For a diver training course, you need not really much. This is relatively cheap, you usually don’t need to buy any equipment in advance, because all you could need you will get from school for the duration of the training. The most important thing, you need is medical certificate.
The doctor who examined me, was too cautious and she did not give me any certificate before I pass further investigation by cardiologist. There are not much cardiologists in our area unfortunately, that’s why they are very busy and I must wait until February. That means that I can begin with the first training only in spring. Because I like to swim under water, I wanted at least train in a swimming pool. The first thing that I should do for this is I should get a ABC equipment. I asked the divers, which suggested me, to invest not very much money in ABC equipment, because there will be other things to buy, which in this context are more important. So I decided for the ABC set of Mares for around 45 euros, including shipping.
Although of the coming holidays my order was processed immediately. After 2 days I got the packet by post. There was a little problem with my order. I got no ABC set of Mares, but 2 ABC sets from Aqualung. The flippers had not the size that I ordered. The bill was accordingly 2x higher, because I got 2 sets.
Fortunately, the dealer admitted the mistake immediately, as I pointed him to this. Hopefully soon I get my right order.