Comments on Gear

[Doc]

The Oasis regulator i have not tried, but again read great reviews online. Low mouth fatigue,

Get the moldable dental mouthpiece, like SeaCure. That is low fatigue.

The Knife i went with, yes it was 60 bucks, but lifetime warranty ....

Against loss? Cool. Hope it is long and pointy. I like those. Let us know where you lose it~ we all do!

I thought sherwood was a good brand and the gear i bought was above average if not good quality-was i mistaken on this?

Sherwood is a reg you can take to the most remote dive locations (and I aint talking about the Caribbean) and they will have service and parts.

The horrors ascribed to LP are highly overblown. Ditto for eBay. Shop carefully and be selective as to what you buy "on line".

The real problem with in-line octos is not training the owner/user... it is "the panicked buddy situation". Unlikely to become an issue- they most always just grab your main from you, ripping it out of your mouth. If you are trained on your octo, likely you'll both live. Along that line... a nice long 48"+ hose on that primary, right?

 

[RJP]

The horrors ascribed to LP are highly overblown.

I bought some gear at LP once...and the ice cream in my freezer went all melty. Then I bought some other stuff there and I ended up with toenail fungus about a year later!

I'm never shopping there again!

:shocked2:

 

[muddysquirrel]

I wouldn't worry about the gear you got not working, that set-up is perfectly adequate for rec diving. The reason most people recommend waiting and renting for a while before purchasing, as well as the reason you will likely replace most of the gear within the next 6 months to a year, is not that you can't dive it.... it's that it's not what you want.

Don't take this the wrong way, but without spending time in the water... you don't know what you want right now. You might be perfectly happy in a jacket BC, or you may want to move to a back inflate or BP/W. I tried sidemount and now it drives me nuts to have a tank on my back. You've got a decent intro set of gear... but what are you comfortable with and what do you need for the diving you will do?

If you want to go with the package, that's your decision: you know what you're getting. But spend some time in the water... see how often you need to take a compass bearing, how easy it is to use a giant knife and how much gets hung on it, how well x gear works and what you wish you had..... then make your future purchases based on that.
Local divers are great for helping you learn and generally have good reasons for what gear they use. Jump in the water, dive with them, talk with them.

And remember.... despite what you read here on SB, the gear you use isn't nearly as important as how you dive it. Go get wet.

 

[CT Sean]

Thanks for the comments guys. I didn't blindly purchase all this gear, i did my research online focusing on user reviews. Yes i did price everything out at LP and i was within 20% i believe. I would rather support the LDS and also-i hear horror stories about LP not being a "authorized" dealer and therefore Manufacturers not acknowledging the warranty on the items.

Just a clarification - LP is not an authorized dealer for SOME manufacturers (notably Scubapro, Aqualung and Atomic) but is authorized for many others (notably Sherwood ) Not to say that you should buy from them, only that you could. If your LDS was "close enough" on cost then I agree that there's no reason to buy online. A quick check on LP does show that your total is pretty close to LP's total cost, not considering any kind od package discounts

The Knife i went with, yes it was 60 bucks, but lifetime warranty and its titanium-so no rust. I do plan on making Diving a major hobby (i live 5 mins from beach in south florida) so i figure if i will be getting a lot of use-why buy a blade that will only rust after a few months for 1/2 price when i can pay 60 and get something that will last a lifetime.

The concerns expressed about a $60 knife are less about quality or reliability or anything and more about just holding onto it. The lifetime warranty doesn't do much good when you're watching it sink into the abyss.

Regardless of any of the above - congratulations on the gear - It certainly is nice getting and using your own stuff - I bought mine very shortly after O/W training and am quite happy with it. I happened to order online from LP but that was in part due to the fact that no single dive shop in CT was "authorized" for both Aeris an Oceanic (and LP is).

 

[scuga]

I tried sidemount and now it drives me nuts to have a tank on my back. You've got a decent intro set of gear...

I was wondering about side mount...

Does anyone dive a single tank side mount?

This may not go for the BC but I have been finind that a lot of tech guys I have talked to have a rec set and a tech set is that usually not the case?

 

[vladimir]

Yes i did price everything out at LP and i was within 20% i believe. I would rather support the LDS and also-i hear horror stories about LP not being a "authorized" dealer and therefore Manufacturers not acknowledging the warranty on the items.

LP warranties those products that the manufacturer does not. There are no "horror stories" that I am aware of. But if you feel that the manufacturer's warranty is worth a 20% premium over the LP warranty--and if you checked to see that LP wasn't an authorized dealer for the stuff you bought--then we can stop talking about price--you are happy with the amount you paid. I am just wondering why you asked, "if i got ripped off/decent price" in your original post.

 

[muddysquirrel]

While it's possible to SM a single tank.... it makes trim much, much, much more interesting. I'd highly recommend starting SM in twins rather than single tank; you can treat the second tank purely as your octopus reg until you get comfortable with the [very slightly] increased task management of two gas sources. Take a look around the Side Mount Divers section of the forum under Technical Diving Specialties or PM me with any questions; I don't want to hijack the thread too much.

I have different "work" and "play" rigs (BP/W with a pony for PSD, SM for rec)... two different set-ups for two very different types of diving. Some tech divers also have two sets, and some treat every rec dive like a training dive. The only group that you will (or should) always see with two different set-ups are instructors wearing the same rig as their students.

 

[fnfalman]

Brand new to Scuba, going through my course as we speak. I have my first dives this weekend, and already got talked into buying some gear. Sounded like a great deal, plus letting me make payments with no interest. Already agreed to it, so i guess i just wanted to find out if i got ripped off/decent price and if the gear is at the very least decent.

How do you know that:

A. You're going to pass the course?

B. Even if passing the course, would like to dive so much that it's worth the gears/money investments?

Don't buy until at least after you've passed the course and decided whether or not scuba is for you.

 

[scuga]

How do you know that:

A. You're going to pass the course?

When he was cleared medically speaking, he passed the course.

 

[vladimir]

Yeah, I guess the pass rate for people who don't voluntary bail on OW training is probably ~99%.