ferretchen
Contributor
Sinclairworld,
This is the same thing I was thinking about when I started diving. My mask was the first thing I bought, since it is a prescription mask. But otherwise, if you must own only two things, let them be a regulator and a computer. Your regulator is life support equipment. Do you want to use one kept to Mexican standards of maintenance? Own it yourself, get it serviced regularly, and get that warm fuzzy feeling. If you rent a computer, you will be unfamiliar with it, and thus likely to make a mistake. When you own your own stuff and learn it well, you are probably going to be safer.
At this point, I own everything but tanks and weights. This means I travel with a lot of junk!
I go over my equipment it before traveling, and I never let the dive mates on the boat put it together for me (as they will sometimes do without permission, if not stopped). "Full service" vacation outfits usually assume that it's a perk to have your kit assembled, but I recommend that you always do it yourself. If insta-buddies are not following the rules - not doing pre-dive checks, etc., don't be peer-pressured into being unsafe. You can be a leader and say to the diver you just met, "Let's do this right."
One nice thing about having everything is that you can do shore dives at a moment's notice, or simply use your fins/mask/snorkel to lay in the reefs from shore, without renting anything, any time you want.
This is the same thing I was thinking about when I started diving. My mask was the first thing I bought, since it is a prescription mask. But otherwise, if you must own only two things, let them be a regulator and a computer. Your regulator is life support equipment. Do you want to use one kept to Mexican standards of maintenance? Own it yourself, get it serviced regularly, and get that warm fuzzy feeling. If you rent a computer, you will be unfamiliar with it, and thus likely to make a mistake. When you own your own stuff and learn it well, you are probably going to be safer.
At this point, I own everything but tanks and weights. This means I travel with a lot of junk!
I go over my equipment it before traveling, and I never let the dive mates on the boat put it together for me (as they will sometimes do without permission, if not stopped). "Full service" vacation outfits usually assume that it's a perk to have your kit assembled, but I recommend that you always do it yourself. If insta-buddies are not following the rules - not doing pre-dive checks, etc., don't be peer-pressured into being unsafe. You can be a leader and say to the diver you just met, "Let's do this right."
One nice thing about having everything is that you can do shore dives at a moment's notice, or simply use your fins/mask/snorkel to lay in the reefs from shore, without renting anything, any time you want.
