If Money Were No Object...

[Fjellklatrer]

I have been AOW qualified for nearly 15 years. That is also how long it has been since I purchased equipment. I dive a couple weeks per year in the Red Sea, and a little bit in the Med, and a little bit in Norway. This spring, I plan to take the Enriched Air course and I thought that it was about time to upgrade my gear. If money were no object, what would you recommend? What is the best of the best? Thanks.

 

[fdog]

...If money were no object, what would be the best automobile?


You will get as many different answers to your question as people who respond to it. Equipment that is perfect for one application, may be junk in a different application.

Until you know what your habits, preferences and needs are, this will continue to be an unanswerable question.

...If money truly is no object, then:

1. Go on vacation to Red Sea
2. Take Class
3. Clone gear that you see divers you respect using
4. Take gear on another vacation
5. Add/subtract equipment as fits your needs
6. Repeat

After a year or so, you'll have gear that is perfect for your needs and use!


All the best, James

 

[Fjellklatrer]

Ok. I had a feeling about how this would go as soon as I posted it.

What I was trying to get at was that most people I talk to or dive with end up with the gear they have primarily because it fits within their budget, not because it was the absolute best gear for what they need. Or, if I talk to my two small, local dive shops they just tell me about the few choices they have for sale, not what is the best of everything available for what I need. Of course there is a limit to how much money I would spend, but if I wasn't worried about that last $100 or $500 or $1000 what could I get?

What I was hoping for was for people's opinions about what is great gear that would work with what I had originally posted. What would you buy if you didn't have a strict budget.

The bottom line is that much more precious than money is time, and what I am trying to avoid as much of the time consuming experimentation process as possible.

 

[boulderjohn]

Your problem is that there are so many different feelings about what is best that if a lot of people were to tell you what they think, you would be no better off than you are now because there will be nothing remotely like a consensus.

In general, there are a number of good companies that make a number of good products. If someone were to identify a truly excellent BCD made by Company A, you can be sure that companies B, C, D and E will have something comparable. The same is true for every piece of equipment you can name.

I think your first choice is to narrow down to some styles. For example, with BCDs you should do a lot of reading and talking and decide whether you want a jacket style, a back inflate, or a backplate and wing. Once you have made that decision, you will find a number of very fine options in each case.

For the rest of the equipment, do something similar. Decide what qualities you need and what qualities you don't need. Then look for different brands and models that have those qualities.

Finally, remember that what is best for person A is not best for person B. You have to decide what kind of diver you want to be (which might be different from the kind of diver you are now) and then go for the gear that will help you reach that goal.

 

[OldNSalty]

Actually, I think a lot of people on here have the gear they want with out respect to money and for some of us, that gear isn't particularly expensive.

The enriched air shouldn't really be a consideration to your gear purchase except for your computer (but I suspect that most modern computers will handle enriched air.) Sounds like you will be doing some diving in cold water?

If that is the case look for a good cold water reg. I have heard that oceanic makes a great one.

 

[Skeeter1097]

IF you are using the same stuff after ten years you must like wrought you have. IS IT GOOD STUFF?

 

[diddydidit]

BP/W Halcyon or Oxycheq
DUI drysuit
steel 119 tank
Scubapro MK25 s600 reg
Liquidvision X1 computer although it is a tech computer
Greenforce can light (75F hid)

Everything listed here is top of the line. IMO

 

[diddydidit]

come on guys, list your fav gear, I think thats what he`s looking for

 

[meesier42]

let see

Regs- either the Posieden Xstream or Zeagle Flathead 7
Rebreather- Dive Rite O2ptima w/ Hammerhead computers
BCD- I have two of them and I think they are both tops. Aeris Atmos XT - for warm water and Hog Gear stainless BP/W with Hollis Elite 2 Harness for cold.
Drysuit- White's Fusion, the new Bullet fixes the only minor issue I has with the Fusion
Wetsuits- Pinnacle
Computer- I like the Oceanic VT3 as I like the large screen and available information, but there are lots that are very good, I have seen but not used the LiqiudVision X1 and it appears interesting.
Fins- pretty much only use Force Fins, primarily the Excellerator Tan Delta with Batwings.
Tanks- depends on the application, I think for warm water recreational diving (Red Sea) there is nothing wrong with the cheap AL80's, but when I slip the drysuit, steel is the only way to go, I can't say anything bad about the Worthington, I have seen too many HP Faber's fail their first hydro. As for size and HP/LP that is up to you, lots of pros and cons there. For recreational diving I haven't found that I need over an HP100, its light weight (essentially the same weight as an AL80, even if buoyancy is very different)
Lights- I was going to say on of the Solus can lights, but I think they went out of business, so something in the 24W HID range.

 

[RJP]

If money were no object, what would you recommend? What is the best of the best? Thanks.

If money were no object I would recommend that you not spend too much of it trying to get "the best of the best" of anything.

Why?

In reality >95% of all commercially available dive gear is perfectly fine for >95% of the dives done by >95% of the divers in the world. For things like regs, computers, etc there's really not any "cr@p" available on the market.

There's another 2-3% of gear that is "a little better, and a little more expensive" and from those choices you would select based fitness for a particular purpose; such as an environmentally sealed reg for cold water diving, or maybe a computer with some additional useful features.

Beyond that, there's another 2-3% of gear that is "imperceptibly better, but a hell of lot more expensive." This category tends to consist of gear that is no different than than found in the group listed above, other than costing 3x to 5x more.

Remember, a fool and his money were lucky to get together in the first place!