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Hi
If you haven't bought your gear yet...heed this advice.
Listen to "Smellysocks". He's absolutely right in his first post. Don't buy a damn thing until you have tried out A LOT of different types of gear. Make several dives renting both back inflate and jacket style BC's before you buy one. Try some different regs as well, with different 1st stage configurations. I prefer the reliability of piston fist stages, but they're becoming less and less common nowadays. Cressi AC10 ellipse is a great reg for example. Nowadays they hand out advanced certifications to people who haven't made more than 20 dives and have never steppen onto the deck of a boat; so be introspective about your real experience level, and do a lot of different kinds of dives with different gear before you dump a few grand at your dive shop.
Speaking of which, somebody mentioned "leisurepro". True, they have some good prices, and they actually deliver very quickly' but don't expect the manufacturers (particularly Scubapro / Uwatec) to honor their warranty for goods purchased at a mail-order discount house. And furthermore, if you don't support your local dive shop and just buy mail order gear....where will you eventually have your tanks filled when your shop goes out of business and closes ? Support your retail dive store when you can, or you'll be buying your own compressor in a few years.
Most imporatantly: There are A LOT..... A LOT.... A LOT of Gimmicks out there with gear these days. After 35 years' diving, I can tell you that the simplest configuration, is the BEST configuration. And listen to Star Trek's Mr. Scott..... "You've got to use the right tool, for the right job". For example, I DO NOT like combo regulator-inflator octopus devices. An inflator is for inflating your BCD. A regulator keeps you alive. I've owned several of the combo "air-2" devices and they've rarely functioned reliably for extended periods of time. Have you ever REALLY tried to cut your way out of an entanglement with a nice pointy knife. I can't tell you how many divers I've seen stab themselves in the thigh trying to re-sheath their stilletto. Get yourself a pair of Fiskars Tin Snips at Home Depot for $15....they are far better than any dive knife I'ver ever carried.
If you want more advice, reply to me with your email address and we can chat directly.
Best of Luck.
If you haven't bought your gear yet...heed this advice.
Listen to "Smellysocks". He's absolutely right in his first post. Don't buy a damn thing until you have tried out A LOT of different types of gear. Make several dives renting both back inflate and jacket style BC's before you buy one. Try some different regs as well, with different 1st stage configurations. I prefer the reliability of piston fist stages, but they're becoming less and less common nowadays. Cressi AC10 ellipse is a great reg for example. Nowadays they hand out advanced certifications to people who haven't made more than 20 dives and have never steppen onto the deck of a boat; so be introspective about your real experience level, and do a lot of different kinds of dives with different gear before you dump a few grand at your dive shop.
Speaking of which, somebody mentioned "leisurepro". True, they have some good prices, and they actually deliver very quickly' but don't expect the manufacturers (particularly Scubapro / Uwatec) to honor their warranty for goods purchased at a mail-order discount house. And furthermore, if you don't support your local dive shop and just buy mail order gear....where will you eventually have your tanks filled when your shop goes out of business and closes ? Support your retail dive store when you can, or you'll be buying your own compressor in a few years.
Most imporatantly: There are A LOT..... A LOT.... A LOT of Gimmicks out there with gear these days. After 35 years' diving, I can tell you that the simplest configuration, is the BEST configuration. And listen to Star Trek's Mr. Scott..... "You've got to use the right tool, for the right job". For example, I DO NOT like combo regulator-inflator octopus devices. An inflator is for inflating your BCD. A regulator keeps you alive. I've owned several of the combo "air-2" devices and they've rarely functioned reliably for extended periods of time. Have you ever REALLY tried to cut your way out of an entanglement with a nice pointy knife. I can't tell you how many divers I've seen stab themselves in the thigh trying to re-sheath their stilletto. Get yourself a pair of Fiskars Tin Snips at Home Depot for $15....they are far better than any dive knife I'ver ever carried.
If you want more advice, reply to me with your email address and we can chat directly.
Best of Luck.
