My first dive certification class,,,not equipment, but boy oh boy did it lead to a lot of equipment expense!! As for regrets,,,nothing major, I do my homework on purchases.
Any equipment buying regrets ?
- Thread starter Roger Hobden
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I've only been diving for a year and man do I have many buying regrets.
I'll list a couple of the noobie traps I have fallen into.
I bought a walter kiddeh tank from 74.
Why? It was the cheapest one I could find.
Big mistake. Expensive to get serviced and no dive shop will fill a 3/4g alu tank from the seventies where I live, even if it is tested.
I also bought a 15 liter steel tank. The shop owner recommended it to me because I'm a big guy. It was the most uncomfortable thing I ever dove with.
Luckily he still let me return it after 4 dives. (but this is personal preference ofcourse, so it's just a regret for me, it could be the best tank for someone else).
I bought an aqualung squeeze lock dive knife, which I had to sharpen myself for some reason. .. you'd think these things come razor sharp out of the box, which they don't.
So yeah that was quite disappointing that I had to sharpen my own dive knife straight from the store. (I switched to trauma shears and the knife is just there on my bcd atm, but I don't think I'd ever use it over my trauma shears)
I bought a cheap jacket bcd second hand, and after three dives the bladder started leaking severely
Threw it away, got a bp wing setup as a gift from my everloving mother and haven't looked back.(although a non leaking jacket would also have worked ofcourse)
I also bought a couple of regulators that are basically unservicable where I live, very cheaply second hand.
(Think TUSA/Sherwood/Old Mares ones).
It's basically a moneysink of 100+ dollars for regs that will be shelf decoration.
And the biggest regret of all is buying a cheap dive computer.
Although I'm sure the cressi leonardo is a great computer in high tropical visibility,
where I live it's unreadable even if I jam it against my face. It also takes 3-4 second to activate the backlight and you can't charge up the computer with your torch. It's very tedious and unpleasant to dive with in low visibility.
I wish someone had told me up front how unreadable it is in low vis. Because the dive stores near us all know we dive in quite ****** visibility.
I kinda felt conned by the whole thing. I would have bought something with a permanent lighting system or a computer that's torch chargable maybe...
Oh yeah I also bought the cressi calibro, which fogged up constantly for me, which is quite ironic, since it's supposed to be super advanced no fog technology. . .
I thought I'd give it a chance because I've always used the cressi superocchio ever since I was a seven year old for snorkeling and now for diving.
big no no.
Oh and the last one is that I bought a pair of ankle weights because I switched to doubles and got crazy floaty feet. A week later I bought a pair of Mares power planas and the ankle weights became obsolete. God knows why I bought those . . . I'm not a patient man.
These are just some of the major regrets I have buying this year, but I think the major one is not buying a perdix, since it seems to be the best thing since penicillin to hit mankind.
I'll list a couple of the noobie traps I have fallen into.
I bought a walter kiddeh tank from 74.
Why? It was the cheapest one I could find.
Big mistake. Expensive to get serviced and no dive shop will fill a 3/4g alu tank from the seventies where I live, even if it is tested.
I also bought a 15 liter steel tank. The shop owner recommended it to me because I'm a big guy. It was the most uncomfortable thing I ever dove with.
Luckily he still let me return it after 4 dives. (but this is personal preference ofcourse, so it's just a regret for me, it could be the best tank for someone else).
I bought an aqualung squeeze lock dive knife, which I had to sharpen myself for some reason. .. you'd think these things come razor sharp out of the box, which they don't.
So yeah that was quite disappointing that I had to sharpen my own dive knife straight from the store. (I switched to trauma shears and the knife is just there on my bcd atm, but I don't think I'd ever use it over my trauma shears)
I bought a cheap jacket bcd second hand, and after three dives the bladder started leaking severely
Threw it away, got a bp wing setup as a gift from my everloving mother and haven't looked back.(although a non leaking jacket would also have worked ofcourse)
I also bought a couple of regulators that are basically unservicable where I live, very cheaply second hand.
(Think TUSA/Sherwood/Old Mares ones).
It's basically a moneysink of 100+ dollars for regs that will be shelf decoration.
And the biggest regret of all is buying a cheap dive computer.
Although I'm sure the cressi leonardo is a great computer in high tropical visibility,
where I live it's unreadable even if I jam it against my face. It also takes 3-4 second to activate the backlight and you can't charge up the computer with your torch. It's very tedious and unpleasant to dive with in low visibility.
I wish someone had told me up front how unreadable it is in low vis. Because the dive stores near us all know we dive in quite ****** visibility.
I kinda felt conned by the whole thing. I would have bought something with a permanent lighting system or a computer that's torch chargable maybe...
Oh yeah I also bought the cressi calibro, which fogged up constantly for me, which is quite ironic, since it's supposed to be super advanced no fog technology. . .
I thought I'd give it a chance because I've always used the cressi superocchio ever since I was a seven year old for snorkeling and now for diving.
big no no.
Oh and the last one is that I bought a pair of ankle weights because I switched to doubles and got crazy floaty feet. A week later I bought a pair of Mares power planas and the ankle weights became obsolete. God knows why I bought those . . . I'm not a patient man.
These are just some of the major regrets I have buying this year, but I think the major one is not buying a perdix, since it seems to be the best thing since penicillin to hit mankind.
JamesBon92007
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In2theabyss
Contributor
I am a gear junkie.....so no regrets lol
seeker242
Contributor
Aqualung poodle jacket, because it's a poodle jacket. 
maj2
Contributor
My BFK. Can't remember the last time it came out of the dive box.
Scubapro regulators. I've got two sets of mk25/s600 and one set of mk2/r295. The hardware its-self is very good, but part of my buying decision was the claim of "free parts for life." Scubapro stopped honoring the free parts for life program after my fifth service.
Knowing what I know now, I think I'd have gone with Poseidon or maybe Atomic Aquatics. Maybe I'm just bitter because they altered the deal. I pray that they do not alter it further.
I kind of regret buying a 7mm wetsuit. I already had a drysuit at the time, too. I've done 15 dives in it and probably will never do another. My 5/4 wetsuit plus a hood and gloves are fine for me for much cooler temps than I would have thought. Anything colder is clearly drysuit territory.
time2sail
Registered
My first two BC's, both of which are now for sale. Recently I made the switch to a single piece harness and BPW config....very simple, easy to put on when squeezed onto a boat with 12 other divers, harness never gets all twisted or sat on by your neighbor, every piece of equipment has its place.....
Wish I'd have stopped listening to my local dive shops and started doing my own research when I first started diving.
Case in point...I walk in to look for 12' of 2" web and first they try to talk me into a new "stream lined" BC, when I insisted that all i needed was webbing, he would hardly let me leave the store without selling me a "deluxe" harness from one of two different vendors....if I wanted the "deluxe" harness full of extra webbing, skinny webbing and cheap plastic buckles, I would've kept my first BC. At least he was honest when I asked him what he used....single piece of 2" webbing.
Wish I'd have stopped listening to my local dive shops and started doing my own research when I first started diving.
Case in point...I walk in to look for 12' of 2" web and first they try to talk me into a new "stream lined" BC, when I insisted that all i needed was webbing, he would hardly let me leave the store without selling me a "deluxe" harness from one of two different vendors....if I wanted the "deluxe" harness full of extra webbing, skinny webbing and cheap plastic buckles, I would've kept my first BC. At least he was honest when I asked him what he used....single piece of 2" webbing.
JamesBon92007
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