New divers and buying equipment

[GlennL]

I am a newish diver (diving about a year). Anyway when I first wanted to dive I wanted my own gear. I thought that I should be trained in what I am going to use. As a new diver you want your own stuff. You want to be comfortable with "your" gear. So you go out and buy a "package" from some shop. Please do NOT. I disregarded this advice. I didn't want to rent gear. I wanted my own stuff. I was stupid. I have replaced just about every piece of gear I originally bought. I refused to adhere to advice and rent gear until I found my way. I wasted so much money. I just feel that I should say DO NOT BE LIKE ME!!! Save your money and dive at least a dozen times before you decide to buy gear. The only exception here is a wetsuit. Don't rent a wetsuit someone peed in.

 

[Xhris]

To contrast this, I also bought gear after I was certified, 2 years and 100+ dives later it's still the gear I use for all reef / rec dives. I did my research, made sure I bought quality gear that was good for the type of diving I did, and it's probably paid for itself vs renting gear everywhere...

 

[Neilwood]

I think both approaches can work. Definitely do some research and take some advice from other divers.

Most of my original kit is still in use (I bought most of it 2 dives after doing my OW). Only major changes are buying a drysuit (I wasn't spending the money a drysuit needed straight out of OW when a wetsuit worked ok) and a new dive computer (upgraded to Perdix AI - had some spare money and saw the difference the screen made). Regs, bp&w, fins, mask, snorkel, torches, gloves & hood are all original and still in regular use.

 

[Sevenrider860]

I notice from your profile you are now diving BP/W, Atomic M1 and Doubles. A large majority of divers that purchase a BCD do not switch to BP/W nor do they switch to diving doubles. I also dive a BP/W and switched from a BCD...but it had many good years on it when I did.

My daughter still dives the same gear she learned in (Aqualung Balance BCD, Legend regulator, Atomic Fins and Mask). My son out grew his BCD (Sherwood AVID CQ3) and decided to replace it with a different model (Aqualung Axiom). He still uses his original regulator (Legend) and computer (Atomic Cobalt) he learned to dive in. They were both certified in 2012. My daughter has about 50 dives and my son over 300. Both could replace their gear with little expense if they wanted, but they are happy with the gear they have.

Without knowing what gear you originally purchased, it is hard to determine why you needed to replace everything. However, if you moved on to diving doubles or into Tec...then I see where your original purchase was not appropriate.

I also need to point out that I see only about 1 out of 100 students who show up with all their own gear prior to OW training. The shop I am associated with does not push ownership prior to taking the course...they would not stop anybody that insisted...but there is no pressure to buy before the class. Showing up to class with your own personal gear (mask, snorkel, fins/booties) is required.

 

[2airishuman]

I am a newish diver (diving about a year). Anyway when I first wanted to dive I wanted my own gear. I thought that I should be trained in what I am going to use. As a new diver you want your own stuff. You want to be comfortable with "your" gear. So you go out and buy a "package" from some shop. Please do NOT. I disregarded this advice. I didn't want to rent gear. I wanted my own stuff. I was stupid. I have replaced just about every piece of gear I originally bought. I refused to adhere to advice and rent gear until I found my way. I wasted so much money. I just feel that I should say DO NOT BE LIKE ME!!! Save your money and dive at least a dozen times before you decide to buy gear. The only exception here is a wetsuit. Don't rent a wetsuit someone peed in.

It depends. I bought most of my gear before my first pool session, and it has served me well.

 

[GlennL]

If it still works for you then great! I was talking to someone about buying stuff and said those famous words, if I knew then what I know now. It's not that there was anything wrong with what I bought, my tastes just changed.
I just felt like telling anyone who is like me and wants to run out and buy all new gear that it really is ok to try different stuff before that compelling urge takes over.

 

[84CJ7]

Same mistake. Bought the latest greatest recreational stuff early and through experience learned I could have payed half as much for tech gear that works twice as well even for recreational diving.
Now just about everything has been replaced or is scheduled to be soon.

 

[1000RR]

It depends. I bought most of my gear before my first pool session, and it has served me well.

Same here... I just went through this over the past 2 months. But I did research the heck out of everything I bought, bought most of it used and heeded a lot of advice on what to look for etc. from here on Scubaboard and a good diver friend of mine. Out fitted myself and my daughter before we got our certification. We really like what we have and it looks to be great for the long haul. Plus buying used (on Scubaboard for the most part) seems like a great approach. We got some really great gear and awesome prices.

 

[stuartv]

I bought all my own gear as soon as I finished OW. I'm still using the computer (watch style with AI), reg set (DIN 1st stage, identical 2nd stages), and BC (a BP/W) that I bought then. I only use them for single-tank recreational diving. I have other gear for use with doubles and technical dives. But, I did my research on here and all my major gear purchases right after OW were fine and have passed the test of time.

 

[AZNetEng]

I'm a mix I reckon. I bought some gear during certification, and some after. I have replaced some that didn't work as well as I had hoped, and still use some that works just fine. I sell off what I don't want to keep, and buy used to replace it usually (computers, BCD, etc) so the cost issue hasn't been an issue really.

I'm at a spot though where really the only item I need to upgrade/replace is lights. Everything else is working well and I like it.