Diving Gear Advice please

Keith S. wrote:

> Your best bet is to get her to ask advice from those training her.
> Then buy stuff from a reputable dive shop - Lidl is cheap so
> be careful unless you know what's good and what isn't. Remember
> this is life support equipment so skimping really isn't a good idea.

I'd have to go with Keith on this one. Diving can be quite safe, but
your life (and that of others) may depend on the quality of the
equipment you are using.

/m

Pete Melbourne <psmvsl@yahoo.com> lovingly inscribed in
news:u12eb15g3d8496vvf0qnea6q28f5i41ecu@4ax.com:


>
> Torch - forget it, only rated to 30m so it's quality is not going to
> be good
>


These were the only things left in my local branch this evening, apart from
kids' snorkelling sets.

For £6.99 it's ok to stick in your BCD pocket as a spare, or use as a
spotting light for a camera - you get two small tubes of silicon grease
with it, as well as a set of batteries, and for that price can almost be
considered as a throwaway item.

OK it's only rated to 30m, but for my first trip to Sharm I had a cheap
film camera and housing that was only rated to 15m, but it survived and
worked quite happily at nearly 30m on the Thistlegorm, so I suspect the
torch would be OK deeper for peering into crevices.


Chris Q

celiaday@blueyonder.co.uk wrote:
> I need some expert advice please. My daughter (25) is starting diving
> lessons next month. I notice that Lidl have lots of equipment and wet
> suits from next Monday. Please can anyone tell me if they would be
> suitable i.e. good quality and Ok for a beginner. Also she is a big
> girl - size 18 ish so would if be OK to buy her a man's large or are
> there differences which would make this unacceptable. There are boots,
> fins, torch, rattle, mask, packsack, signal light, and short and long
> suits. Should i buy it all?

I bought the mask, fins and strobe light as spares. The mask fits me
but as
others have pointed out, you need to check this otherwise it doesn't
matter
what it costs it'll be useless or worse than useless for a beginner. I
have
a snorkle (which I never use) so I didn't buy that but quality isn't
much of
an issue for snorkles so you'd definitely save a few quid buying the
LIDL
one. Initial impressions of the fins are that they seem fine to me but
then
again I use (and am used to) low-tech stiff fins.

I also bought the wetsuit, shorty, gloves and booties but I have a use
for
them for other things besides diving (surfing, swimming, dinghy
sailing).
If I go diving abroad in warm water, I'll use 'em and I'll give them a
go
here in the sea after July. These are all only 3mm of neoprene which
is
too thin for regular diving in the North Atlantic.

Having made all those qualifications, you're not making a big mistake
buying
pretty much everything. The entire package will cost you around 100
quid
which is amazing value really; you could spend the same just getting a
mask
and fins. Even if your daughter only gets a single use out of some the
stuff
for diving, she'll learn alot and will know what to look for when she
next
goes shopping. You'll probably find other uses for the neoprene gear
if
anyone in the family has any interest in other water sports or even
swimming
in the sea out of season.

Chris Quinn wrote:
> Pete Melbourne <psmvsl@yahoo.com> lovingly inscribed in
> news:u12eb15g3d8496vvf0qnea6q28f5i41ecu@4ax.com:
>
>
>
>>Torch - forget it, only rated to 30m so it's quality is not going to
>>be good
>>
>
>
>
> These were the only things left in my local branch this evening, apart from
> kids' snorkelling sets.
>
> For £6.99 it's ok to stick in your BCD pocket as a spare, or use as a
> spotting light for a camera - you get two small tubes of silicon grease
> with it, as well as a set of batteries, and for that price can almost be
> considered as a throwaway item.

Hmm, personally I'd spend the extra tenner to get a Lumen 6 which is
rated to 120m. I guess if it's not safety critical then the cheap one is
OK - as long as you're never tempted to use it as a backup lamp on a
night dive.

> OK it's only rated to 30m, but for my first trip to Sharm I had a cheap
> film camera and housing that was only rated to 15m, but it survived and
> worked quite happily at nearly 30m on the Thistlegorm, so I suspect the
> torch would be OK deeper for peering into crevices.