About ScubaSetup.com
ScubaSetup publishes researched scuba gear guidance and dive planning education, built from published manufacturer specifications, published training agency standards and verified owner reviews. We do not test gear in person and never claim to, and no calculator output on this site is a dive plan.
ScubaSetup.com exists to answer one question well: what do you actually need to dive, and what does it cost? That means complete kits priced line by line rather than lists of products, the dive planning arithmetic written out so a trained diver can check it, and the reference tables you actually want on a boat deck. It currently covers 50 dive computers, six planning calculators and three complete builds.
How is gear researched here?
We compare published manufacturer specifications, published training agency standards, and verified owner reviews across retailers. That is the whole method, and it is stated on every page rather than buried here.
What we do not do is claim to have tested gear in person. A site that says it field-tested forty dive computers is telling you a story, and in a niche where a wrong depth rating or a wrong nitrox ceiling is a safety matter rather than a shopping inconvenience, we would rather be honest about the source. Every depth rating, cylinder capacity and algorithm name quoted here is the manufacturer's published figure unless we say otherwise.
Where a figure could not be confirmed against the maker's own documentation, we leave the row out entirely rather than guessing or printing "not specified". That is why some computer pages on this site show fewer specification rows than others. On a site whose readers can check the work, a missing row is better than an invented one.
Why is the safety language on this site stronger than usual?
Because dive planning math is genuinely life-safety territory. Gas planning, nitrox partial pressure limits, weighting and ascent rate are all things a person can be injured or killed by getting wrong. The standard "researched, not professional advice" line that suits a site about aquariums or home gyms is not sufficient here.
So three rules govern everything published:
- Every calculator and every dive planning page carries the safety disclaimer in full and visibly, never collapsed behind a toggle and never in small grey type at the bottom.
- No calculator output is presented as a dive plan. It is arithmetic you can check, meant to make the numbers on your computer legible before you get in the water.
- No gear is presented as a substitute for training. A dive computer does not make a diver safe. A course does.
The full safety disclaimer sets out what that means in practice, including what to do if you disagree with a figure on this site.
What will this site never publish?
There is a deliberate editorial limit, and it is worth stating as a feature rather than as an apology. We will not publish procedures for decompression diving, technical diving, cave and wreck penetration, or solo diving. We explain what each of those is, why it needs formal training, and where to get that training, and then we stop.
The reasoning is simple. Reading a page confers no competence, and a procedure written for a general audience will inevitably be read by someone who has not been taught the failures it assumes you can handle. The technical diving page states the position in full. The same principle is why the calculators stop at recreational limits and warn when an input crosses them.
We also will not fabricate a product listing to make a page look complete, will not claim hands-on testing, and will not accept payment for a position in a roundup.
How does the site earn?
Through affiliate links, principally the Amazon Associates programme. If you buy through a link here, the retailer pays a commission at no additional cost to you, and that is what funds the research and the hosting.
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Does it cost you more? | No. The price is the same whether you use a link here or not |
| Does it change the picks? | No. Commission does not vary meaningfully by product, and several pages tell readers to buy less |
| Are any placements paid? | No. We do not sell positions in roundups or sponsored conclusions |
| Is every link an affiliate link? | No. Internal links, agency links and documentation links are not |
| Where is it disclosed? | On every page carrying commercial links, and in full on the disclosure page |
The full statement is on the affiliate disclosure page. The short version: it costs you nothing, it does not decide the picks, and pages here regularly tell readers to keep renting rather than buy.
Who is this site written for?
Certified recreational divers, from the week after an entry level course to somebody diving most weekends and thinking about what to replace. The tone assumes you can handle a formula and would rather see the working than be handed a conclusion, because that is what this audience actually is: trained people who will notice if the arithmetic is wrong.
If you are not certified yet, the most useful page here is scuba diving for beginners, and the correct first purchase is the course rather than any item on any list.
Found something wrong?
Tell us. Corrections to dive planning math go ahead of everything else in the queue, and we publish the fix rather than quietly editing it. Use the contact form and include the page, the figure and your working if you have it. Corrections to published product specifications are equally welcome, with a link to the manufacturer's documentation.
Start here
Frequently asked questions
Do you test the scuba gear you recommend?
No, and we say so on every page. We compare published manufacturer specifications, published training agency standards and verified owner reviews across retailers. Claiming hands-on testing of dozens of regulators and computers would be a story rather than a method, and in a niche where a specification error can matter, we would rather be honest about the source than impressive about the process.
How do you decide which products to recommend?
We start from what the diving requires, then find products that meet it at three price points. A pick has to have a published specification we can verify, a real service or parts path, and owner reviews that match the specification. Where the best answer in a category is dealer-only, which is common in diving, we say so and link a scoped search rather than substituting a worse product that happens to be easier to link.
Why do some products link to an Amazon search instead of a product page?
Because a great deal of serious dive gear is sold through dive centres by design, so that the buyer gets a fit check and an annual service relationship. Several of the best regulators, BCDs and technical computers are simply not sold on a marketplace. Rather than invent a listing or recommend a worse product, those entries carry a scoped search link. That is the correct outcome in this niche, not a gap.
Are your calculators safe to plan a dive with?
They are safe to learn with and to sanity check with, and they are not dive plans. Every calculator on this site prints the formula it used and the assumptions it made, so a trained diver can check the arithmetic rather than trust it. No output replaces certified training, published dive tables or the computer on your wrist, and each tool says so on the page rather than in a footer.
How does this site make money?
Through affiliate links, principally the Amazon Associates programme. If you buy through a link here, the retailer pays a commission at no additional cost to you. The commission does not vary meaningfully by product, so there is no incentive to push an expensive pick, and several pages actively tell readers to buy less or keep renting. The affiliate disclosure page sets it out in full.
Why does this site refuse to cover technical diving?
Because publishing decompression procedures, gas switch schedules or penetration technique to a general audience implies a competence that reading confers on nobody. We explain what those disciplines are and why each needs formal training, then stop. That is a deliberate editorial limit rather than a gap we intend to fill, and the technical diving page states it plainly.
How we choose: we compare published manufacturer specifications, published training agency standards, and verified owner reviews across retailers. We do not test gear in person, and every depth rating, cylinder capacity and algorithm name quoted here is the manufacturer's published figure unless we say otherwise, so confirm it on the current spec sheet before you buy. Nothing here is dive instruction, and no calculator output on this site is a dive plan. Scuba diving carries a real risk of decompression sickness, oxygen toxicity, barotrauma and drowning. Dive within the limits of your certification, verify every plan with your own computer, and buy the training before the gear that assumes it.
Logging your own SAC rate and gas plans? The Dive Kit & Air Planning Workbook is the paid version of these pages: 8 printable worksheets you fill in with your own numbers, plus the full PDF, $29.