Newb - Pls. critique my gear shopping list

[MichaelMc]

If my brother were on a budget for BC and regs, I would break it into separate issues. And what I would recommend comes from what I have found useful. For warm recreational diving I would likely recommend:

A typical simple back inflate (BP/W):
DeepSeaScuba Single Tank rig, steel plate, 35# lift $460
Of the back inflates, most brands are BP/W. This is just one of those brands, a good one. 35# lift might be more than you need for just tropical, but it is not excessive and will not get in the way in tropical and gives you some flexibility for more cold water. There are lots of lift options, 26# might do.
Rig Configurator
Plenty of other BP/W back inflate brands. I have a mix of Halcyon/Oxycheq/OMS/DGX/SP parts in my two. Other brands make non-BP/W back inflates. I do not know as much about them.
Plus a weigh belt with some ditchable weight, 5-10 lb. Ditchable weight can also be added to any BP/W with extra pockets, which I have.

Nothing wrong with non-PB/W back inflate. Some can be cheaper. I just do not know them as well. AquaLung Outlaw, $389, is one people mention there. It is a non-PB/W for which you can switch out the amount of lift. Such adjustability is a prime benefit of PB/W style back inflate.

For regs, an option I would recommend is primary donate, in terms of gear it is mostly an issue of hose lengths and reg position. It gives the out of air buddy the reg in your mouth. This has benefits, the easiest to explain is that the other hose can be short as the second reg is just for you. This way the second reg is very close to your mouth, and less likely to be dangling behind you. It is a nice tidy arrangement that you can do with any brand of reg.

Tidy packages for that are:
DGX Custom - Deep Six DGX Streamlined OW Reg Package $399.
Maybe with those regs, maybe with a better version direct from deepsix, $580.
DS4/XTX50 Single Tank Package - Dive Right in Scuba $860. (these are among Apek's top end)
Maybe as a way to configure the Mk11/R195 you’ve found, I’m sure that is possible.
Maybe with 40" hoses as here, maybe with a 5' hose that might be easier to tuck in. I have a 7' hose which is not needed for recreational.

I have nothing to do with any of these companies, but those are configurations in the space that I would recommend taking a look at, and mostly fit your budget.

 

[Ready4Launch]

God that's dreadful. I cringe every time I see someone kicking like that. You would think that learning to SWIM with even the slightest bit of competence would help.

Kick from the hip! KICK FROM THE HIP!

 

[Boglefish]

I'm wondering if he's wearing his boots with wetsuit tucked into boots rather than the other way around. I've seen people dump astonishing amounts of water out of their boots when they don't wear wetsuit over boots.

Marie, I'm not tucking into my boots lol. But I admit my boots are cheap ones that I rushed into buying with heavy soles. Another item I need to buy again

 

[Boglefish]

I would not hesitate to dive a SP MK2/R195. For what it's worth, it was ScubaLabs best buy in 2015 for regulators less than $500. At just $339, performed admirably. Very commonly used as a rugged, easily serviced, rental reg.

My primary reg is an SP MK25/S600

Just looked up the pricing for MK25/S600.....woawzah! Waaaay beyond my budget.
Considering the limited number of dives per year, plus sticking to my open water depth limits for the foreseeable future, I don't think I need to spend so much. Just looking for value & reliability.

 

[Boglefish]

By the way, I am thinking of not buying a BC at the moment. Come to think of it, I don't plan on traveling with it anyways. I just wanted it for local diving here, but maybe I can continue renting or buy a used one. Also, is there any reason not to get full foot fins Vs. strapped? I am trying to lighten the load on my feet (no disability, but weak legs ) plus planning on mostly warm water dives.

On the PDC, how does the Mares (smartwrist) vs. zoop Novo vs. Oceanic 2.0 compare?

Thanks again for the valuable insights, really appreciate it.

 

[Patoux01]

Kick from the hip! KICK FROM THE HIP!

Well that fully depends on what your goal is. There is such thing as modified flutter (not that it has anything to do with what those videos show though).

Just looked up the pricing for MK25/S600.....woawzah! Waaaay beyond my budget.
Considering the limited number of dives per year, plus sticking to my open water depth limits for the foreseeable future, I don't think I need to spend so much. Just looking for value & reliability.

Yah ****'s expensive. What brands do you have available? Because sure, deep6 is nice and cheap, but comes from the other end of the world and you can likely forget about having them serviced locally unless you have a real nice lds. Obviously, you can service them yourself, but that doesn't seem to be the direction you want to go.
However, there's a big difference IMO between a high end reg and entry level even in the shallows, this doesn't get me friends with folks that recommend the entry-level regs. I have had the "chance" to try a mares rover after an o-ring on my Apeks crapped out and I didn't have any spare and nor did the boat apparently, or they didn't want to swap the o-ring, dunno, I wouldn't have dared have them wait for me at that moment anyway. It was like sucking air out of a stone. Now one can say "yeah it was an old rental", so I got to try again with an AQL calypso octopus, well, it was better, but still terrible. I pointed it out to my buddy and had him try my octopus (Dive Rite XT at the time) to "feel the difference". His reaction was "holy ****. I really need to get this serviced". While servicing helped, it still wasn't a match with my regs, and probably still wouldn't even if mine haven't been serviced in 3 to 4 years (yes, bad!).
tl,dr: High end breathe better even shallow. Whether you'll be sad with entry level regs depends, if you've been spoiled already, yes. Else you'll surely be fine.

For the fins, if you do shore dives or plan on doing them, you should forget about full foot fins imo. Or you're taking quite some risks, again my opinion, when walking from your car to the water with bare feet. Even if you take a pair of flip-flops to go down to the water, you're still going to have to walk in the water on bare feet. Used to do it when I was a kid, wouldn't do it again. This doesn't mean boots will prevent all cuts, it just reduces the chances.

 

[george_austin]

Yet another example of divers who use splitfins.

What am I looking at here? LOL. Look up "Clusterf**K in the dictionary and this video is embedded there OMG

 

[MichaelMc]

However, there's a big difference IMO between a high end reg and entry level even in the shallows,

I guess I can echo this some. I sometimes breath off others regs on the surface or in shallows and am shocked at how slowly they give me air, yet the diver reports being happy. I rarely sort this out with them, maybe I should. So "XYZ breaths fine" means different things to different people. Clearly many do fine with a wide range of regs. Whether they might be happier or have easier breathing, such as when otherwise stressed, with a different reg might be a separate issue. Maybe calibrate with what was the best reg they have breathed off of and how it compares to that.

I do not know much about different dive comps, I like my Hollis/DGX DG03, currently $200. Yes, rocks, bare feet, and wearing 60+ lb. of scuba gear do now mix well.

 

[ronscuba]

As others have said, for shore diving you want open heel fins and boots.

But, full foot fins are awesome for warm water boat diving. If you will be doing a lot of boat diving, definitely consider full foot fins. You already have open heel fins and boots which you can keep for shore dives.

 

[stuartv]

I think it's hard to compare regs via anecdotal evidence. I can say from personal experience that not all regs come from the factory with the best setup. So, unless a person tells you about how a reg breathes and that person has some direct knowledge of the specifics of how that reg is setup (e.g. cracking pressure), their statements have to be taken with somewhat of a grain of a salt. Especially if they are saying the reg breathes poorly.

So, a reg might breathe poorly because of how it was setup at the factory, and it could certainly breathe poorly if it has been serviced and the service tech didn't do the best job. If it's a rental reg, it wouldn't surprise if it was purposely set to a cracking pressure that is less than optimal simply to reduce the incidence of free flows among inexperienced divers who might be using it.

Or it could just be a poor breather....

Also, if a reg does breathe poorly, how do you know whether it's the 1st stage or the 2nd stage that is really the culprit?