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Yes, I've had a Suunto Ocean for about 4 days now and I'll make a video on it for next week. I'd recommend your own computer over regs or a BCD. But I wouldn't worry too much about getting your own dive computer for Open Water. It'll be cool to have your own and get used to it from the start. But you'll be focusing on your skills and buoyancy at the start.

Probably next week, I've had one for 4 days now and it's a very nice machine.

I think I salvaged them from an old bag that was falling apart. I kept the zipper pulls because they seemed handy. You'll probably be able to find some online

Yes, chlorinated water can damage your equipment after repeated and extended exposure. The chlorine and any other pool chemicals can degrade certain parts of the BCD and discolour and harden them. This takes a long time depending on how much chemical is in the water but, I would still wash my gear in soapy fresh water after a pool dive to wash off any chlorine and maximise the lifetime of my gear.

Thanks appreciate the advise

I know Nammu Tech make something similar. If you have access to a 3D printer and the know-how I imagine it would be easy to make something like this. The DIY QR fitting that I've used before involves an O-ring looped over the eye of the boltsnap and zip-tied around the hose. It hold the 2nd stage in place but a strong yank will break the O-ring and the 2nd stage will come free. I made a video how to do it here: ruclips.net/video/O6ZbaVZW2Vc/видео.htmlsi=xfbJvcIHXrH7PRv8&t=344

Were they Lemon Sharks?

Nope. But I haven't been on a shark-feeding dive which may have stricter dress codes. Even on dives in shark territory I've never been asked to leave brightly coloured gear behind

They do two sizes, this is the larger of the two sizes but XDEEP make a smaller backplate for divers shorter than 175cm/5'9. The design is much the same just a little shorter

It's good to have your BCD inspected and serviced at least once a year. Most inflators can be serviced and replace any worn O-rings. If your BCD has a K style inflator and you're fairly tool savvy then it's something you can do yourself. If you're ever unsure though you can always take your BCD in to your LDC and they can service it for you. Some inflators require special tools and some are non-repairable so, once they're faulty you replace the whole inflator assembly. I made a video about disassembling a K-style inflator here: ruclips.net/video/I9ph2x03QNg/видео.html

Thanks a lot! I bought XDeep Zeos BCD after you reviewed it, and I found it very comfort and proffessional BCD.

My first thought is something called BioSeal. It's a very soft rubbery collar that sits under your wrist seal. Because it's so soft it molds to the contours of your wrist and fills those gaps. Otherwise dry gloves may be an option. A dry glove system will keep water away from the seal and keep your hands warm

We've seen recreational rebreathers before. I added up the costs of a full twinset and a SCR when the Hollis Explorer was released and they were comparable for the unit itself. Most new divers weigh up the cost of buying their own mask though, and it's a long time before they buy a regulator. I don't think you'll find many new divers who will buy their own rebreather so, they'll need to rent wherever they go. The problem comes that most divers don't seem to like change. Unless training agencies can make rebreathers standard for new divers, they will only appeal to a very small demographic. If you go to a random dive center anywhere in the world, you'll be taught open circuit. Every Instructor out there can teach open circuit and every dive center will have open circuit equipment. It will take a monumental amount of time, money and training to get enough Instructors and units out there to make them mainstream. And for established open circuit divers, if they're interested in rebreathers, they'll probably go straight to CCR. I would love to be wrong about this but, I think it will be a while before we see rebreathers as common as open circuit.

Ideally, you should get specific training because it is a new form of diving with particular procedures. As with most aspects of diving there is no "Scuba-Police" that will tell you off or prevent you from altering your equipment *but*, your chances of hurting yourself and others do increase with unfamiliar setups.

You can get small single phase 13/16A units for about £1500-2500, but you'll need somewhere to plug these in or you'll have to invest in an inverter generator to power them. Someone I dive with bought himself one, but imo you are better off joining a local club (BSAC for UK) which usually gets you an air ticket for the year in with membership. You can also get portable compressors hooked up to either a 2-stroke or 4-stroke petrol engine (lawnmower engines usually), but these come with the cost of servicing the engines. You also need to replace the filter cartridges after so many hours, typically 12. These cost about £40 a pop.

You need to weigh up the investment and running costs against the cost of your air fills. I've known divers that have a compressor and O2 built into their van so they can top up their cylinders on the go. But, I've also known divers to leave a dive site, drive to another dive center to get a cheaper fill and drive back again. What little they saved on fills they spent on fuel and time... Personally, I've never had a problem paying the small amount for an air fill, it helps the LDC a little and you need to get a lot of diving in before you start seeing any savings. One big reason why you might consider one is for remote diving. If you regularly dive far from a compressor then the fuel and time costs add up and it can be convenient to fill your own.

I think it's partially an economy of scale thing. They don't make that many of a particular model, and those parts largely have to come from the same company rather than being spread out across multiple companies all with their own specialisation and scales (eg. Bosch is a common OEM). A lot more cars and motorbikes are made and they share a lot more of the same parts which brings cost down. Also, I think some of the price is "because they can". If you're looking at an exploration grade Seacraft DPV they're gonna change exploration grade prices... Even though there are electric cars the same price!

Electronics + Moving Parts + Underwater = a real nightmare. DPVs are expensive but, I've played with enough of the cheap ones to know just how mediocre cheap ones are and how the smallest amount of water that finds it's way inside can cause chaos. You're paying for the precision engineering and materials. There is also an element of limited production numbers, they're not making 1000's of them so they can't benefit from bulk savings and that cost gets pushed onto the consumer.

There were a few reasons I stopped teaching. The first was the money and job progression. It wasn't something that I could see retiring comfortably on and if my health ever declined I would need another skill to fall back on. There is always the looming chance that something may happen to a student under your care that a court might deem your fault. There have been cases where Instructors have been with other divers who have had an accident in the water and some blame falls on their shoulders even if they did everything correctly. Now I work for Scuba Diver Magazine and I focus on creating advice videos and product reviews

Aw thank you! It really depends on your depth but, as much as possible. 5m / 15ft is where most divers send up a dSMB. The volume of the gas inside will expand by about a third from that depth so you want to fill the dSMB *about 2/3* for it to be full on the surface. The deeper you are the less you need to fill. Most dSMBs have overpressure valves anyway and any excess expansion will be vented on ascent so don't worry about putting too much in. To avoid buoyancy changes divers will often put a single breath in before letting go and topping it up on the surface if they need to. Just bear in mind that when it's on the surface some of the length will be pulled under the surface to make the buoy stand up so I like to fill it up as much as I possibly can before letting go.

As long as it's serviced regularly, a 1st or 2nd stage can last decades. End of life is when you ( or more likely your LDS) can no longer get the required spare parts. Most regulators are replaced not because they're beyond repair, but because something more fashionable is wanted!

+1 to the above. And its even more difficult to wear off the first stage. Most likely the diving tech will simply move on before you will see the first stage fail. I mean for one you can find ancient diving systems from like the Soviets that are technically still functional, its just that there is none who can service them and you cannot get any parts for it anymore, obviously, but they still work.

There are people who use first and second stages that are decades old. They can update, but they don't need to. I think there are quite old designs now that are still being sold brand new because they got the formula right and there's been no need to update...I'd argue there's no major differences between designs from the early 2000s until today so that makes them at least 20 years old already (eg. Scubapro Mk25). Having said that divers like Will/Bill Hogarth Main kept the same regulators with "old" designs and technology from the 70s up into the late 2000s even though there were newer better technology readily available. He had a obsession for having fewer "failure points" so maybe his old regs one or two less o-rings or something... But they worked and he did (maybe still does?) some fairly serious cave dives.

Yeah, as the others have said: if you look after your regulators and can get spares they can last for decades. We used to see 10-20 YO regulators come in for a service with no issues. The tricky part is when the manufacturer stops making replacement parts. AFAIK they need to continue to produce spares for 7 years after they discontinue a model, then it's down to finding a dive center that still has stock in decent conditions. A good service tech might be able to cobble-together a service kit with the right size O-rings and the right spec parts from newer models but, that can be pot-luck. Unless you feel like treating yourself to something new or your BCD/cylinder set up has changed and a different regulator design is required, I'd continue to use my regulator until I couldn't get an essential replacement part.

In my opinion, I think circular are better for trim and buoyancy. Horseshoe style wings are older and more difficult for trim.

Donuts win for me. It can be quite hard to find horseshoe wings now as their popularity has plummeted. The only benefits are that you can trap some buoyancy on one side a bit more easily to counteract stages on one side of you. And in some cases it can help prevent damage at the bottom when standing your BCD up as the bottom of your cylinders or rebreather can sit on top of the wing. Donuts tend to be the most popular now and as long as you're weighted correctly you shouldn't need too much gas in your BCD and you can always adjust the location of your lead to account for any inbalance. I also tend to use my drysuit more than my BCD underwater to adjust for buoyancy.

Thanks!

The big differences are the 1st stage and breathing adjustment. The 300 has a smaller 1st stage which is still cold-water rated but, the 1st stage on the 500 will perform better. And the 2nd stage on the 300 doesn't have a breathing adjustment knob. Not essential but, it's nice to have so that you can adjust how easy it is to inhale and open the valve.