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Tec Kit - suggestions

4K views 39 replies 22 participants last post by  TerryH 
#1 ·
Hiya all,

i am looking at going tech and would like some suggestions on kit purchase and configuration please.

i.e is single bladder ok or should it be double ???

Very new to the tech side but would like to get into the tech side as my recreational diving has reached its peak, i am MSDT with PADI and would like to eventually get into the tech instruction aswell.

Thanks all for your suggestions in advance

Julian
 
#2 ·
Julian,

Your best option would be to get yourself on a twinset familiarisation course. Mark Powell of this ere parish runs a very good day and will bring along a whole bunch of kit (wings / Backplates etc) to let you try.

Buying the wrong kit now could prove to be a very expensive mistake.:frown:


HTH


John
 
#3 ·
What he said.

Personally I like the Frog Midnight wing, pretty much any 2mm SS B/P and Apeks DS4/Tx50 regs. Salvo 21W 9ah primary light for when the budget can stretch to it and a couple of decent 3C backup lights until then. That's just my 2p.
 
#5 ·
Tec Kit

Make sure that you speak to somebody that knows what they are talking about, Mark Powell, Clare or John kendall will give you some excellent advice.

Personally I look like an advert for Halcyon but I love their kit.

Salvo's are brilliant in all senses of the word and difficult to beat. If your at one of the dive sites such as Vobster,NDC or Stoney normally there are some YD's about to get some views from on different types of kit.

Alternatively if your near the wonderful Wraysbury on a wednesday there are lots of people around to check out different types of kit.

300bar twins - don't think so !!! Only if your superman
 
#7 ·
It's a great question but one which is unlikely to solicit a straight forward answer.

There are a number of route to technical diving and each has its detractors and its supporters. Each route also seems to have its own particular kit configuration / "fashion".

A number of choices await you....OC or RB? Uprights, inverts, independents, Trimix or air, hog looped or stuffed long hose, stages to one side or bi-lateral, etc etc etc

DIR is probably the most stringent where kit and procedures are most tightly coupled.

A good place to start, inmy opinion, would be to read the Fundamentals of Better Diving by Jarrod Jablonski and see how much of what he has to say resonates with your own thinking.

Also have a chat with the Instructors mentioned to get further advice.

HTH
Mal
 
#10 ·
Very new to the tech side but would like to get into the tech side as my recreational diving has reached its peak, i am MSDT with PADI and would like to eventually get into the tech instruction aswell.
Hi Julian,

None of the replies so far has asked a crucial question, which is "Why?"

You say your "recreational diving has reached its peak", yet you don't say what you want to do or see next. Are your qualifications actually restricting your diving? Are there wrecks you really want to see that are in the trimix range? Do you want to go bubble-free to get closer to wildlife?

Please pause before "going tech". Think very hard about WHY you want to do it, then decide on the path you want travel.

Personally, I'm interested in why you want to be a tech instructor as it's no better an earner than recreational. Any tech instructor I've been taught by has been a diver who wanted to explore, then, after a LOT of experience, decided to try and earn a crust by teaching what they love. As a potential student I'd almost certainly reject outright any instructor if I found out they went tech simply to instruct.

Why not just go diving and carry on until there's something you really want to see? THEN mortgage your soul to the god of helium.

Regards,

Mark

PS. You've not fully absorbed the PADI system yet. I recall that CD is the pinnacle of recreational diving...
 
#22 ·
Hi Julian,

None of the replies so far has asked a crucial question, which is "Why?"


PS. You've not fully absorbed the PADI system yet. I recall that CD is the pinnacle of recreational diving...
Mark & All,

Thank you for your responses, far to much to take in in one go. Yes i agree the pinnacle of PADI System is CD, but i don't think that CD is where i want to go, my plans at the moment are to continue my work in this country (I run an IT company) for a few years then teach abroad. CD in my opinion is something that experience in diving and teaching will get me closer to in a few more years.

At the moment i am looking down the technical route firstly because i want to know that i am safe and happy at depth in the UK and abroad, and feel that twinsets will give me this, as opposed to 15 and pony. Secondly, the technical side will give me more knowledge and more experience of diving, yes i would like to go further and go on to trimix etc, rebreathers at this moment in time worry me, this is me being truley honest and i realise that i will get a lot of flack from some of you guys but its my comfort zone that i need to consider when i am diving, if i am uncomfortable, then the dive doesn't go well and mistakes can be made.

The Instructor level of this won't be straight away, in my opinion i will certainly need a lot of dives and a lot more experience in this to go for the instructor rating. The reason for instructor, because i want to show myself that i am capable of using and teaching this to others, and that at the moment i own a property in Malta which looks like the first stop on my teaching career abroad, and of course they have deep dives there so an instructor rating in Tech Deep etc would give me a better standing to obtaining work.

This is a new way of diving for me and i will certainly be looking at doing the twinset speciality or familiarisation before purchasing any kit just wanted some advise and some kits confirgurations to see.

Again guys & gals thanks a lot for this and Safe and Happy Diving :)

Julian
 
#11 ·
This is something that I have been thinking about too so reading the replies with interest. Just had a look for the book you mention by Jarrod Jablonski. Would like to have a read, does anyone know where I can get a copy. I usualy head straight for Amazon but it seems a little expensive there - $182 PLUS $3.99 postage! :sad:

Anyone want to lend me a copy!? :teeth:
 
#13 ·
Oh come on get a decent book heres some

Mixed Gas Diving by Tom Mount and Bret Gilliam
Technical Diving from the Bottom Up by Kevin Gurr
Introduction to Technical Diving by Rob Palmer

Graham
 
#25 · (Edited by Moderator)
If you plan to progress within the PADI system you should seriously consider the DSAT Tec courses. The course materials are way ahead of any others and having taught IANTD the teaching is excellent too.
Oh yeah - that really well thought out training route complete with the pre-requisite course including a 50m air dive? Remind me does that come with a lobotomy speciality or is that extra? :rolleyes:

PADI does Tec about as well as my Grandmother plays rugby (she's dead BTW).
 
#33 ·
Great comeback :rolleyes:
 
#38 ·
go for a twin bladder then u wont have to replace it as u get more involved in the tec side of things (also its comforting to know theres a back up bladder to lift all that weight)
And on the flip side you've got another failure point in return for functionality that many would say is unnecessary. There are advocates of both approaches...
 
#40 ·
Very new to the tech side but would like to get into the tech side as my recreational diving has reached its peak, i am MSDT with PADI and would like to eventually get into the tech instruction aswell.

Thanks all for your suggestions in advance

You are already a diver/MSDT and are well within your comfort zone with
your present kit. So why attempt to break out of that by changing both kit
and the way you dive in one hit?

Even if your computer goes into the deco, that's not planned deco. So i'd
get myself on a decent Deco/Nitrox course, like TDI.

That's using the same kit as what you have now, but using it as an
introduction to the planning techniques of tech. That opens up a whole
new world and some new dive sites, that may neccessitate more gas and
only then when ready, do you move onto twins etc.

Let your diving dictate what kit you buy, not what's the flavour of the
month.

Some of the courses around are fine, but without naming names, you
really have to think what level of diver, they are pitched at. For some
it's money well spent, for others a lot of dosh for very little learnt.
Well worth checking out the syllabus before you hand over a wedge that
would be better spent going diving.

Just because a course is good, doesnt mean it's good for you.
 
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