How Much to Budget for Training and Equipment?

[bret440]

Hello Everyone. I'm new to scuba diving and this board. I'm really interested in taking up this sport. How much should a new person budget for training and equipment? I don't want to go cheap. I'd rather wait and save up for high quality training and equipment rather than trying to do it on the cheap. What advice would you guys have for a beginner? I'm located in the Chicago area btw.

Thanks,

Bret

 

[H2O 70]

If you want to end up diving locally...

$500-600 for BC
$500 for a dive computer
$100 for fins
$100 for mask
$800 for regulator with Octo
$3000 for dry suit with underwear
$20 for snorkel

I'd suggest you get certified first and figure out if you want to save up for your own set. Open Water classes run from $350-500 depending upon what they include.

For Open Water class, you'll need your personal gear - mask, fins, snorkel and booties. I'd also suggest a 3-5mm full wetsuit for the pool sessions of Open Water.

Once you're done with that, you'll know if you want to make the financial plunge into the rest of the gear.

 

[jmasin]

Hello Everyone. I'm new to scuba diving and this board. I'm really interested in taking up this sport. How much should a new person budget for training and equipment? I don't want to go cheap. I'd rather wait and save up for high quality training and equipment rather than trying to do it on the cheap. What advice would you guys have for a beginner?

Chris hit on the costs. I think you can find some better deals, but it's probably a good general list. I don't know crap about drysuit diving!

Advice for a beginner? Get certified first. You'll use their equipment, get a feel for it etc. You'll already start getting a feel for what you might like/don't like about types of equipment.

Always buy the "personal" equipment like mask/fins/snorkel (and probably booties etc). On BC, reg and such, I personally would rent a few times first. Get a feel for what you like. I rented a few times and a trip first, and I'm glad I did. Over those first 20 dives I really started to figure out things I wanted from my gear and things I didn't like.

Had I bought right out of the gate, I would most likely have bought the wrong thing (for me) and spent a lot more money doing it. This will also help you make good decisions for you. If you find a great LDS good, but if you find a salesman, he may be more concerned about the money than finding you the right BC for you. The right BC for me happened to be a very high quality $200 job... many LDS would have tried to sell me something much more, and had I not already had some experience, I'd have paid it.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

BC-250-350
Regs- 500
Mask 50-75
Fins 50- 100
Computer- Nothing you do not need one to dive with in the beginning
Drysuit-used 500+, new 1000+
Snorkel- get the cheapest you can find
My OW class is 289 plus books (56.00) I run specials all the time though where the 289 includes books. But again I'd also advise renting a BC and regs first.

 

[SkimFisher]

Budget? What means "bud-jit"?

 

[vondo]

If you want to end up diving locally...

$500-600 for BC
$500 for a dive computer
$100 for fins
$100 for mask
$800 for regulator with Octo
$3000 for dry suit with underwear
$20 for snorkel

I'd suggest you get certified first and figure out if you want to save up for your own set. Open Water classes run from $350-500 depending upon what they include.

For Open Water class, you'll need your personal gear - mask, fins, snorkel and booties. I'd also suggest a 3-5mm full wetsuit for the pool sessions of Open Water.

Once you're done with that, you'll know if you want to make the financial plunge into the rest of the gear.

Those prices are all on the high side of what's possible. You can get good equipment for much less. Many of the high priced items can be had for about half of what is listed here. And I'd really suggest trying some local dives before plunking down that kind of money. If you don't like it, you'll be flushing money down the drain.

 

[H2O 70]

The OP did say he would rather buy right and buy once. Sure you can always get things cheaper. You do get what you pay for.

Jim you say your class is $289 + $56 for the book. That is what, $345? Do you include quarry fees in that as well? My point being the range I provided is because I've seen shops advertise a range of costs and the difference is what is included in the course. Locally the cheaper classes don't include all your quarry fees. So two days of checkouts at Bainbridge SCUBA Center are $60.

Ask what is included in your course fee when you start calling local shops.

 

[stargost]

Computer at 200$ are ok (oceanis or aeris Manta), dont forget bags (~150), maybe tank (150 to 300) while this one can be rented.
Light probably ~100$.
weights if you buy your own and are lead bags : ~50+
wristle, smb, plate, retainers and various crap you may not need in the long run: ~100$


Make a list of all the material you'd need, spend some time on this board to check different pros and cons of various material and set-up.
Then go and browse at your local dive shop, then online (leisurepro, scubatoys, diveriteinscuba, divegearexpress, and many others.

OW training probably ~ 350-400$, then if you progress to advance and rescue, it will be another 300-400.
You'll have to dive as well, and if boats trip, probably few hundreds go fast.

At the end, it is a decent amount of money, and for sure more than what you thought at the beginning.

I made a list a while back:
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/new-divers-those-considering-diving/301167-newbies-beware.html

and many others have gone through similar studies.

goog luck.

 

[vondo]

There is some very good gear, both at the price points you mention and much lower. Another poster mentioned DiveRightIn. They no more than an hour from Chicago and would suggest anyone in the area looking at buying $5K in gear talk to them before making such a large purchase.

 

[ScubaInChicago]

Hello Everyone. I'm new to scuba diving and this board. I'm really interested in taking up this sport. How much should a new person budget for training and equipment? I don't want to go cheap. I'd rather wait and save up for high quality training and equipment rather than trying to do it on the cheap. What advice would you guys have for a beginner? I'm located in the Chicago area btw.

Thanks,

Bret

I have a ton of like new equipment you can try out and use for an open water class.....I wouldn't worry too much about a high quality education right out of the gate. Get your feet wet and see if you even like it before you spend the money to outfit yourself to the gills with new equipment. One of the biggest complaints people have is buying the equipment twice because they were talked into something that didn't work for them by the "EVIL" LDS (Local Dive Store).