What did you buy that you regret?

[Hatul]

Question? I have no idea what IDEA is and where did you get this cert.:questionmark:

IDEA Canada. International Diving Educators Association. From Groundhog Divers Kitchener, Ontario.

I should add that there was a fee required to renew this card, so it became a steady source of income for this group.

Adam

 

[ScubaSteve]

IDEA Canada. International Diving Educators Association. From Groundhog Divers Kitchener, Ontario.

I should add that there was a fee required to renew this card, so it became a steady source of income for this group.

Adam

Holy crap someone out there actually did certify with Ghog and did not get the extra NAUI card. Sorry to hear that. I certified PADI elsewhere but when I took AOW with Ghog, they offered me the IDEA card and I refused it demanding NAUI(I did have to pay extra which I was OK with considering the options). I had already done some research and knew that it would not be sufficient for what I wanted.

FWIW there is a well received and respected IDEA but the IDEA Canada "supposed" branch IS NOT a branch. They have created this as a money maker and it is not accepted as part of IDEA. It is also not accepted worldwide.

Having said all of that I think Bruce is a good guy (a bit misunderstood but a good guy) even if IDEA Canada is not a real certifying agency.

 

[Queen]

- A custom made wetsuit in 1980 (mens suits fit so crappy I thought I'd go custom), the dive shop guy ,measuring me was so nervous he did an awful job with the measurements so it never fit right...for a mere $1000.

- That first BC, I was doing just fine without one.

 

[rrweather]

My SP twin jet max fins. They came as part of an overpriced package (with one of the $50 snorkels mentioned). I am in the process of trying to convince a friend that he needs to buy them from me. What are friends for?

 

[diveguy1]

In 1988 or so I bought a GoSport wetsuit from an ad on one of the back pages of Skin Diver magazine. It was cheap (something around $150 I believe), and did the job well until my cold-water dives became almost unbearable due to years of wear. I worked as a dive guide at the time, and feared those second dives of the day in the 50-degree water! But as I said, it was cheap, did it's job well at the time, so I guess I didn't regret it.

I also bought one of the first generation Dive Alert air whistles and shot it off in my own ear many times - a very painful experience :shocked2:. I believe the newer models have a guard which prevents this. But my ears regretted that purchase.

.

 

[peret]

Snorkel! I still didn't get the usage for it in diving! Except snorkeling is a useless stuff making drug when you scuba-dive!

When there are no waves, then you don't need it anyway, when are waves big enough to not be able to breath well then snorkel is making more problems because of taking wather....moreover I'm always swimming on my back with the diving gear....much easier....

 

[Steve in Seattle]

Though I've never tried it...my instructor says ... you can actually suck out the last bits of air out of your bc to reach the surface quickly yet as safely as possible.

Sort of.

My instructor took 3 of his dive masters down to 130 feet (5 atm, ~75psi?) and "sucked" an Al 80 tank empty... they managed to pull 4 breaths from it on the way up as the ambient pressure dropped off.

A smaller Pony bottle or worse, a SpareAir bottle would give you even less.

If you make more air in your BC than a pony bottle I'd be shocked... but you may get one breath out of it... before you cough it out from sucking water out of the BC as well

 

[opie]

A back zip drysuit. Wish i had spent the xtr cash for a front zip self don model

 

[vam302]

I've been wishing for a very long time that I had an air-integrated, wrist mounted computer. Don't get me wrong, the console version has been doing its job for years. I just think that having everything on my wrist would make my dives a little better.

 

[whodunit68]

1) Underwater photography PADI specialty from Florida Keys Dive Center
2) Akona <10 travel luggage - what a piece of junk. used it 6 times, tore twice and zipper pulled right off. Of course they have no interest in replacing it.