Should I just hire?

[applepie]

yup most dive kit is low maintenance except regs and tanks.

i would assume you are a recreational diver as opposed to a techy diver so its actually quite cheap to get a good decent set of kit. Its not as expensive as alot of people make it out to be, especially with marketing hype about the new uber sleek XYZ when a £10 old tried and tested one will do.

personally for 20 dives a year, wont bother buying a tank.

regs and a nice suit will do.

good wetsuit nowadays are dirt cheap new (£120+). As a sidenote re: cleaning rented suits, there was a study on bacterial growth on wetsuits and err the conclusion was rather disgusting.

if a cheap no frills BC comes on the market they are worth it, my old mares vector (cost me £85 2nd hand), 8yrs old still going strong. better than most new bloomin bcs with more stuff on it than an Xmas tree.

[Chris W]

I'll never look at hire kit the same way again

I'm going to see how much I can pick up two sets of Regs and a couple of BC's for, Second hand. I'll see about wet suits just before our jollies next year and hire a semi until late next year.

I'm honestly not bothered about fancy kit - the best BC I've used was on my OW course in the pool. It was obviousely old and used but it was comfortable and easy to use.

Apparently I've used some really snazzy regs but I've never been able to tell the difference. The type of diving I intend to do (30M max and not in very cold conditions) as long as they are reliable I can't see it making a difference- The Apex TX40 is the one I'm going to keep an eye out for......

Thanks for all your help and advice it's really helped.

[Chris W]

Just wanted to say thanks for the advice,

I've picked up a couple of BC's today for us.

Wifey ended up with a 2nd Hand Seaquest Diva Lx and I've got a new Seaquest Latitiude - not fancy, it's the one I used on my OW and I like it though.

Regs and suits will have to wait until next year but we're getting there