Yap! I made the mistake of buying some gear after my OW certification and ended up selling most of it on ebay for pennies. The rest is in my garage and never gets t see use. Here is what I learnt:
1. BCDs are easy to learn diving in but once you reach a certain level of proficiency, then back plate and wings will prove to be better option than BCDs.
2. Solid rubber fins like Jets and Hollis F1s are better than the colorful looking plastic ones. I purchased a pair of Sherwood Kinessis and they never saw use except for their first dive. (If anyone wants to buy them send me a pm as they have only seen one 20 minutes dive).
3. Frameless low profile masks were the only masks that were fitting my face.
4. Snorkel that I purchased never saw use again.
5. The big rambo knife that they sold me was not the most practical tool for its purpose.
6. Sealed Diaphram regulators should have been my choice because most of my diving will now happen in colder waters.
Here is my suggestion. Buy a wetsuit only and maybe your boots and fins. Even with fins you want to try out a lot before you can find your preference. I would recommend doing at least 25 dives before you are prepared to invest money into gear.
I would agree with most of what the guys and CAPTAIN SINBAD has said but there are a few things I would add.
1. Fins, mask, wetsuit and snorkel are the first to get on the items list
I love my jets but they can be a pain for traveling, for a mask you can go cheap or expensive but these are the masks I have tried and really like (oceanic shadow, atomic sub-frame, scubapro scubapro spectra trufit mask). If you enjoy doing a bit snorkeling, get one but avoid those complicated ones with a huge dry top as they really do nothing but flop all over the place.
For a wetsuit you really only need a 3mm suit if you dive around south east asia, get one that fits well.
2. Bcd is a very personal thing, a lot of pp here love a bp/w but there are many equally capable rigs like a zeagle express tech, diverite transpac or if you ever decide to do sidemount, there is the xdeep stealth.
3. Knives, lights etc you can get after you've had more dives and more experience.
If you want to, you could contact me at
55fathoms@gmail.com if you want to check out a bp/w or some other stuff like fins and mask.
Cheers
