Posted by Karl S. on December 27, 2001 at 11:55:27:
In Reply to: Scuba Toys in Cypress, Rents Halcyon BC's n/t posted by Tribes on December 27, 2001 at 10:27:49:
There is no hurry to buy stuff, whether new or used. You have no idea what kind of stuff is best for you right now, and there are all kinds of stuff out there, each way different from each other.
I agree with Chuck, that its nice to own your own suit from the get-go, so that you are not always guessing how much weight you will need on a dive, since different kinds of suits of differing ages require differing Pb(lead) weight to be properly weighted.
Finding a mask that fits to your face right is also important. And a snorkel that you are comfortable with. And fins that are compatible with your leg strength.
Mask, snorkel, fins, suit, those are good things to buy, as soon as you know what you want. New or used wont matter that much, as long as you look over everything closely before you buy it. New equipment sometimes has manufacturing defects. Used equipment is sometimes too old or damaged to be of any good.
Start with that, and rent all the rest, for as long as you can, and you will then be able to make better decisions when you get ready to buy the next thing, like a dive computer, or a regulator system, or a buoyancy compensator, or lights, or a camera or housing.
You never really need to buy a tank. You can always rent these. If you do buy a tank or tanks, that should be the last thing that you buy, since it is the easiest thing to rent from a dive shop.
If you plan to travel, it might be nice to have a weight belt with pouches, so you can rent the weights to put into it at your destination. You can always rent a weight belt at your location, but it is nice when you own one that is cut and adjusted to your specific body size.
Youre going to have to answer a whole lot of questions about what to buy, as you start buying other gear. Here are some of the questions:
1. Wetsuit or drysuit? I have both. I love my new Zeagle Trilaminate shell black drysuit so much that I am proud to be called a drysuit diving wuss now. I only use the wetsuit for freediving or for rocky shore scuba entries when I dont want to risk hurting my $2000 drysuit.
2. Air-only dive computer or Nitrox & Air dive computer? Eventually, if you become a really good, well trained diver, you will probably start diving with Nitrox all the time. But you wont know that until later. And some dive stores do not promote Nitrox, even still.
3. Jacket style B/C or backpack style B/C? The backpack styles allow you to insert a backplate into them. The Jacket styles are more easily adjustable and they have pockets. Both may have wings for inflation. Wings are better. But whether you go jacket style or backpack style is a more difficult decision. Marta has mentioned the magical words "Halcyon." Those are backpack styles not jackets.
4. What brand name regulator can you afford to marry? A good well maintained regulator can last you 15 to 20 years. So this is a long term decision. I buy ScubaPro and I own 5 of them. Other people whom I know swear by Atomic or Apex. If you cant afford the pricetags on those, then there are other cheaper brand names, but dont dive too deep with the cheaper brands, definitely not any deeper than about 50 feet, if that. Chuck dives with Atomic. I dont know what Marta dives with.
5. I must admit that Halcyon has the best flashlights right now, and you can fit them nicely to your B/C straps or to your LP inflator hose. These are medium sized lights that are good to have with you all the time. What bigger light to buy for night diving is more difficult to decide, since there are not a lot of good choices when you look at the really large sized lights.
6. You need a cutting device. It needs to be able to cut you out of underwater fishing line. This will happen to you eventually. Its just a matter of time. The choices in a cutting device are small shears, big shears, small knife, big knife, both, one of each, etc.
7. My own next purchase will be an Ikilite housing for my Canon SLR camera. But I am still looking around. I dont have a lot of time right now for photography, but pretty soon I will be done with all my tech training, and then there will be lots of time for photography, especially once I start international scuba travel, like Chuck does, and then I wont be able to resist getting a housing for my SLR land camera. But there are also "amphibious" cameras out there that dont require a housing. That is a choice you need to make when you get to that point.
Good luck. Just remember, if you take your time, and rent for as long as you can, until renting becomes inconvenient, then you will be more likely to buy the right stuff when you finally do buy, whether you buy new or used. And always inspect what you buy closely, whether its new or used.
Karl S.
NAUI OW1 April 1975
PADI D/M April 2000
TDI Advanced Nitrox & Staged Deco Nov 2001