Gearing Up

We rented our gear all through last season, my wife and I figure it's
time to take the plunge and buy. I have to say that trying out various
rental brands didn't result in any obvious preferences-- with the
exception of the regs in Mexico that had chewed up mouthpieces (yuk!)
the various brands all seemed to work fine. Since we have no ambitions
to do any deep or venturesome diving, we're going to keep it pretty
simple. Low end Aqua Lung Calypso regs, depth gauge instead of
computer, whatever wet suits that fit... though that extra-stretchy
neoprene kind is tempting to those of us who don't look like the models
in the catalogue. As for back-inflation versus jacket style BCs, it
seems to be six of one half a dozen of t'other. We are going to buy the
gear through the local shop. The internet would be cheaper, but then if
the local shop folds, we're not gonna be able to get air fills online.