Which equipment recomended me

[shalom]

Hello I am new here and I have the following question.
After some years outside of the diving have decided to return and to become diving Instructor after some courses.
And I wanted to invest in a good diving equipment that lasts me a lot of time and that it fulfills the demand of a Instructor.
I planned to invest in Scuba Pro equipment for that I see that the Navy and Marines the they use.
But i wanted them to give me their opinions.Almost remember I am beginning I am advanced scuba daving only at this moment.

[David Walker]

Most brands you look at you'll find claim the military use it - seems to be a way to make people buy it. Doesn't mean *all* of the military use it, or that they don't also use 10 different brands, so if that's your only reason for choosing ScubaPro you might want to look more widely.

I can't make specific recommendations because your question is too wide - but all the stuff out there should be suitable for the purpose. Just make sure your regs are cold water rated and thats the biggest thing sorted. If you need a wetsuit / drysuit make sure it fits well.

Best way for you to get a bit more information is search the archives with more specific questions - use the "search" link at the top of this page, and you can look up individual bits of kit that you've found and see what others thought of them. There are loads of threads on here asking for the best reg, best BC, best drysuit, etc.

David

[Michelle Haywood]

Hi

Just a word of caution about going for Scubapro regs, depending on the diving that you plan to do in the future. I have recently had an email from the tech people at Scubapro stating the following:

As such SCUBAPRO are currently finalising the designs and testing of our regulators for use with Nitrox and shortly we will be launching this new range. All parts from the new regulators will be compatible with the current range to allow our current regulators to be upgraded to the new Nitrox standard.

Currently, although ALL SCUBAPRO regulators are manufactured in a clean environment and using Nitrox compatible parts and lubricants and then used around the world with Nitrox we are unable to guarantee them.

In short we will be launching the new regulators soon but if you purchase a SCUBAPRO Regulator now you will be able to have it cleaned and upgraded to the new Nitrox Standard when they are launched.

So there will be an extra cost involved for you if you want to use your Scubapro for nitrox in the future. In contrast Apeks or Aqualung regs can be used straight from the box for up to 40%.

Oh and the army apparently use Apeks regs - if that makes any difference.....

Have fun shopping!
Michelle

[Paul Oliver]

Personally i have used Scabapro regs for years (with Nitrox) and they are great :)

Scubapro BCD's look very good, however i have never used one.

The majority of my regs are Apex though and they are also great, and my BCD's are Buddy and Northern Divers and they are also great :)

I'd suggest shopping around and trying as many as you can before choosing :)

[jeswinehart]

Personally i have used Scabapro regs for years (with Nitrox) and they are great :)

Scubapro BCD's look very good, however i have never used one.

The majority of my regs are Apex though and they are also great, and my BCD's are Buddy and Northern Divers and they are also great :)

I'd suggest shopping around and trying as many as you can before choosing :)

I agree with Mr. Oliver
Shop around and try them out if at all possible, before purchasing.
I have a Scuba pro night hawk and over all it is okay. But on the side note the model I have has the integral weight pouches that relied on velcro to restrain them. Good enough when new but as use and wear sets in they become less and less (the Velcro) "sticky" even with a good cleaning.
After loosing 1 pouch I added snap closures that still allow for easy removal by the simple pull method.
While I am on the topic of Scuba pros's integral weight system I find it a work out in its own right to insert my weight pouches since I dive heavy and have them loaded up to capacity.
My night hawk B.C. is 3 years old now and believe they have made several advances on them since I bought mine new in all fairness to them.
I have a life time warranty on mine which was a major selling point for me since it See's a lot of usage in not so good of a environment ( I muck about a lot).

john

[rubyru]

One other thing, you might find that you have different considerations for equipment when you qualify as an instructor than you do now.

Example - my scubpro glidestar is a great BCD, however it has very small side pockets, basically because it is extra small size for women, the mens versions have HUGE pockets. Anyway, its the only downside for me as it means I cannot get all the instructor / diveleader junk in my pockets - spare mask, slates, bits and bobs. It's not a deal breaker, but whenever I need to replace it I will probably look for something with bigger pockets.

My husband's BCD is an Aqualung pro qd and it is very robust - three years of daily diving and counting.

Regs, we use aqualung for ourselves, titan for me, legend for him.

Suits - whatever type of suit you need for your diving, as an instructor you are probably going to spend most of your day in the water - especially if working at a resort. A poor fit means that you will be cold, no fun. So if you are a funny shape or feel the cold - or like me are both - go for made to measure, it might be a bit more than off the peg, but it is worth it to stay warm.

Those be my wise dive thoughts for the day.