Package deal from diverswarehouse ?

[Boo3]

Hi,

I've just started diving at my local bSAC club and was wondering what forum members thought of this cold water package deal (http://www.diverswarehouse.co.uk/index.php/cPath/27_1665_1795) ? It seems good value at just over a grand complete with dry suit.

The ATX40 seems to get good ratings on this forum, but are the Mares gauges and the Cressi BCD any good ?

In terms of the dry suit, I would get the made to measure option but still have lost of questions :


Should I get a cuff dump built in from the off ?
Is it better to have a cuff dump on the left hand sleeve (I am right handed)
Ditto autodump ?
Is a pee valve worth having and if so the should I go for the O'Three std or the OMS balanced ?
I fancy red sleeves with black body but notice that most pix I've seen have more subdued schemes, is there a reason for that ?


This is my first post here so hello all </waves>.

Boo

[ChristianG]

I dislike package deals in principle.

Sure, there are going to be some things that are desirable but there are also going to be others that aren't and they're the ones that are going to rankle. For example the BCD doesn't fill me with glee.

You're a member of a BSAC Club - ask the members. More importantly consider that immediately after "qualifying", in the full bloom of "nice shiny bits", with perhaps little to no idea of what you, you, actually want to buy is not the time to purchase anything at all.

Beg, plead, borrow, hire stuff, keep written notes because you'll otherwise get completely confused, think about the various bits of kit (and how they'd fit your style of diving) which, like as not, you don't have a clue about at the moment.

Only then should you start thinking about your own kit and, if you're diving the UK, the dry suit should probably be your first significant purchase. Nothing beats staying warm.

[Ron MacRae]

I've just started diving at my local bSAC club and was wondering what forum members thought of this cold water package deal (http://www.diverswarehouse.co.uk/index.php/cPath/27_1665_1795) ? It seems good value at just over a grand complete with dry suit.


In our club we hire the kit out with the Ocean Diver course. Our advice to new divers is buy only a mask until you complete Ocean Diver.

Until you complete OD you probably don't even know if you will keep on diving.

Then borrow/try what you can before buying anything. Most club members are happy to lend kit for you to try.

Ron.

[Dave Woodward]

The advice given is good, borrow, or hire kit to get yourself started and make sure you like diving (unless you are already qualified and just looking for your own kit I guess).

When you do want the kit, Divers Warehouse will look after you, the regs chosen are good regs, I actually have a couple of that set myself, and Otter is their sister company, so suit should be good. They have lots of options, so talk to them.

We just got some of the Cressi BCDs for out club, and they look well made, make sure you get the right size to use with a drysuit.


They are flexible on bits in packages, so give them a ring

Dave

[GaryC]

I think that deal is quite good. I have a Cressi BCD and it was cheap but works fine and is fairly robust.

Apex are fine.

Only think I might questions is the 12 litre cylinder. Personally I would go with a 15L.

And the 3mm gloves. 5mm are best for UK. 3mm only really usable in Summer and autumn.

Gary

[Twinsetmad]

All the above is sound advice.... my club also offers full kit up to Ocean Diver free of charge, just buy mask and fins. Diverswarehouse are an excellent company and I've had very good dealings with them, however there are lots of different options, and not all the items in the deal may be right for you.
Go for the personal touch, when you know and are happy that diving is for you. Visit on of the top retailers like DWH and sort out the the package that suits you.... in the mean time, as has been said before, try everything, some things you'll love others you'll hate. There will be loads of people in the club willing to help.... I'm sure.:D

[Boo3]

Thanks to all for the advice but my club only has gear available for use in the pool and I've been told I should get a set of kit sooner rather than later for when we do the lake training dives.

In any case, I can afford the money and I've found in the past that you only really know what you want from gear after quite a time and it would not be very convenient to be borrowing equipment for very long (personally I'd prefer not to do that at all).

Taking into consideration the advice to get a dry suit first, my questions still stand :


In terms of the dry suit, I would get the made to measure option but still have lost of questions :


Should I get a cuff dump built in from the off ?
Is it better to have a cuff dump on the left hand sleeve (I am right handed)
Ditto autodump ?
Is a pee valve worth having and if so the should I go for the O'Three std or the OMS balanced ?
I fancy red sleeves with black body but notice that most pix I've seen have more subdued schemes, is there a reason for that ?



Thanks again,

Boo

[OneDragons]

Types of dump is personal.

My suit came with an autodump on the shoulder and Ive been happy with it.
Now I don't like the idea of a cuff dump. Others prefer cuff dumps, I suppose it is what your used to.

Don't see the point in having both.

[ChristianG]

I fancy red sleeves with black body but notice that most pix I've seen have more subdued schemes, is there a reason for that ?
In reverse order:

• No, no particular reason, it's just that most people don't really want to stand out from the crowd, but that's surmise on my part.
• If you do want to stand out then red and black are the worst colours to go for because they are closest to each other in the colour spectrum. In the old days before colour photocopiers price lists were often printed in black on dark red stock because they came out a uniform black on a black and white photocopier. It was horrible to read but served its purpose of not being able to be directly reprinted. Furthermore red is the first colour to disappear underwater (closely followed by yellow). Depending on where you are in the water column (10 metres is fairly critical here - depending on water clarity) red will be a distinct shade of brown fading to black the deeper you go - unless you shine an artificial light source onto it.

[Dave Woodward]

I think the colours on the suit are available in just about anything. "Lost at Sea Black" is popular, but different colour arms etc ( I think) look quite good.

Maybe think about hiring kit to begin with and think about learning in a semi dry, then once you are sure, go for a package like this.

I started with a cuff dump, but blocked it off and fitted a shoulder dump. The cuff dump is fine when you are swimming along, diving, but sometimes when doing something with your hands it would dump when you didn't want it to.

You can always fit a pee valve later, if you ever need it. In the UK, it was along time before I did dives long enough to need a pee while still in the water, and I'd say most divers won't have the (then again when I left the UK, no boats has lifts and they all seem to have now). A pee zip on the other hand is a really good idea, and makes life a lot easier.

Dave

Dave

[garethwoodruff]

Hi,

I've just started diving at my local bSAC club and was wondering what forum members thought of this cold water package deal (http://www.diverswarehouse.co.uk/index.php/cPath/27_1665_1795) ? It seems good value at just over a grand complete with dry suit.

The ATX40 seems to get good ratings on this forum, but are the Mares gauges and the Cressi BCD any good ?

In terms of the dry suit, I would get the made to measure option but still have lost of questions :


Should I get a cuff dump built in from the off ?
Is it better to have a cuff dump on the left hand sleeve (I am right handed)
Ditto autodump ?
Is a pee valve worth having and if so the should I go for the O'Three std or the OMS balanced ?
I fancy red sleeves with black body but notice that most pix I've seen have more subdued schemes, is there a reason for that ?


This is my first post here so hello all </waves>.

Boo

Ok, here is some very personal advice, most modern diving gear will work and do the job.

If you were in my cllub and hell bent on buying your own kit straight away.

Get the following:

Sea Skin Made to measure neoprene drysuit and some decent cheap thermals from milletts. Get 2 pockets put on the dryuist very useful. Personally black looks cool, but balck and grey looks nice too. £450
5mm gloves for the uk £25
Apeks ATX DS4 Reg set £230
Suunto Zoop Computer. £170
Pair of Mares Avanti Quattro fins £60
Decent hood that fits £15

Personally I would go for a BUDDY commando BCD, bullet proof and fairly indestructable, but they are not cheap. £330
Cheaper BCD that would do would be a northern diver guardian £180

If your BMI is less than 30 my take would be a traditional weight belt rather than integrated weights, but thats peronal opinion.

On the suit front:

No Pee Valve.
Shoulder auto dump only

If you have another £100 spare, get a tectite 5w expedition torch.

Hope that helps, its an awsome hobby, don't judge the quality of uk by freshwater lakes either, its so much more than that.

Cheers,

gareth.

[Twinsetmad]

•Should I get a cuff dump built in from the off ? No... shoulder dumps are far better, I can expand.
•Is it better to have a cuff dump on the left hand sleeve (I am right handed)No.. just get the auto dump.
•Ditto autodump ?... left shoulder will be fine, and is pretty much the standard, you'll be able to operate it with you right hand just fine.
•Is a pee valve worth having and if so the should I go for the O'Three std or the OMS balanced ? This is a difficult one.... I managed without a Pee valve for many years with no issues... I have one now and the comfort it gives is amazing. Not having to strip off and find a loo ...being stuck in your suit for several hours... Freedom..balanced is what I have, its been fine to use. If I ever forget to close it, I wont have see water rush in.
•I fancy red sleeves with black body but notice that most pix I've seen have more subdued schemes, is there a reason for that ? Most suits loose thier colour at depth so what ever takes your fancy ... :D

[micromouse]

Having just come back from Mark Powell's excellent talk on DCI at the NEC dive show, I'm looking at pee valves in another light... dehydration is a concern, and 2hrs on a club rib not being able to pee easily and thus drinking less as a concequence. Pee valves are not just for techie divers....

My advice based on my own limited experience..... go for an auto shoulder dump, ATX regs are excellent, buddy Commando is fantastic but expensive (although worth it), my wife dives on a noname northern diver guardian and she loves it.

MM

[Stevex]

I started diving again this year after a 15 year layoff. I took my time buying my own kit because you need to try different types and makes to decide what you prefer. BCD's are a good example; weight belt or intergrated weights, zipped or velcro-ed pockets etc. I tried a colleague's Buddy Commando and couldn't believe how much better it was after all the club ones I'd dived in, so I bought one. Try as much kit as you can before you buy.

[rick stevens]

Its also worth mentioning that club members may have various bits of equipment for sale, and you could possibly pick up a fair proportion of your setup from them.

Whilst I agree that its not always a good idea to buy everything at such an early stage, as you dont know what sort of diving you you may eventually want to do, so you could at some point be paying out to replace kit hence twice the cost (e.g you may buy a BCD and a 15L cylinder, then decide you want to dive twin 12's on a wing), however it can prove to be a lot cheaper if you're lucky.

I bought all of my equipment from within the club I trained with after I passed my ocean diver training 2 years ago, and the only thing I have replaced is the BCD. I got a very old and tatty Buddy Commando thrown in with some of the stuff I bought. Apart from its cosmetic appearance there was absolutely nothing wrong with it, as people have already said, bulletproof.

However I wanted something newer, just purely out of vanity really, and I bought an almost brand new Cressi Aquapro from another diving friend for a rockbottom price.

If I add up what I actually bought from the club, I got pretty much a full setup for under £600

Rick