Diver Equipment Advice Please

[subzero]

Hello to you guys
I am about to take up diving and wondered if someone would be so kind and give me a complete list of equipment I would need to start the PADI Open Water Course, I don't want to hire.

I don’t have lots of cash and will need to purchase the equipment over a few months, (its bad timing on my part as the wife is expecting twins very soon) even so I have decided to go ahead and get things ready?
I don’t want to buy something that’s going to conk-out after 6 months or cost me an arm and a leg or make me look even more stupid than I already am. Maybe I could buy some of the equipment from eBay, second-hand (BCD) or is that a big no no???? The type of diving I believe I will mainly do will be in the UK on PADI courses but as my wife is Thai I hope to be able to use my equipment in Thailand. Any advice on prices, keeping the cost down and what I need would be a great. I am doing my own homework but just hoped you experts wouldn’t mind giving me your thoughts?

Best Regards,

SubZero

[Jack]

Originally Posted by subzero

Hello to you guys
I am about to take up diving and wondered if someone would be so kind and give me a complete list of equipment I would need to start the PADI Open Water Course, I don't want to hire.

Hire is just what you do want to do.
There are hundreds of manufacturers making thousands of items and we can't just say "This one will be the best for you". To put it bluntly hire equipment to go diving until you know what you don't like and then you'll be starting to know enough to buy something that suits you.

I am now on my third total revision of kit and I'm well satisfied that what I have will cover the diving I want to do for a good few years. Would it suit you? I'd say categorically no. It suits me and I don't think you are me, I don't know if you want to dive the sort of things I want to dive and the places I want to dive. There is no standard diver - you are going to gain skills to allow you to go safely into a new realm and you will discover what interests you there and equip yourself to do it.

Welcome to diving.

[Sharky1973]

I agree jack
The worse thing you can do is rush out and buy a load of what will be the
wrong gear.

Just to give you an idea of the minefield you are entering.

Are you gonna be a warm or cold water diver?
Don’t bother answering cause you don’t know yet
Ok that will be either £150 or £300, with just about 50% more for almost
every item.

[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']Don’t know why the difference? Well that's why you need to do the course[/font]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']get some dives in and then (and only then) start forming an idea.[/font]

[Helena1982]

All wise words
you wouldn't buy a car without a test drive would you?

Here is a dead simple example
warm water e.g. Red sea July = 3mm shortie wetsuit, a cheap one will cost you £50
UK most of the year = Dry suit, a good one will cost £600+

Hire the kit from your local dive centre and build up your own kit slowly, EBay is OK but buyer beware. Remember you can't try stuff on for size and for stuff like regs you must have them serviced before use. This will cost about £70 depending on the regs.

Welcome to the world of diving and long may your shiny bits glisten
__________________
Breathe deep and dive shallow
or better still grow gills and head for the abyss

[Jack]

Originally Posted by Helena1982

All wise words
you wouldn't buy a car without a test drive would you?

Here is a dead simple example
warm water e.g. Red sea July = 3mm shortie wetsuit, a cheap one will cost you £50
UK most of the year = Dry suit, a good one will cost £600+

Hire the kit from your local dive centre and build up your own kit slowly, EBay is OK but buyer beware. Remember you can't try stuff on for size and for stuff like regs you must have them serviced before use. This will cost about £70 depending on the regs.

Welcome to the world of diving and long may your shiny bits glisten
__________________
Breathe deep and dive shallow
or better still grow gills and head for the abyss

Here's an idea....

Hire get some experience of kit and research and decide what you want, then, (and only then) think about ebay. If you know what you are after and that it's right for you, there's no reason why you have to buy brand new, with the exception of wettie/drysuit and even then, with the latter anyway, you may well get away with new seals and it's good as new. And if you get something off eBay and it's not quite what you wanted, you can just put it back on there.

[subzero]

Hi Guys,

To start off, thank you for taking the time to answer my questions.

I do agree with what has been advised so far, but.

I know there are hundreds of manufacturers making thousands of items (which is the problem, too much choice) and you can't just say which one will be the best for me.

I was hoping to get an idea from you on what equipment was the best with value for money and practical, I don’t want to end up buying something with lots of bells and whistles that a diver will not use in the real world. If someone suggested a certain item that was good then I would go and check it out to see if it would suit me. I will hire for Open Water and maybe Advanced Open Water where I will also put these same questions to other divers I meet, but I don’t want to hire indefinitely or as you say rush out buying the wrong gear. I have a PADI school in mind local to me where I imagine I will be bombard with information; I want to be a little bit more clued up than I am now. Your advice here is the start of me building my diving knowledge before I commit.

I know that it would be a good idea for me to buy small personal diving items, such as a mask, snorkel, fins and boots and will need to try these first to see what I like, but what are your expert recommendations on these items.

As for warm or cold water I thought I’d explained that most of my diving will be in the UK, very cold water I’d imagine but also hoped to use my equipment in Thailand, warm water. I don’t even know if there are any restrictions on what dive equipment I can or can not take on the plane?


Once again guys thank you, thank you, thank you.[/font]

[BigBen]

Originally Posted by subzero

Hi Guys,

To start off, thank you for taking the time to answer my questions.

I know that it would be a good idea for me to buy small personal diving items, such as a mask, snorkel, fins and boots and will need to try these first to see what I like, but what are your expert recommendations on these items.

It's worth getting your own mask as fit is important. Any one that fits regardless of price will do the job fine. I like the ones with a good field of view and low volume but it is a personal thing. Once again fit is the important thing

Snorkel is useful for snorkeling and is a requirement on PADI courses (IIRC) but no use when diving so just get a cheap one.

Boots are much the same, just try some on and see what fits. I had some nice Mares ones until I left them in the dunk tank.

Fins - I'd just borrow some for now and try a few different ones out. Subzero you don't need to spend very much but some people love their £100+ fins.

[Dragonfire]

I agree with the other posts on this - but Mask, Snorkel and Fins (inc boots) are well worth getting.

Masks - You have to try these to get the right one; it's all down to face shape and also the type of mask you want. I like the big eye masks, not too fussed about volume - but you need to try a few and find the best fit.

Snorkel - agree with the previous post - but forget about the self draining etc.... in my opinion the simple tube type are the best for snorkeling as they are much easier to clear when you surface.

Fins - I think generally consensus on the best fins are generally the Mares Avanti fins (or the avanti quattros for a bit more) they came out well in performance testing and seem popular amongst divers.

Enjoy your OWD - It's simply an awesome sport and is the best think I've ever learned to do (well apart from the obvious )