Dive Gear for Your Budget

Scuba diving is a fantastic activity and in many cases people are just looking to take a PADI course so that they can enjoy some diving on their vacation, but before they know it they're hooked! After this point you begin to realize it's just not financially viable to keep renting gear every time you plan on heading out on a dive, though scuba diving equipment, as with most enjoyable activities, isn't exactly cheap.

As you mature as a diver and take on different disciplins and explore new opportunities, you will customize your diving gear. Whether you decide to spend more time on cave diving, deep diving, ice diving or wreck diving - all of these will require some extra equipment or differences in the equipment used.

As not everyone has the funds to buy the best of the best, we'll take a look at the best you can get for certain disciplins for your budget, looking at the gear with the best customer reviews. This will include all the dive gear you should need. As you dive more you can look into widening your budget and upgrading your gear. Hopefully it can give you an idea of some options for gear you're looking to buy or upgrade.

In some cases you will notice that the product listed may be different to the product you desire, such as the thickness of wetsuits or the size of tanks, these are merely suggestions. To view more information on the product you can follow the link on each item.

Low Price Scuba Diving Gear

BCD : Cressi Back Jac BCD - $380
Computer : Mares Puck Wrist Computer - $288
Fins : Oceanic Viper Open Heel Fins - $80
Gauge : Mares Mission 1 Compact Pressure Gauge - $114
Mask : Oceanic Shadow Single Window Mask - $75
Octopus : Cressi XS Octopus - $75
Regulator : Genesis "GS2000" Regulator - $239
Snorkel : Aqua Lung Impulse Dry Flex Snorkel - $25
Tank : Catalina 80 Cubic Aluminum Tank with Pro Valve - $150
Weights : Xs-Scuba Quick-Attach Single Weight Pockets - $10 each
Knife : Tusa Mini BCD Knife, Blunt Tip - $22
Wetsuits : Pinnacle Merino-Elastiprene 3mm Jumpsuit Mens - $260
Gloves : Henderson 3mm Titanium Hyperstretch Pull-On Glove - $26
Boots : Blue Reef 3mm Men's Neoprene Sock, Tall - $17

Total : $1700 - $2000

Mid-Range Budget Scuba Gear

BCD : Zeagle Stiletto BCD with the Ripcord Weight System - $500
Computer : Mares Nemo Wide Wrist Computer - $500
Fins : Mares X-Stream Open Heel Fins - $190
Gauge : Suunto "Vyper" Air/Nitrox 2 Gauge Computer Console - $400
Mask : Atomic Aquatics Frameless Mask - $100
Octopus : Mares Proton Metal Octopus - $258
Regulator : Mares Proton 42 Metal Regulator - $570
Snorkel : Aeris Cuda Dry Snorkel - $45
Tank : XS Scuba Worthington Cylinders HP Steel 3442 psi. - $350
Weights : Pinnacle Comfo Belt - $40
Boots : Seasoft Sunrays 3mm Low Cut Boots with Zipper - $60
Wetsuits : Pinnacle Merino-Elastiprene 5mm Jumpsuit Mens - $300
Gloves : XS Scuba Dry Five Pyrostretch 5mm Gloves - $54
Knife : Blue Reef Deluxe 5" Titanium Knife, Blunt - $75

Total : $3000 - $3500

Top End Budget Scuba Gear

BCD : Zeagle Ranger BCD with Ripcord Weight System, Black - $630
Computer : Suunto "D9" Hoseless Air/Nitrox Wrist Computer with Transmitter - $1550
Fins : Apollo Bio Fins Pro C-Series - with Stainless steel fin strap - $200
Gauge : Cressi Archimede II 3 Gauge Computer Console - $470
Mask : Apollo Bio-Metal Mask (All Black) - $105
Octopus : Mares Proton Metal Octopus - $260
Regulator : Scubapro MK25T/S600T Titanium Regulator - $1200
Snorkel : Aeris Cuda Dry Snorkel - $45
Tank : XS Scuba Worthington Cylinders HP Steel 3442 psi. - $350
Weights : Pinnacle Comfo Belt - $40
Knife : Blue Reef Deluxe 5" Titanium Knife, Blunt - $75
Wetsuits : Pinnacle Merino-Elastiprene 5mm Jumpsuit Mens - $300
Boots : Henderson H2 5mm No Zip Boot - $80
Gloves : XS Scuba Dry Five Pyrostretch 5mm Gloves - $55

Total : $5000 - $5500

While those are the general essential scuba diving gear items you'll be needing, there are many more extras that you may be interested in, depending on which area of scuba diving you plan to specialize in.

Below we will look at some of the equipment you may want to look at if you specialize in any particular type of diving, again these are listed with their price as well as being top rated products.

Cave, Wreck and Night Divers

Nite Rider Black Water 3000 Light - $450

Princeton Tec, NEW 337 Lumens Miniwave LED - $110

Underwater Photography

Aquapac Waterproof SLR Camera Case with Hard Lens - $110

Ikelite DS161 Strobe Package with Manual Controller for Ikelite Housings - $1300