Posted by Karen on September 05, 2001 at 23:29:57:
In Reply to: New to diving and looking for good used gear posted by Julie on September 05, 2001 at 17:32:36:
Hi Julie,
I've been diving for two years so I'm fairly new compared to some. I, like you, was
looking at saving a few pennies here and there. After talking to *many* experienced divers
about equipment and such I realized a couple of things:
1. Everyone has their own opinion on what's "best"
2. The one thing they all agreed a upon was that you don't want
to skimp on the gear which is keeping you alive under water.
So I had to stop and make some hard choices. How committed was I to diving, how committed
was I to minimizing my risks in order to keep diving, and what was
my life worth to me? Certainly my life was worth more to me than what I've
spent on my dive gear (which is now considerable because I own all my own gear which includes a drysuit)and I dive in Monterey regularly.
I would be very careful about buying offbrand regulators as well. I can't remember
the issue in Rodales which suggested that these particular mail order regs were not
recommended for use under water.
Please take the time to do the research, it will only benefit you.
Karen