Buying my first Diving Equipment

[carbs608]

Hiya,

I am after some advice as i have recently passed my Ocean Diver Course and i am going to Egypt in Dec but will also be diving in the UK. I am wondering where the best places to buy my kit from as i have been told that local shops are expensive and that web sites are better, can i body advise or give me some web site addresses.

Many Thanks

Ian

[Chris Cherrington]

Without knowing where you are its hard to say if there are expensive or cheap shops near you!! The Internet shops (like Kent Diving) have a physical address, so if you live in Dartford it would be your "local" shop!!

Most shops will give a good discount if you buy a full set of kit.

So, the big issue is what do you want to buy and what items will you be renting in Egypt? Don't forget your baggage allowance!!!

Chris

[The Professor]

Ian,

Some shops will price match for you, so it is worth asking. For some kit you need to try it on to see if it fits (eg a drysuit) and therefore a lds is more useful than a web store. For other kit it doesn't really matter, eg tanks, regs. You just need to be sure that you know what you actually want first before you buy.

Just do a search for the sites...google is a good plave to start ;)

Dave

[AndyDavis]

It is always worth bearing Ebay and the kit sales pages of dive forums in mind....dive kit can go for very cheap once second-hand. Get some expert advice in what you need and what is a good price for it.

It is also worth having a look on 'froogle'. If you search for a common piece of kit (i.e. a Buddy Commando BCD) then it should illustrate who the cheaper suppliers are.

A basic breakdown of kit:

Wetsuit / Drysuit - you MUST try these on for fit before purchase. At least visit your LDS to try them on...then check out price-matches on the Net. It is only fair to go back to your LDS with the cheapest price you find and give them the chance to match it. Shops like 'Go-Dive' in Debry do very cheap & high quality etsuits. Also the 'Northern Diver' website has a 50% sale on wetsuits at the moment.

Mask - again, you must try this on to check it fits. Once you know what you need, try the Ebay shops for major brand masks. Same goes for snorkels and fins.

BCD - There are lots of these available on Ebay and you can save a lot of money on a good nearly new example.

Regs - Try a few of these and see what you like the best. Take good advice. Of all the kit you buy, you should aim to make your regulator purchase the most 'future proof'. Buy the best that you can possibly afford. Apeks, Scubapro and Poseidon are top brands....whose best regs will last you a diving career and can be adapted for techie/twinset diving at a later date. Again, you can make HUGE savings on Ebay, but you must remember to budget £50-70 extra to get them serviced.

Cylinder - These can be found cheap on the net (LDS and Ebay), but you must factor in for P&P. Find the best price on Froogle and see if your LDS will match it. Get expert advice when buying a cylinder....make sure that it will meet your FUTURE demands. When the time comes that you want to extend your bottom time on a 35m wreck, you may be cursing the smaller cylinder you bought.

Dive Computer - These are always cheapest online and you can get a bargain on Ebay. The Sunnto Gekko is a solid entry level pc that will last you for years.

[Dave (Simmo)]

Hi Ian,

yeah what they said.

brought my dry suit from my LDS - having searched the net from top to bottom i found it for £340, when to my local dive store who had it in stock so i was able to try on several until i found one the correct size.

they then offered me the same suit for £360 [with auto shoulder dump] or a wrist dump for £350

the P&P was going to be £10 so in real terms it cost me £10 for a fitting service we agreed where i would have the dumps fitted to suit me and i now go to the same store for Nitrox

had I [and others] not supported the local store it might have closed down Godive/Kent Diving/SDS/Deep Blue etc etc will offer you a great deal - but Yorkshire/Kent/outer mongolia are all a long drive for a gas fill if you live in Devon!

Dave

[carbs608]

Cheers Guys for all the advice i live in bedfordshire and my local dive shop is Hydroactive in Letchworth so i think i will take all your advice and pay them a visit and tell them what i want and tell them the prices i have found at Kent/Deep blue etc.

Thanks Again

Ian

[Alison Boler]

Ian
Re diving suits: how much are you going to dive in the UK? If it's regularly and you can afford it then you should get a drysuit - the dive shop will advise you on this. Try different sorts if possible, there is a lot of difference between neoprene/crushed neoprene and laminate.

For diving overseas - if you are going to go say every year - I would recommend you get a 4/5 mm suit (just right for Egypt). In this case - if its your secondary suit - you could decide to have a look at those on offer at the Dive Show in October in Birmingham. They always have a load of cheapish wetsuits for sale that are more than adequate for warm water diving - again, try them on to make sure of the fit.

[carbs608]

I think i am sorted for Egypt as i have just obtained a 5mm titanium shortie which i have been advised is ideal for Egypt, i am one of the lucky ones who doesnt suffer from the cold that much. I will be doing most of my diving in UK with probably 2 trips abroad each year.

Ian

[Alison Boler]

Your shortie sounds right. Very individual thing, feeling the cold. If you start to go into even warmer water than Egypt eg Caribbean, Far East, Florida or Egypt in the summer, you might find you want a 3mm which is what I use year round outside the UK cos I really don't feel the cold :) My daughters feel the cold more than me and they have 5mm shorties which they use in the Red Sea and sometimes in the Med. In the Med, they put their shorties over their 3mm if its a bit nippy (can be lots of thermoclines there). The two suits work well seperately in different places and you can use them layered.

All the best

[Roz]

Buying diving equipment is always an interesting one. You will probably find after a couple of years of diving, that you are looking to replace the equipment that you originally bought. Not because it is faulty, doesn't work, etc. It will be because your experience has grown, you will know what kind of diving you wish to persue and therefore what you like in a certain piece of equipment.

There are a number of avenues you can go down to buy equipment. The internet, your local dive shop, Ebay and the Dive Shows.

Personally, I would always advocate going to your local dive shop. Whilst you will be paying more than you will on the internet, what you should receive is good sound advice from a professional. They will spend time with you and take you through different options. They will also be there when your equipment needs servicing, tweaking or mending, when you need air, and they also tend to give you the odd cup of tea as well.

Buying off the internet is an option. Generally the equipment is cheaper, but you need to consider things like postage and pack, and you won't get time spent on you. Also something like a regulator will be sent out in bits. First stage with second stage attached. Octopus separate. Guage separate. This doesn't happen when you buy from a shop, as they would talk to you, find out your preference, and build your reg set. Buying by post, they won't. (One major reason that the net is cheaper is that the business is not spending any time talking or dealing with you. They are just pulling kit off a shelf and posting it out).

Alternatively you could buy a reg set off the web and then take it to your LDS to set up. In this instance they will charge you for this. This will take time and expertise, and both do cost, so in the end you may well end up spending the same money.

Attending a Dive Show is interesting if there are a lot of manufacturers there. Manufacturers normally do not sell off the stand, they are there to give you advice. As such they can talk you through their equipment and explain all the features and benefits to you and spend time with you. Then when you have decided what you want, you can buy from one of the shops exhibiting. This is fine if the equipment works, or doesn't need setting up. If it does, and you've bought something from a shop in Plymouth and you live in Aberdeen, you have two choices. Post it back to Plymouth (and pay postage and pack) or take it into your LDS (and they will probably charge you for this service because you didn't purchase it from them, so you will be paying for their time and expertise they give their customers for free).

I am little hesitant at recommending Ebay if you are new diver, simply because you don't know what you don't know. You can end up buying a storming piece of kit or you could end up buying a right pup, which would be a terrible shame. If you do want to buy through Ebay, seek someone to mentor you in your dive club, and they should hopefully help you to avoid the pitfalls.

If you are going down the route of thinking of buying a Ford Sierra to get you going, and getting some experience before moving up the ladder to say a BMW in a couple of years time, Scubapro do a bomb proof reg. MK2 First Stage, R290 Second Stage. This reg will serve you faithfully for years. It is simple. Works in cold water, and hot too. And where ever you end up in the World, someone will be able to service it.

BCD wise, I still dive the second BCD I ever bought. The first one I had for a total of I think 6 weeks and then sold it, and bought a Buddy Slimline Commando. This is also a bomb proof BCD.

You might want to consider taking a steamer, 5mm body and 3mm arms, at least to Egypt in December. Although the water temperature can be a lovely 22 degrees, topside you can be subjected to high winds that can chill you down bloody quick.

In the main I am very pro buying from your LDS rather than off the net. Why is that then? Well I remember the good old bad old days of driving 100 miles for an air fill. I know that a decent dive shop will give me the advice that I need. They know the products inside and out and back to front. I know that if my regulator needs tweaking after being serviced I can just pop in, grab a cup of tea and they will do it for me.

I am somewhat concerned that if divers seriously turn to buying from the net as heavily as I suspect they will, we will return to a time when there are only a few regional dive centres, and we will be driving may be more than 100 miles for an airfill or servicing. (Petrol is not going to get any cheaper!).

I hope that you find Craig helpful at Hydroactive. Remember that if you take in prices you have seen on the web and compare them to a shop price, they will be different, because you are paying for time, advice and personal service. All of which is invaluable. Good luck.

[carbs608]

Thanks again for all the great advice which is greatly appreciated, the equipment i am leaning towards at the moment is a Buddy Commando BCD with an AP200 valve set up, Apeks atx50 Reg with an atx 40 Octopus on an Aclamp. The reason for this is because it is what i used in training and i found it very good to work with and it was recommended to me as a good sturdy set up. Can anybody clarify or put me on the straight an narrow if i am way off?

Ian

[Chris Cherrington]

The buddy is a good jacket and lasts for ever. Don't buy the little bottle. Apeks are good regs and a good choice. The DIN fitting is better than A clamp as it prevents popping O rings, but either is OK.

Chris

[PeteM]

Thanks again for all the great advice which is greatly appreciated, the equipment i am leaning towards at the moment is a Buddy Commando BCD with an AP200 valve set up, Apeks atx50 Reg with an atx 40 Octopus on an Aclamp. The reason for this is because it is what i used in training and i found it very good to work with and it was recommended to me as a good sturdy set up. Can anybody clarify or put me on the straight an narrow if i am way off?

Ian

As Chris says go DIN, far far better system.

I would say go for the ATX40 as a primary, 50 gives no better breath, has one adjustment knob which very few people ever use and costs more money.

Buddy Commando is not the best designed BCD on the market but is probably about the best made with the best guarantee - think about going for the TD version as this gives a useful extra few D Rings, and as Chris said forget the suicide bottle.

[Nigel Hewitt]

I would say go for the ATX40 as a primary, 50 gives no better breath, has one adjustment knob which very few people ever use and costs more money.Huh?
I have TX40 and TX50s (older but pretty much the same works inside a posher housing) and the 40s are a pain as over the first six months after a service I have to stuff an allen key in them several times and adjust them while on the 50s I just turn the knob.

When I was still diving twins I used the two TX50s. The one in my mouth was adjusted for a nice loose breathe and the one hung under my chin was wound up tight. That meant it didn't freeflow when I stepped in off a boat and if I wanted to stay breathing it I could slack it off when I had a free hand. I used to swap them over mid season to equalise the wear.

[PeteM]

Huh?
I have TX40 and TX50s (older but pretty much the same works inside a posher housing) and the 40s are a pain as over the first six months after a service I have to stuff an allen key in them several times and adjust them while on the 50s I just turn the knob.

I've got mainly TX's as well (two ATX's) and have not touched the knob in seven years and rarely (never?) had to get out the allen keys

[ianmichael]

You probably wont find anything cheaper than Go-Dive in Derby (www.godive.net) even after packaging is added on. Example: cheapest Steel Faber 12L cylinder with MDE valve in my area (north east): £125. Go-Dive price: £99.99 + £12 packaging