I thought this was such an interesting comment by @MaxTorque in another thread that it might be worthy of a discussion on its own. I have thought about this before, but Max stated it well.
Which kind of diver are you? Group 1 or Group 2?
I'm definitely Group 1. I wish I had gills, etc., so that I wouldn't need any gear at all.
One question to the OP, what sort of scuba diver are you in terms of how you see your scuba gear?
Let me, try to explain!
There are broadly two kinds of divers in my experience.
1) Divers for whom the actual diving is the sport. The gear they use is a necessary evil, and is seen simply as a tool to enable them to dive
2) Divers for whom the sport is the diving, but also everything else, and especially the gear itself. They are as interested in the gear as the dives - well, maybe not quite, until you get to CCR level...... ;-)
Divers in group 1, really need to choose gear that suits how they dive and stick with it. Yes, get it serviced appropriately and look after it, but they generally don't want to spend too much time understanding or modifying / changing that gear. They'll come back from a dive, wash it, dry it, put it away and that's it.
Divers in group 2 will change everything all the time, modify, rebuild, experiment. For them, this is at least half the fun of the sport! It gives them something to do when out of the water, which, lets be honest, unless you are lucky enough to live somewhere you can dive from your doorstep, and your job allows you to do that, is the majority of the time
. . .
Which kind of diver are you? Group 1 or Group 2?
I'm definitely Group 1. I wish I had gills, etc., so that I wouldn't need any gear at all.