halocline
Contributor
You sound like an unusually mature and self aware 16 year old. With that attitude, I'm sure you will do very well as a diver.
Since you said you work in a shop, I imagine you have some mechanical ability. I would urge you to spend some time on the regulator and DIY forums, get the Vance Harlow book on regulator repair, and maybe consider getting a MK10 and 109 (metal case 2nd stage). They shouldn't cost more than $100 together, in good shape. There are people on the board who will give you excellent advice at no cost. You can learn about working on these regs for much less than the cost of buying a single set of new high quality regs. The reason I would recommend getting into regulator service is simple; money and peace of mind. Once you understand how these devices work, you see how simple they are and how there is a huge amount of hype and salesmanship in the marketing of new regulators, and the servicing of them. One of the best dive-related decisions I ever made was learning to service my own regs; I have literally saved thousands of dollars over the years and I dive with the knowledge that my regs are serviced correctly and carefully. I can easily fix problems on a dive trip when they come up, which is not often. Equally important, it's really fun to get into the mechanics of how they work.
