babiofzx(Offline)

Hi All,

Glad to find this Forum. New to DIR, one of my goals this year is to build a DIR rig and dive with it in the CA Bay Area. Looking forward to future exchanges.

Cheers!

Chris Armstrong(Offline)

Welcome to the forum.

There's a lot of gear going up for sale regularly, so you should be able to find equipment that are "compliant" to the GUE training system.

How far are you in getting setup? What have you got already?

Chris

babiofzx(Offline)

Hi Chris,

Thanks for the reply.

Regarding my gear, I'm just getting started. I have the essentials, but haven't even replaced my jet fin straps with springs yet. I have done free diving from La Jolla, CA to Brookings, OR. Including some freshwater lakes and rivers over the past 20 years. I did my OW in Monterey Bay with NAUI and learned about DIR as a result of trying to find out the differences between agencies.

My local dive shop carries Dive Rite so I first started looking at those rigs.
E.g.: Ultimate Hogarthian System - Dive Gear Express $449
I'm not convinced about any one company yet and I am still trying to tease out real DIR suppliers from ones with a DIR marketing veneer.

Typical question are those such as which wing, is a single/double wing like the Rec EXP a benefit or a poor compromise between two separate wings, are people really moving away from HID cans to LED cans, if minimalism is the goal, then what am I getting for a Halcyon rig that is $300 more than the one cited above, what is the most affordable bottom timer/depth gauge and should I bother with a computer only to run it in gauge mode? These are just a few.

I'm figuring out if becoming DIR compliant incrementally makes sense or not. (What will it mean to a potential DIR buddy and what should I expect from past non-DIR buddies?) I'm sorting a list of components for purchase in my mind without respect to brand. For example: will I progress through...
*single tank, wet suit
*double tank, wet suit
*double tank, dry suit
*1, 2, or all 3 lights at once given the first 50-100 dives in the new rig would be "shallow" OW?

I plan on most dive in the next year or so being split between high altitude lakes and CA coastal dives and thinking a lot about backplate, wet/dry suit, fixed/ditchable weight decisions and so forth. I have not set a budget cap, but expect safety, enjoyment, and longevity to increase with increased $$$ spent on gear.

I'm looking forward to reading all the informative threads this message board provides.

Cheers!

Chris Armstrong(Offline)

Ok you've got a great start then!

That system looks OK for its price, its got the basic elements that you need. So in essence you could get started in GUE diving with that.

The only drawback with that will be build quality which is why Halcyon equipment has such a high price tag. I bought a Rec EXP second hand to attach to my spare twinset and I must admit that you can feel the material doesn't feel as strong, resiliant or even as well made as my Halcyon Explorer 55 (that goes on my twin-18's or 104's for you guys!)

If you want to find a true DIR retailer, look on the Halcyon website - if they are selling Halcyon they will probably know what they are talking about.

It's a bit of a compromise ... it would be ok for double tanks, but would be too much for a single tank. The GUE philosophy regarding wings is that it wraps around the tank to minimise drag, imaging how much it would wrap around a single tank would be daft. You would be much better off buying the wing that you dive the most i.e. double, and if you do the occasional single tank, you could hunt for a second hand one.

The GUE crowd are still awaiting the realease of a good enough LED light. Halcyon is bringing one out later this year so you can count on that, I have it on good authority that the LED head is equivalent to an 18W HID. And you can't tell the difference.

Quality of build - designed for purpose to name two reasons.

The DR wing is a compromise.

The Uwatec BT is pretty much the standard in the community, in the UK (rip of britain) they are new for £100, which is around $150 for you at the moment. These are rock solid, you could give them a lot of greif and they will take it. Particularly the new released one rated to 330m or 1000ft!!!!

Don't - wasting money. I started with a Suunto GEkko - I managed to get the majority of the money back on it. I used it for a while when I didn't trust myself when working out my NDL in my head, but now I can do it fine I just sold it to buy the BT. The plus with the GEkko is that you can download dive profiles from it (I got a crack which makes it think its a vyper since the gekko and vyper are identical except for the software)

OK if you're in a single tank, you can dive an aluminium cylinder with a wetsuit. If you want to dive a steel then you would have to be in a drysuit to ensured the balanced rig concept.

If you dive a double tank, in a wetsuit, you will have to be on double ally-80's for the same reason.

If you're doing shallow diving, I would highly recommend a primary HID light, and one LED back up. That way if/when you primary fails, you can switch to your back up to atleast be able to signal effectively. Then later you can buy anther back up.

Just because you change your gear won't stop you diving with current non-DIR buddies, it's just you will have to educate them in your protocols etc.

In this industry you get what you pay for, if you buy halcyon you can get expect to recieve the best quality you can imagine, with the best customer support ever. I heard about a guy who tore his wing, stopped into halcyon expecting to pay for a repair, four days later a brand new one was delivered to his house!

HTH

Chris