Scuba equipment, piece by piece, with the rules that apply to it.

Using dive gear is taught in training. This section does something different: it explains what each piece is for, how the main designs differ as agencies, diving medicine bodies and makers describe them, and which published standards and regulations apply. It does not explain how to assemble, service, weight or test anything. Those jobs belong to your instructor, a trained technician or a cylinder test station, and the pages say so where it matters.

How to read these pages

• Standards are named exactly. European (CEN) standards are given with their edition, such as EN 250:2014 for regulators or EN 1809:2014+A1:2016 for buoyancy compensators. A standard sets minimum requirements and test methods. DAN Europe (2022) stresses that a CE marking confirms minimum requirements only and that real performance still varies.
• Rules are given per country and body. Cylinder inspection is the clearest case: US federal rule 49 CFR 180.209, UK practice as BSAC reports it and the French scheme all set different intervals. Your test station and local rules decide what applies to your cylinder.
• Maker statements are labelled as claims. Service intervals, algorithm descriptions and design benefits come from the companies that make the gear, and the pages say so.
• Disagreements are shown, not settled. Where two bodies say different things, as they do on oxygen thresholds for nitrox and on wetsuit thickness charts, both versions are given with who says them.

The core kit

The section opens with masks, snorkels and fins; PADI's 2016 advice on building a kit gradually says mask fit matters most. Exposure protection comes next: wetsuits and dry suits, which DAN says need their own training. The life-support pieces follow: buoyancy compensators, regulators and dive computers and gauges.

Cylinders, weights and gas

Cylinders covers materials, valves and the aluminium alloy history that still affects inspections. Cylinder inspection and testing sets out the intervals in the US, Canada, the UK and France side by side, and the cylinder test date checker is a companion tool. Weights describes the systems, not how much to carry. Nitrox equipment gives each body's oxygen threshold and labelling rule.

Accessories, care and travel

Lights and signalling covers dive lights, surface marker buoys, whistles and dive flags. Care and storage collects what PADI, DAN and makers say about rinsing and storing gear. Renting or owning weighs the two as PADI and DAN describe them, and travelling with dive gear gathers the airline security and dangerous-goods rules for cylinders and batteries.

For terms used across the section, see the glossary. For buying advice by category, see the guides.