Gear, math and complete kits
Build your dive kit the right way
Complete scuba setups you can buy line by line, the dive planning math written out so you can check it, and the reference tables you actually want on a boat deck. Researched against published specifications and verified owner reviews, never tested in person, and never a substitute for the training.
- Pages
- 139
- Computers indexed
- 50
- Calculators
- 6
- Complete kits
- 3
Read this before you use anything on this site
These calculators are for planning and education only. They are not a substitute for certified dive training, published dive tables, or a dive computer. Always dive within the limits of your certification and verify every plan with your own computer and a qualified instructor or divemaster.
No calculator output on this site is a dive plan. It is arithmetic a trained diver can check, meant to make the numbers on your computer legible before you get in the water. Where a topic cannot be covered responsibly for a general audience, such as decompression diving or cave and wreck penetration, we explain what it is and point you at a course rather than publishing procedures. More on the safety disclaimer page.
Start with the dive computer
It is the one piece of gear every recreational agency tells a diver to own personally rather than rent, because it tracks your own depth and time profile across your own dives. It is also the largest single decision in every build on this site.
Where to go
- Complete setupsThree complete dive kits at rising budgets, every item priced and linked, with a real running total. Buy a list and you can turn up to a dive. Open →
- Dive planning calculatorsSAC rate, nitrox MOD, equivalent air depth, rock bottom gas planning, weighting and wetsuit thickness. Planning and education tools, never a dive plan. Open →
- Dive computer specificationsSpecifications for 50 dive computers: algorithm, nitrox ceiling, air integration, display, battery and price band. Open →
- Gear picks by tierComputers, regulators, BCDs, masks, fins, suits and the rest, presented at beginner, intermediate and expert tiers rather than as one flat list. Open →
- GuidesHow to choose each piece of gear, how air consumption works, how to weight yourself, and where this site stops and formal training starts. Open →
- Charts and referenceNitrox MOD by mix, no-decompression limits, wetsuit thickness by temperature, cylinder specifications, weighting starting points and hand signals. Open →
- Head to headJacket versus back inflate, nitrox versus air, wetsuit versus drysuit, aluminium versus steel, and the algorithm question underneath all of it. Open →
The planning calculators
Every one of these carries the safety disclaimer in full, because dive planning math is life-safety territory. They are teaching tools that show their working, not planners.
- Equivalent Air Depth Calculator for NitroxFree equivalent air depth calculator. Enter your nitrox mix and planned depth to see the equivalent air depth... Open →
- Gas Planning Calculator: Rock Bottom and Turn PressureFree scuba gas planning calculator. Work out your rock bottom reserve and turn pressure from depth, cylinder... Open →
- Nitrox MOD Calculator: Maximum Operating DepthFree nitrox MOD calculator. Enter your oxygen fraction and partial pressure limit to get the maximum... Open →
- SAC Rate Calculator: Surface Air ConsumptionFree SAC rate calculator for scuba diving. Enter start and end pressure, dive time and average depth to get... Open →
- Scuba Weight Calculator: How Much Lead Do You Need?Scuba weighting calculator by body weight, exposure suit, water type and cylinder. Get a starting lead figure... Open →
- Wetsuit Thickness Calculator for Scuba DivingWetsuit thickness calculator by water temperature, dive length and repetitive dives. Get a millimetre... Open →
What does a complete scuba kit cost?
| Build | Total | Items | Water | Who it is for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beginner | $1,767.77 | 17 | 73 F and warmer | A newly certified diver who wants to stop renting the fit items |
| Intermediate | $3,069.54 | 22 | 66 F and warmer | A diver past fifty dives who would rather buy three things once |
| Expert | $7,630.13 | 31 | 55 F and warmer | A diver who dives most weekends, dives cold, and has found the limits of a mid range kit |
Read that by the water column first. Water temperature decides more of a dive kit than budget does: the exposure suit, the regulator's cold water rating, the amount of lead you carry and even the fins all follow from it. A diver doing three tropical trips a year is correctly served by the beginner build, and the expert build would hand them a stiff technical fin they cannot use.
The numbers this site is built on
| Quantity | Formula | Worked example |
|---|---|---|
| Ambient pressure | ata = depth in fsw / 33 + 1 | 99 ft = 4.00 ata |
| Maximum operating depth | MOD (fsw) = 33 x (ppO2max / FO2 - 1) | EAN32 at 1.4 = 111 ft |
| Equivalent air depth | EAD (fsw) = ((1 - FO2) x (depth + 33) / 0.79) - 33 | EAN32 at 100 ft = 81.5 ft |
| Surface air consumption | SAC = (psi used / min) / ((avg depth / 33) + 1) | 2,000 psi, 40 min, 50 ft = 19.9 psi/min |
| Respiratory minute volume | RMV = SAC x (cylinder cu ft / service psi) | 19.9 in an AL80 = 0.51 cu ft/min |
Two of those carry a warning. MOD is an oxygen limit and EAD is a nitrogen calculation, so a nitrox dive is only planned when you have both. And RMV travels between cylinders while SAC does not, which is why every gas figure on this site is converted to volume before it is used for anything.
How this site works
We compare published manufacturer specifications, published training agency standards and verified owner reviews across retailers. We do not test gear in person, and we say so on every page rather than implying otherwise. Every depth rating, cylinder capacity and algorithm name quoted here is the manufacturer's published figure unless we say otherwise, and where a figure could not be confirmed, the row is left out rather than guessed at.
A great deal of serious dive gear is sold through dive shops only, by design, so that the buyer gets a fit check and an annual service relationship out of the sale. Where that is true we link to a scoped search rather than pretending a single listing exists. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases, which is set out in full on the affiliate disclosure.
Above all: gear is not a substitute for training. A dive computer does not make a diver safe, a course does, and nothing on this site extends the limits of your certification.