Also, if you want to "try before you buy", let me know. As Tom said, definately try something at least a few times before you buy one, otherwise you'll find yourself in my situation. I own 2-3 of EVERYTHING, but I really only have one set of gear I find myself using on a regular basis. And I haven't been into the diving/spearing thing that long either.
Here's my "short list" of what I'd be looking for, but bear in mind that you shouldn't buy any of them until you've tried them:
1) reg setup with a 300 bar DIN first stage. The yoke adapter is only $25 or less. This way you can use any tank out there.
2) Back inflated BC. I prefer a backplate and wings, but I have a Zeagle back inflate BC that is nice for warm water (t-shirt and shorts) diving as well. You can put together a nice backplate and wings setup for under $250.
3) 48" or 52" sea hornet spear gun with a commercial muzzle. I can't stress the commercial muzzle enough. It doesn't cost that much more, and you can find them used fairly easily.
4) Line shafts and free shafts can be had from Ray Odor (spearfishing.cc) for a fraction of what you'd pay locally. Based on recommendations from far more experience spearfishers I switched to using shafts that are 6" longer than the normal shaft for my gun, and have been very happy with the results. (e.g. a 48" gun normally uses a 54" shaft, so I use 60 and 66" shafts in mine) Better accuracy and more knockdown power.
5) Commercial line rigging. Don't waste your time with the normal rigging on a non-commercial gun. Sure, you get another 6-8' of range with a non-commercial setup, but at that distance a line-shaft isn't accurate enough to make it worthwhile. (The exception being a high-end lineshaft gun like a Riffe.)
6) A cheap knife or kill spike for dispatching fish, and a Z-knife or shears on your harness as your actual "cutting myself out of stuff" tool. Any knife you use for dispatching fish is likely to get lost easily, so don't use an expensive one.
7) A powerhead that you know works. I have two cheap powerheads, and I haven't been able to get either to actually detonate. I have a good one on order right now.
Those are the main things "off the top of my head." There are lots of other things I could list, but most would be specific to the type of diving you do.
So, here's a list of things that I'd be willing to loan out, if you want to try them:
Large Zeagle Scout BC, size large (I'm 6'1, 250lbs, fits me comfortable, but it will scale up or down a *lot* in either direction)
Pros: back inflated, very streamlined, very comfortable, integrated weights
Cons: no pockets to speak of, limited number of D-rings
48" Sea hornet
Pros: good all-around gun
Cons: non-commercial muzzle, non-commercial line rigging
Steel HP 120 tanks
Pros: Great buoyancy characteristics, lots of gas
Cons: Requires a 300 bar DIN regulator
Steel backplate and 40 LB Diverite Rec wing
Pros: Could go on for hours, awesome setup all around
Cons: Stupid overpressure valve is currently malfunctioning, getting ready to send back to Diverite.
Diverite RG2000 open water regulator setup
Pros: breaths incredibly well, bulletproof design, 300 bar DIN with yoke adapter, works with any tank made.
Cons: none
Scubapro split fins (for size 10-12 feet)
Pros: great for spearfishing and flutter kicks
Cons: suck horribly for frog kicking, and useless in a cave (but hey, you said you wanted to spear, heheh)
IDI power fins (similar to scubapro jet fins, also for size 10-12 feet)
Pros: Good all-around fin, and have spring heel straps, very comfortable
Cons: Not the best fin for flutter kicks, but tolerable
I also have SP jet fins with spring straps, but they aren't getting loaned out.
This is just a list of my semi-surplus open water gear. Some of it I still use on a regular basis, so the offer to loan is contingent on whether or not I'm using it that weekend. Since I'm cave diving most weekends lately, it should all be available most weekends. If you're looking at getting into technical diving, let me know. I also have stage bottles, stage regs, etc.
Wil
