diving experience.
Would also be nice to have a relationship with your LDS for air fills...you can't buy that online from some store in the US.
At the end of the day, as a few others have already noted, the most important question is to ask yourself what kind of diving you'll be doing. E.g. there's great diving in Les Escoumins...but you'll definitely want a dry suit for that! By the way, in case you're interested, Bare and Whites are Canadian; both make excellent dry suits.
For our northern climes, I definitely favour the B/P & wings route. Most people find it more comfortable than a traditional stab jacket around a dry suit...less of that constricting feeling. Also, it's a modular system, so you can add to it later if you decide to transition from single tank to doubles.
As for regs, stick with the high performance models from established cold water equipment manufacturers: Apex TX100, Mares Abyss, Sherwood Blizzard, and if you have the dough (which sounds like you do) a Poseidon Extreme Deep. These are only a handful that I'm familiar with. What you want to do is stay away from manufacturers that build great regs...for warm water diving. 42 degree water has a way with equipment that 85 degree water doesn't....
Have fun with this! You only get to buy your first set of equipment once! Mind you, as you become completely scuba-equipment obsessed, you'll find yourself buying more stuff just because. LOL
Would also be nice to have a relationship with your LDS for air fills...you can't buy that online from some store in the US.
At the end of the day, as a few others have already noted, the most important question is to ask yourself what kind of diving you'll be doing. E.g. there's great diving in Les Escoumins...but you'll definitely want a dry suit for that! By the way, in case you're interested, Bare and Whites are Canadian; both make excellent dry suits.
For our northern climes, I definitely favour the B/P & wings route. Most people find it more comfortable than a traditional stab jacket around a dry suit...less of that constricting feeling. Also, it's a modular system, so you can add to it later if you decide to transition from single tank to doubles.
As for regs, stick with the high performance models from established cold water equipment manufacturers: Apex TX100, Mares Abyss, Sherwood Blizzard, and if you have the dough (which sounds like you do) a Poseidon Extreme Deep. These are only a handful that I'm familiar with. What you want to do is stay away from manufacturers that build great regs...for warm water diving. 42 degree water has a way with equipment that 85 degree water doesn't....
Have fun with this! You only get to buy your first set of equipment once! Mind you, as you become completely scuba-equipment obsessed, you'll find yourself buying more stuff just because. LOL
I have experienced with other regs and nothing beats the Poseidon! It is good for recreational diving and some do tech diving with it. Good for warm or cold water diving.
