Posted by Kevin on November 01, 2001 at 17:27:42:
I recently needed to replace a lot of my dive gear. Those of you that have dove with me usually laugh at the rust stains on all my gear. I don't mind the rust stains, but a lot of my gear was actally falling apart from constantly being wet, and getting beat up every weekend and some weeknights ( now that its bug season. ).
When some of my gear became unsafe, it was time to buy new stuff. Plain and simple, safety first. Long gone are the days when I used to run dive shops and could get all the gear for free, and since I don't actively teach anymore, that route to free gear was out too.
So I decided to start checking out some of the DIR gear that was presented at one of John and Mike and Terry and Kendall's demo. It all looked very simple and well thought out, but most of all robust and burly. Thats the kind of gear I need. Metal Sspring straps instead of plastic fin straps. Weight belt harness material instead of nylon fabric and plastic fittings. Metal Backplates instead of plastic. Hard core rugged material. Ya, thats sounds right for Kevin.
But I was worried about the price. I had always heard that DIR gear can be pricey. Money is tight these days, for everyone, myself included.
Now that I have finally gotten to the point of this post, I found out that the DIR gear I bought was far less expensive than any of the second rate garbage I was considering. And none of it is Halcyon or any of the companies everyone is ranting and raving about saying that DIR or GUE is a front for Halcyon, Extreme exposure, etc.
Some of the gear is new. I recommend Mike at Open Water Habitat and Jim at Scuba Toys as great connections. I also bought a set of Scuba Pro Jet Fins on Ebay for $ 11 and a nice Halcyon 45 pound wing for $ 100. ( Sorry Maciek, but I honestly thought it would go for more ! - It turns out both myself and the seller live twenty blocks from each other ). So except for the wings, none of the gear is Halcyon. But I gotta say it is a very nicely made set of wings.
I feel SO MUCH MORE STREAMLINED when I am doing long swims to wreck or hunt with the backplate and wings, and for a fraction of the price of a high end BC, especially some of the technical BC's I was looking at.
I really don't want to argue about DIR. Thats not the purpose of the post and it bores the heck out of me. I just wanted to give all my friends on this list some options when upgrading or replacing your gear. There are better ways to go that what the companies are cramming down the dive shop owners throats with their booking programs. Trust me, been there done that.
Now where can I buy a DIR-compliant, oxygen compatible for partial pressure blending, NAVY A list approved, streamlined for efficiency, yellow and green Nitrox titanium snorkel??
Kevin