No more chuckles!

[JustinW]

I'm gonna chime in for a third vote to go more scubapro.
Larry can match that Zeagle price, or for even less money you can get a comparable Knighthawk, or a BPW for that matter. Scubapro regs are bombproof and deliver air flawlessly. Don't go with the silly titanium or other hyped up, go with a G250 or an S600 second stage mated with an MK25 first stage. Scubatoys carries Scubapro, or your local dealer is listed below, just in case you weren't familiar with that shop.


AQUATIC CENTER
3204 SW 35TH BLVD
GAINESVILLE, FL 32608
Tel: (352) 377-3483

 

[Empty V]

I bought some gear from Larry at Scubatoys and couldn't be happier. I originally bought a G250HP/MK25 combo from leisure pro, after talking to Larry, I cancelled my order before it shipped and Larry matched the price, charged less for shipping and I have a full ScubaPro warranty. LP says you have a warranty but it is a LP warranty. you have to send your reg in for service at their shop which they said takes between 2 and 3 weeks, and you need to do that every year.
I bought a zeagle brigade from Larry and it's amazing. Every dive shop I take it into is blown away by it. It's exactly the same as the ranger except for the smaller bladder. The ranger bladder is meant for dual tank dives. Which I will never do, if for some reason decide to do that, I can change it out with the brigade one(i think it comes from the stiletto.) Larry sold me the Brigade for $400 with the rear weight pockets, which I highly recommend.
I also bought an oceanic VT pro wireless computer from scubatoys, Larry gave me an amazing price on that too. Like I said before I'm extatic over scubatoys!

 

[Skinsfan1311]

I was a believer in utilizing your LDS, until a couple of days ago. I was in the market, for an Aqualung Legend LX reg. I live near Baltimore, and there aren't very many LDS's anyway,(just 3 within 45 minutes driving distance).

The regs are on sale, here, http://www.divesports.com/ You had to call for prices, as Aqualung won't honor warranties for on-line purchases. I called 'em up, and got the price. I also got the price for annually servicing the regs. I spoke to Phil, (hell of a nice guy), who gave me the prices and explained what they do. Basically...it's ~$60.00 to service 'em and, with Aqualungs ltd lifetime warranty, they supply the parts kit for free, as long as you purchased from an authorized dealer, and service the regs annually. Sounds good to me.

So, because so many posters talk about how important it is to support the LDS, I called the LDS, which shall remain nameless. I figured, hey, no harm in supporting the locals, and I was willing to pay a few more $$$ to do so.

Hey, a few more $$$ is one thing, $250.00 more for the same reg! Give me a break!! That's isn't the worst part, as I understand they may not have the same volume of sales as shops near decent dive towns. The part that really, really pissed me off, and the reason why I will spend my $$$ elsewhere is the shop wants $30.00 per stage to service and $35.00 to $50.00 for the parts!!!!

Those crooks are going to charge me for parts that I'm entitled to for free. Not this kid. I will no longer use an LDS, unless it's a complete gotta have or can't dive emergency. And I don't care about air-fills, as I'm not lugging tanks to the Caribbean...

 

[skierbri10]

I was a believer in utilizing your LDS, until a couple of days ago. I was in the market, for an Aqualung Legend LX reg. I live near Baltimore, and there aren't very many LDS's anyway,(just 3 within 45 minutes driving distance).

The regs are on sale, here, http://www.divesports.com/ You had to call for prices, as Aqualung won't honor warranties for on-line purchases. I called 'em up, and got the price. I also got the price for annually servicing the regs. I spoke to Phil, (hell of a nice guy), who gave me the prices and explained what they do. Basically...it's ~$60.00 to service 'em and, with Aqualungs ltd lifetime warranty, they supply the parts kit for free, as long as you purchased from an authorized dealer, and service the regs annually. Sounds good to me.

So, because so many posters talk about how important it is to support the LDS, I called the LDS, which shall remain nameless. I figured, hey, no harm in supporting the locals, and I was willing to pay a few more $$$ to do so.

Hey, a few more $$$ is one thing, $250.00 more for the same reg! Give me a break!! That's isn't the worst part, as I understand they may not have the same volume of sales as shops near decent dive towns. The part that really, really pissed me off, and the reason why I will spend my $$$ elsewhere is the shop wants $30.00 per stage to service and $35.00 to $50.00 for the parts!!!!

Those crooks is going to charge me for parts that I'm entitled to for free. Not this kid. I will no longer use an LDS, unless it's a complete gotta have or can't dive emergency. And I don't care about air-fills, as I'm not lugging tanks to the Caribbean...

It's a wonder why so many shops go out of business. :11doh:

 

[Brandon]

So, because so many posters talk about how important it is to support the LDS, I called the LDS, which shall remain nameless. I figured, hey, no harm in supporting the locals, and I was willing to pay a few more $$$ to do so.

Hey, a few more $$$ is one thing, $250.00 more for the same reg! Give me a break!! That's isn't the worst part, as I understand they may not have the same volume of sales as shops near decent dive towns. The part that really, really pissed me off, and the reason why I will spend my $$$ elsewhere is the shop wants $30.00 per stage to service and $35.00 to $50.00 for the parts!!!!

Those crooks are going to charge me for parts that I'm entitled to for free. Not this kid. I will no longer use an LDS, unless it's a complete gotta have or can't dive emergency. And I don't care about air-fills, as I'm not lugging tanks to the Caribbean...

skierbri10 is right...

Some shops deserve to go out of business.

-Brandon.

 

[StSomewhere]

Those crooks are going to charge me for parts that I'm entitled to for free.

This program is limited to participating Authorized Aqua Lung America Retailers. Aqua Lung retailers are not required to participate in this program. Please inquire with the Aqua Lung retailer if they participate in the Aqua Lung Free Parts for Life program prior to bringing your regulator in for overhaul servicing.

http://www.aqualung.com/product_warranties_reg_free.html

I'll admit I don't know why they wouldn't honor this, but apparently they aren't bound to if they don't want to.

 

[Empty V]

Ok, so today I finally got certified. This was after 2 dive shops screwing me over. The first LDS gave away my spot for the boat dives and pushed back my certification to the end of may. On top of that, both of our confined water dives were in a 4' pool. From what I understand, that is a padi violation, can anyone confirm this?
So I called another shop to do my boat dives, they got me on a boat the next day for $85. I was really excited. Until I still had 1 skill to go and got a call saying that an employee screwed up and I owe the shop $250. The owner was reasonable and left the ball in my court as far as payment goes. I agreed to pay him the $25/dive he payed out the instructor plus the $30 for filing the paperwork. He brought out an instructor to take me down to the beach and finish up the last skill, which took a whole 5 minutes.

With that said, I bought most of my major gear online, scubatoys rocks, and will probably never buy a BC or Reg from a LDS. I got my Zeagle Brigade, which I love, for $400 from Larry with the rear weight pockets.
The instructor asked if I had my own gear, so I told him what I have and asked him his opinion on it. Everyone likes to hear nice stuff about big purchases. So he said it was expensive and I proceeded to tell him how I got it for a great price from scubatoys. After we got out of the water, he gave me a short lecture on how I probably pissed off the owner for talking about how I bought my gear on the internet.

All the PADI certified shops seem to have these rediculous ego's and talk trash about each other. It's like highschool with more expensive clothes.

 

[DiveMaven]

All the PADI certified shops seem to have these rediculous ego's and talk trash about each other. It's like highschool with more expensive clothes.

That has nothing to do with PADI....you should hear the NAUI guys around here. :05:

Congrats on your gear purchase, sounds like you got good stuff.