equipment...own or rent?

[Loneranger]

IMO renting would be beneficial for the 1 to 2 time a year vacation diver. You do not have to dive too often for the gear to pay for its self. Remember even after the gear is used it still has a resale value, so the depreciation on the gear is all you are really out.

 

[terrasmak]

Own my gear , i wouldnt want to try dive different gear every dive. I know my gear , and am learning to dive it well. I think its kinda a safety thing for people who dive often.

 

[Jason Ooi]

I have own dive equipments except Inspiration rebreather, I going to have a unit soon.

 

[mirrocraft]

i have over 300 dives and owned all my gear right after my open water. i never would use a rental wet suit for reasons we all know. and i font like to put there peoples regs in my mouth so i guess i always have to own

 

[Crazy Fingers]

Renting sucks. At least 10% of the time you will end up renting something that is defective in some way, like an octo that won't stop leaking. Even the O-rings on rental tanks drive me crazy at times. I just recently bought my first tanks, so I don't need anything from a dive shop to dive. I can go at a moment's notice. Really nice to have that freedom.

Plus you can buy good, although basic, equipment so cheap it's not even worth it financially if you will dive more than 10 times on it.

 

[ReefHound]

The diver I spoke of, strongly suggested I never buy, her reasoning being renting is cheap, you get to always use different equipment, and you don't have to worry about maintenance or storage.

All negative factors, IMO. You should ask her to figure up how many full sets of gear she has purchased for the shops. Not to mention all the time and trouble of making two trips to the shop (gotta return the stuff) for every dive outing.

Always using different equipment means never being familiar with your equipment.

Never worrying about maintenance means having no clue if an item has been maintained or not.

If I was you, I would smile and ignore any other "advice" this diver has to offer and then come here for the real advice.

 

[Crazy Fingers]

All negative factors, IMO. You should ask her to figure up how many full sets of gear she has purchased for the shops. Not to mention all the time and trouble of making two trips to the shop (gotta return the stuff) for every dive outing.

Always using different equipment means never being familiar with your equipment.

Never worrying about maintenance means having no clue if an item has been maintained or not.

If I was you, I would smile and ignore any other "advice" this diver has to offer and then come here for the real advice.

I think there is some bit of truth to what this diver is saying, but only in the case of tanks. Owning tanks is often not worthwhile when you consider the initial cost, the VIPs, the hydros, etc. Around here it's $6 to rent and $5 to fill. It takes a lot of diving to make up the difference.

However, I bought my own tanks because I didn't want to have to rely on a dive shop to go diving. I want to be able to dive on a moment's notice, even at 3AM on Christmas morning! Plus I hate having to return crap after I rent it. That's worth the price to pick up a couple used tanks to me.

 

[mikerault]

I keep hearing how expensive diving is, has anyone really looked at other hobbies? What was the cost of that Bass Boat? How about the mountain bikes now gathering dust in the garage? How about that fly fishing gear (shoot, some little tiny dry flys cost as much as a tank fill!)? Let's not even talk skiing.

Even with my new camera setup (Canon EOS 20D, Ikelite housing, strobe, lenses, etc) I have less invested in diving than a small bass boat costs and I have a bunch of gear, including my wifes full set. If you are intelligent about buying and take advantage of all avenues (ebay rules!) you can get fully outfitted with quality gear for less than $1000.00 bucks. I didn't say top of the line, expensive gear that shows you have a big wallet and not much else, I said quality gear that will last and do what you ask of it.

Look here for some tips:

http://www.authorsden.com/ArticlesUpload/21509.pdf

As to "The LDS won't service it!!!" bull, I have taken gear to two different LDS here in the Atlanta area and they charge me the same as they do anyone else for the same gear, usually they are glad for the business.

Mike

 

[REII]

I think there is some bit of truth to what this diver is saying, but only in the case of tanks. Owning tanks is often not worthwhile when you consider the initial cost, the VIPs, the hydros, etc. Around here it's $6 to rent and $5 to fill. It takes a lot of diving to make up the difference.

However, I bought my own tanks because I didn't want to have to rely on a dive shop to go diving. I want to be able to dive on a moment's notice, even at 3AM on Christmas morning! Plus I hate having to return crap after I rent it. That's worth the price to pick up a couple used tanks to me.

I agree. In addition, I bought my own tanks because my wife and I take trips each year on our own boat. I have yet to find a shop in the Bahamas (the islands where we go) who will rent out tanks for us to take on our boat. And in the keys they will not let you take tanks during their busy days /seasons.

TOM

 

[PB4UDIVEDRY]

Ok, after reading most of the posts, these are my thoughts.........

Buy or rent, it's up to you, if you do lots of dives a year, buy would be the smart way to go, if you do vacation dives, then rent, compare the costs.

I forget who mentioned something about doing whatever number dives a year for 30 years, refering to OP, I only have logged about 200 dives since 1970, but I didn't dive for about 20 years diving for 7 years, never logged a single dive in those beginning years, hell, I never heard of a log book back then. When I started to dive again I was told to log dives because I would have to prove my experience when traveling to the Carib or anywhere else for dive trips. I now only log 20/20 dives or better, just because i'm a procrastinator at heart.

If someone buys gear online or EBay, then they are more than welcome to bring it into our shop for the inital checkout or annual, yes you will be charged the regular rate, we won't over charge to punnish you for not buying from us. It's called building customer loyalty, even if it's after the fact.

I have also learned the hard way, bought lots of stuiff till I finally got what I really like. I learned a lot by reading scubaboard, i've been a lurker for over a year. I now dive a bp and wing, and also love my drysuit I bought on EBay.

Thanks Scubaboard.com and all the people that gave me the info I needed.

Dan