What Dive Gear & Accessories Have You REMOVED from Your Kit, or replaced with something different?

[markmud]

HMM! Good question.

It will be easier to write about the things that I am still using from dive #1, which are:

1. Mares fins
2. Booties with shoe soles on them (forgot the brand name)
3. ...

I think everything else has been sheet-canned or stuffed in a bin I have for old gear.

Masks, knives, lights, computers, regulators, BCD/Wings, wetsuits...

cheers,
m

 

[Bigbella]

A snorkel -- unless I am actually snorkeling . . .

 

[Lostdiver71]

I purchased 2 brand new O2 cleaned Luxfer 100's from a friend for dealer cost. I later replaced them with steel tanks as the AL 100's are pretty terrible for a lot of reasons.

 

[seaseadee]

I thought I could use a reel safely with my DSMB, but found out otherwise. Finger spool works much better and doesn't give me near the agita that the reel did.

 

[SlugLife]

I keep buying bigger and bigger DSMBs. When they make a 10 meter version, I'm in.

Honey, I swear it's 10m. It's just the water is really cold.

Sadly some beach lifeguards have asked me where mine is... I told him they are on the snorkelers I'm scuba diving.

Ouch. Good response. My natural response would have been a look of confusion, then pointing at my 2nd stage "you mean this?"

Started with(1988):

DACOR 960 first stage, two ScubaPro 109 Adjustables, and a TUSA Console (added a bottom timer module to it within a year)
DACOR SeaChute UTS BC
DACOR TurboFlex Fins
DACOR VistaVue Mask
DACOR snorkel
DACOR BFK
SAS custom tailored wet suit
Big honkin' IkeLite pistol grip light
PADI Wheel
Bare 3mm Shortie

Went to:
ScubaPro mask
DUI CF200 DrySuit
ScubaPro MK-10 first and upgraded seconds to 156 balanced
DUI Delta Back-Inflate
DUI Weight Harness
Turtle Fins

Then DSS BP/W (and a bunch of tech gear)

Then ScubaPro MK-17/G250v regs

Then doubles

Then multiple various SP regulators (I likely have just about all of them, old and new)
Then an Argonaut Kraken & Vintage Plate + Wing
Then Vintage USD doubler Hoses
Then Voit double hoses
Then other old regulators
Various fin brands
Various Masks
Various Lights
Reels/spools
Then more wings of various sizes
Then a new Wetwear custom wet suit
Dogbone Plate
Freedom Plate
FFM
Couple more DSS Plates

and then computers.....

Oh, and lots of tanks...

I basically own a dive shop......

I'm trying to discover more what you got rid of (and why) rather than stuff that slowly became obsolete.

Ah, big pockets & sidemount don't mix! Big buttpouch to stash a couple of SMBs. Still keep the spare mask in the RH pocket though.

I have a Platinic-brand sidemount pouch that does the job and was fairly affordable ($35). Only downside is it's a little small for some of my uses.

I also made a 10x10 buttpouch from raw fabric. It had 3x external SMB (or similarly-sized) holders made of elastic, a few internal and external d-rings, and a couple other neat features. Only downside was the material was too floppy, but I don't mind because DIY is a fun distraction, even when it doesn't turn out. I was going to reinforce the item (and still might).

Then I remembered I have a spare "SOG Responder Bag, 11.5-Liter Storage" sitting around. It's about $20 new, and 11 x 8 x 4.5 inches. The idea is I'd wear it sideways (11-inch length parallel to the legs) when stored (sewing 2x small d-rings to one side), and then flip it around to the front for use. The magazine pouches would be for any additional mask, DSMB, or Lift Bags that aren't in the main pocket. Small pockets would probably be small things like tools, spare flashlight, spare cutter, double-enders, etc. Main pocket would have my bulky flashlight, DSMBs, larger reels, etc. Then finally, I'd have a deployable loot-bag sewn & rolled up attached. And a spare larger loot-bag in one of the pockets, if I happen to run out of space in the first, or find large items.

Spools -- only recently have I finally stopped using these tools of Satan for putting up an SMB, swapping over to the reliability of a reel (drop a reel and it stays put; drop a spool and it plummets down unwinding all the way to the end of the string and is a royal PITA to wind back up again). Have a small 60m/200' Custom Divers reel that fits in the pocket for the backup SMB.

What kind of reel do you have?

 

[2airishuman]

Dive flag, because the mobos don't know what it is so why bother. No enforcement here

Open heel fins that were supposed to be the One True Way for scuba divers according to an early instructor

• Excessive drag
• Excessive effort wasted on the floppiness of the connection
  
• Heel straps that fail
• Neoprene socks and full-foot freediving fins are much nicer
• Only real advantage of open heel is you can gear up faster on a cattle boat

Fancy three-window mask, the cheap ones have less displacement and I like them better

Various dive slates and dive notes. Not worth it for the dives I do

Miflex hoses. Abrasive on the skin and gear and don't last

Long hose on rec dives. Needless hassle and drag with no benefit

Those thin dive socks you're supposed to wear inside your booties. One more thing to wash and they add to the floppiness

H valves

• went through a period where I thought I could have H-valves on my cylinders and use twinset regulators on all my dives
• Reg position and hose routing were major problems
• Unwanted expense on a per cylinder basis, I have many cylinders
• Did not translate well to boat dives where the boat provides cylinders
• Switched to an AL19 for redundancy on dives that require some redundancy but not the twinset

Vintage depth gauges. Used to think they were cool

• Main problem is that they're too big. Streamlining matters to me
• Goal of a simpler kit with no DC for shallow dives was never met
• Just using a small wristmount dc for these dives

Snorkels

• yada yada yada
• I still carry them on some dives

 

[Marie13]

Got rid of my backmount stuff, including 8 x HP80s. Totally committed to sidemount. Now have SM rig, 6 x LP85, 4 x LP50, 2 x AL40. My gear totally changed in less than a year. Kept my SM Apeks regs and that was it.

 

[FF / EMT]

Full Face masks. I bought them hoping they'd be the greatest thing ever. Talking to my wife while diving rather than fooling with handsigns? Awesome! Free classes with the purchase at a LDS. We used them exclusively for about 18 months (about 40 dives) before giving up. Never could get my air consumption anywhere near where it was with a normal regulator. We got tired of being the first people back on the boat, even when there were noob divers. We decided to switch back to regular mask/regulators (scubapro s600, not that the specific model matters much). I just stumbled on the receipt for them last week ($1,800.00 for two masks plus comms!). She wants to sell, I just can't bring myself to do it.. so they continue to sit in my dive closet.

Dive Knife It was something I never used, but frequently replaced after finding it had fallen out of the sheath. Replaced with a Trilobyte eezycut and "trauma" shears.

Trilobyte eezycut The trilobyte worked okay but it's got a metal blade. Eventually the blade rusts, so it looks bad and requires maintenance every few years. After the free blades were used up, I wasn't about to buy another given that there is a better option: Replaced with a DGX sharpcut which has a ceramic blade. Mine's only 3 years old (2 years longer than a trilobyte blade lasts) but so far it is still sharp and there's no metal to rust.

Love my OTS FFM
Dove with it in St. Croix, and was pretty close to same gas consumption of DM.

absolutely no fogging, works as a snorkel, can talk, can breathe through my nose.

only thing I don’t dive with anymore is my 7mm wetsuit, dive dry now.

 

[broncobowsher]

Forgot one...
Single button Oceanic computer. Getting through any menu was the biggest PITA. Just letting it run it was fine. The Nitrox options were so bad you never used them, and were pretty hosed if accidently got into them.
Replaced it with the Shearwater and dive computer life has been great. Probably the single best equipment upgrade done in a 30 years.

 

[DeltaWardog]

Single button Oceanic computer

I feel this one. I have a 3 button Oceanic (VT3) and I have to dig the manual out every time I go on a trip because getting through the menus is so unintuitive I can't ever remember it. I can't imagine how a 1 button would even work but I can imagine it's bad.

I just bought a Mk2i for my next trip so the VT3 has become the backup. No point in a backup if you forget how to use it though, so I'll still be reading that manual every trip.

Stuff I got rid of over the years:

• Dive knife. Can't even wear it most places I've dived. Never needed it anyway. I just have a line cutter now. If any newbie rec divers are reading this, don't buy a knife. Just don't. It's a waste of money.
  
• Slate. "If I wanted to talk to you, I wouldn't be underwater" Never need to work on my thesis down there, either.
  
• Split fins. I'm not a hater, but they did really suck the one time I had to push into some really wicked current. Just replaced with Deep6 Eddys.
  
• Snorkel. I still bring it, because I do snorkel. It doesn't come on dives though. If I was diving a really remote place I would probably bring at least a pocket snorkel just in case the boat loses me and I gotta hang out for a day or two. Don't let people shame you!

That's about it. The many reviews and experiences posted by Scubaboard folks helped me avoid mistakes on my other gear. No other regrets.

Things you should never remove: SMB or DSMB. Light or strobe. Signal mirror. All cheap, all very portable. Could save your life.