Own or rent?

[Khoujo1]

Hey everyone, my wife and I began diving 3 years ago and are now avid divers. We have around 50 dives under our belts, and plan to focus our travel primarily around diving. My question is if/when it is worth buying our own gear vs continuing to rent from the dive shops we dive with. Our should we buy only some of the equipment? We travel with our fins, computers, and masks, but should we buy regulators? BCDs? Wetsuits? All of the above? All opinions welcome!

 

[formernuke]

Personal choice.

Buying your own means you are the only ones using it, you know last time it was serviced, no one else has peed in the wetsuit, the BC is the style you prefer, your the only one with your mouth on regs etc.

Cost wise it depends on how much you dive as to which is cheaper money wise.

With your own you are responsible for maintenance and storage though.

So it is totally up to you two to decide which is the best route for you.

 

[Dan G]

Sounds as if it's time to buy your own gear. Owning a wetsuit is nice because you know it fits well and it has only your own pee in it rather than 1,000 other people's. Regs are nice because you know they are in good working order and you can likely get higher quality regs than what you rent. Owning a BC is nice because you can set it up the way you like and then don't need to mess with it. Then get yourself a suitcase with burly wheels that weighs 10 lbs or less to haul all your gear in.

 

[miked]

IMHO, I would lean towards buying and traveling with all your gear (except for weights). It is admittedly a pain when it comes to packing, cost (especially, for airfare for the extra bag,) and physically trying to get around with all the stuff.
That said, I believe it is worth the aggravation to be able to suit up in your own gear, where you know how well it has been serviced and cared for, and you don't have to learn where buttons or on a rental.

 

[arew+4]

Regs, BCs, and wet suits will run on average $30-$40 per dive day.

Extra bag for your gear $100-120 per trip.

Regulator service $150 each per year.

So the annual cost of BC and Reg is going to be $200 plus the amortized life of 10yrs so 10% of cost.so let's say $100 per year.

Owning costs $300 a year or 7 to 10 days of renting.

If your going to do 10 or more dive days a year it's a no brainier.
But also there is the benefit of familiarity and knowing the gear is well maintained, which can be priceless.

 

[RobPNW]

I don't dive enough to financially justify buying my own gear but I did it anyway because it's my own gear and it's better than what I would get at any dive Op.

 

[rhwestfall]

Regulator service $150 each per year.

 

[Brett Hatch]

You can do the math a few different ways to see at what point it pencils out. I think by the time you have done 50 dives and are planning your vacations around diving, you'll find that it more-or-less does.

There will come a secondary question which is, which pieces to prioritize? I think that comes down to, which pieces of rental gear do you hate the most. For me, that was mask/fins/snorkel, then a computer, then wetsuit/gloves/booties, then a BC, then regs, then tanks, then a drysuit, then a better computer.

Tanks are the worst deal, you really have to dive a lot locally for them to break even, but you do gain some freedom, which to me counts for a lot. Avoid buying tanks unless you really value this freedom, or you really dive a lot within driving distance from your home. Conversely, if you never dive locally, then prioritize things that are useful everywhere and small: computer and regs would come before exposure gear, for example.

 

[Lorenzoid]

If the question is literally "if/when it is worth buying our own gear vs continuing to rent," that's entirely a question of economics. As Brett said, you could "do the math," taking into account how many times you plan to rent gear each year and the cost, versus the cost of owning the gear. Don't forget that costs of ownership include maintenance on at least the regulators, which is common to do every year or two or 100 dives or 200 dives or some vague rule of thumb like that. Some people only bring (or send) their regulators for maintenance when the regs' performance becomes noticeably worse. Others have their regs serviced annually no matter how many dives they did during the year. So, part of the cost may depend upon how fastidious a person you are--what is your comfort level.

I would venture to guess that most of us who take dive vacations at least a couple of times a year own all our own gear. As others have said, for some people the economics of it are not the major factor but rather the peace of mind in knowing where their gear has been, especially wetsuits (ewww!).

I knew one well-traveled diving couple who rented BCs and regulators for many years, to avoid the hassles and cost of maintaining and storing the gear. I recall them explaining they always dived with top-rated operators and were almost always pleased with the quality and apparent state of maintenance of the rental gear. It's unusual to take dive vacations for a decade or more and never buy your own regs and BC, but maybe it appeals to some.

 

[coleman.jamie]

I think another point worth noting, once you have your own gear, you dive more often. Most of my diving is local, so maybe it doesn’t apply, but if I had to rent gear to go dive the St. Clair River and have it line up with a good vis day, I’d never do it.