Posted by Ross-O on September 09, 2003 at 19:01:24:
In Reply to: What to buy - my first BC, Reg, Etc... posted by Joe on September 09, 2003 at 11:09:41:
Check out a Backplate and Wing before purchasing a BC. Maybe you'll decide that a BC is your thing but I know about a dozen divers who've made the switch and would never go back. Halcyon makes a good rig. It's a few bucks more expensive than a run-of-the-mill BC but it's more or less a lifetime purchase. I believe ScubaToys and ReefSeekers have rental Halcyon BP&Wing rigs.
Regs - I've had good luck with Oceanic Delta-III. Seems to be decent bang for the buck. Most of my buddies are using Apeks. I plan to use Apeks for the doubles rig that I'm currently putting together. I'll probably go with DS4 first stage and axt50 and atx20 for the primary and secondary second stages.
I'm into using a long hose on the primary and having the secondary bungied under my chin. If you haven't seen this configuration before, look up "DIR" on the web AND get in touch with some of your local divers who follow this approach to diving. I'm not pretentious enough to say that it's the ONLY right way to dive, but I do feel that it's a very good system and after lots of investigation I'm convinced that it's the best system for me and my wife to dive.
Tank - get one of the new PSTs. No silly "+" thing to confuse the tank monkeys (apologies to all tank monkeys) and you can get some truly enormous air volumes if you want. The new version of the 95 has something like 113 cuft at its rated fill pressure and still has 95 at standard LP fill pressures. This means that you'll get a good fill even on a boat that can't pump to 3500 psi. My Faber tanks are a little too prone to rusting for my liking.
Weights - I dig the good old fashioned nylon weight belt with hard weights. Of course the belt must be black, the weights must be uncoated lead, and it has to have a shiny stainless steel buckle. On a serious note, avoid plastic buckles and be really really cautious of integrated weight packs held in by velcro only. Losing a weight belt at depth could mean bad trouble.
Cheers,
Ross-O