How do you choose your scuba equipment

[rhwestfall]

SB has been good to check folks thoughts on things, but you need to read between the lines to sometimes get the real story. This is no different than reviews anywhere else, but at least here, it is a bit easier to investigate.

I do appreciate the SB push to "high end" gear, as it seems to have the result of it ending up in the used market at great discounts when folks aren't really staying in SCUBA . I can rival @Nemrod with listing my set-ups and collected gear, but rarely have purchased much of it new (exception being my VDH Kraken rig).

What is great with used, is the price has typically stabilized, and should it not be what I want, it can usually be moved at near the price I got it at.

YMMV

 

[lexvil]

Buy used when possible, same with cars, let someone else enjoy the loss.
When I started there wasn’t a lot to choose from, my first reg was a voit DH and tank found at a SoCal swap meet (a thing held at drive in theaters, you see you used to go to see new movies in a huge parking lot and sit in your car with a 50 pound metal speaker stuck in your window!) the thing served me for years, then people started talking about these May West’s that were made like a vest to control buoyancy, crazy! But I tried it and it didn’t kill me as many predicted.

Any I could go on but I just like to try stuff but I don’t jump from thing to thing (despite the rumors from those I dive with) I have gone years with one working reg only replacing when wear and tear called for it, the inter webs have had a great effect on diveing and dive gear, I can get stuff from anywhere in the world, I can buy service kits from multiple sources for any regulator out there despite the manufacturers attitude so I get regulators that are high performance, look good counts which is why I now have a lot of MK17’s.

Currently dive cold water with freedom plate with added weight, VDH 35 wing both bought new and expect many years of use out of them, mk17 g260 regs, warm water an aluminum freedom plate, VDH 18 wing and had been using an Atomic T2 but now experimenting with the Mk11 C370 and soon to have a Mk11 titanium, I like to travel as light as possible when heading to warm water and with multiple plane changes being the norm I wand critical stuff with me, if I make it my gear makes it, a rule I broke a few years ago going to Truk, the airline decided not to bring my FP/wing, fins but I did have my main reg, computer and a pair of scubapro go fins had to rent a mask (the worst) and use a jacket b/c for a few days.

Bottom line is buy used when you can so you can get better gear but don’t worry about cost when new is the only realistic option like the freedom plate, one of the things worth every penny.

 

[Nemrod]

I do appreciate the SB push to "high end" gear, as it seems to have the result of it ending up in the used market at great discounts when folks aren't really staying in SCUBA . I can rival @Nemrod with listing my set-ups and collected gear, but rarely have purchased much of it new (exception being my VDH Kraken rig).
YMMV

No, I am sure you far surpass me and my pile of dive stuff. And, I have been downsizing my equipment and sold a bunch of regulators off as well. When I first started diving it was common practice to be fully outfitted in a single brand of gear. And often that was not so much an intention but a fact of life resulting from buying a full set of Heathways gear at K-Mart or Nemrod at the feed store, US Divers as the hardware store/pharmacy and getting air fills at the fire station. There were no multi-brand dive stores or Amazon or Leisure Pro. Now, I tend to select gear based on function and form rather than brand. An example is the Atomic Frameless mask, it is simply the best mask ever. At least those orange-red inserts sort of match my original issue Kraken Red hoses!

N

 

[scrane]

Trial and error.

 

[Aviyes]

Reading on Scubaboard, considerations such as servicing of equipment as I am military so will be moving and deals through online vendors.

My Gear:
Zeagle Stiletto Back-Inflate
Atomic Z3/Z2 for reg setup
Oceanic Geo 2.0 DC
Mares X-Stream fins

What I wish I would have done differently is go BP/W, but I had just moved and did not have any connections that could help with initial setup. Most of my LDS's were pushing the standard jackets or the new Hydros. I also wish it was possible to find a used Zeagle but size Medium was very rare. I think one finally popped up about 8 months after I purchased mine. Everything was either Small or XL+.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

When I first got into scuba I chose Scubapro because that’s what the shop trained us in, so naturally I bought what I used for OW (by design of the dive shop)...MK20/G200B analog console with SPG/depth GA/compass and an air2. No regrets to this day except for the Air2 (long gone).
BC was a big contraption known as the Seaquest Black Diamond. Bought it because it looked manly and was expensive (then).
The BC was the first to go and got into an OMS BP/W from Leisure Pro because nobody here even heard of such a thing. Thought that was the cats meow until I started to look at the fit and how bad those standard doubles plates actually sucked for single tanks. It had a steep bend and needed a STA because plates then didn’t have cam band slots. Someone gave me an old plastic Healthways plastic pack and that started my wheels turning. Being a metal worker and a body man I decided to fab up my own version of what I thought would be a comfortable backplate. That was almost 20 years ago.
The rest of my gear found me, I didn’t find it. Most of the gear I have was freebie stuff given to me doing various horse trades and people hearing I was a diver and giving me boxes of stuff. Most of my steel 72’s were freebies. A few I bought at different dive shops as I was passing through.
Amazing how the cycle works. At first you get all crazy with the latest gear and look like a walking dive shop. Then as time goes on you begin to get rid of stuff to simplify, and later you look like a poor diver again just getting started that can’t afford the latest gear.
If you want to see who probably has the most experience, just look for the relaxed person with old outdated faded torn up gear.

 

[Lorenzoid]

My short time on the board I've noticed there is a plethora of likes and dislikes when it comes to scuba equipment. I'm curious how you came about choosing what equipment you like and use? . . . .

I generally research the hell out of anything I am planning to acquire, getting advice here on SB and elsewhere, and then make an informed guess as to whether I will like it. Sometimes, I didn't like it and had to return it and start over. That is how, bit by bit, I pieced together my wife's and my recreational gear and ultimately tech gear. But there is something to be said for doing as you did and jumping on a great deal all at once. Nothing wrong with that.