Owning own regulator

[BlueTrin]

Sorry if that looks like a stupid question.

I was thinking of buying my own regulator. I don’t plan to dive too much when I am not travelling.

I want to know if that means I should travel with the octopus or I can just bring my regulator to a dive shop and plug it on one of their octopus easily ?

Also is it worth owning your own regulator if you plan to do only 20 days of diving in a year ?

 

[Skankfish]

Hello.

Buy an octopus if you are buying your own reg set. You want the piece of mind that your kit works properly, that's part of why you buy your own. The 2nd stages are not the expensive bit (and a cheap octopus is also fine), but a DC will likely charge you more than you would expect to use one of their octos - plus, pain in the backside.

Is it worth owning your own set if you're only diving 20 days/year? That's one for you to answer and depends on your own circumstances. However, it is much nicer to have your own gear. No more chewed up mouthpieces for a start.