Rent or Buy

[InTheDrink]

I only started buying my own gear in the last year, maybe two.

Fins, mask, BCD, regs, countless accessories - simple rule: if you can afford it do it. It is SOSOSOSOSOS nice having your own kit. My kids (3 and 5) dress up in it and walk around the house - that's reason enough to have it.

I'll give you one more reason to get your own stuff: I have had major kit failures at depth in bad conditions. It's not something I will ever allow to happen to me again.

Enjoy!!!

 

[herman]

"You really don't need a computer."--------? I've dived with operators who insist that you DO have a computer. Check it out before traveling or you'll be renting one.

There are a few that do but the vast majority don't. So far I don't recall diving with an op that required one and then you have a couple of options...use a different op or rent one. Call BS on the op and if they insist, they can loan me one for free or I will move on to another op. Dive ops are not hard to find so moving to a different one is usually easy. I like a computer but there is no reason to require one for a couple of shallow reef dives, the kind of dives most people who rent gear dive.

 

[DiveMom1]

I'll advise from experience... as a new diver owning your own equipment can give you more confidence faster and allow for more diving opportunities.

Having to rent equipment.figure it out, pick it up, take it back, meeting their hours AND fees can be a PITA

Owning your own you are familiar with it.. you can load it and go anytime the notion strike and no fear of getting it back without extra fees.

On the flip side.. when you buy good quality equipment you'll have it a good "long time"! Maybe too long! LOL I bought mine in the 80's and cleaned it after every use, took good care to store properly and have it serviced annually or at least bi-annually. Now I had to give it away and pass some down to the kids just to justify buying all new pretty equipmet! LOL

Proper care of equipemt can make it stay in good shape.. forever!!!!

 

[matts1w]

Buy your own wetsuit. I dont know any other way to say it, but rental wetsuits, to me, are really, really gross. Its like pulling on someone else's giant pee and sweat sponge. Most people who have worked in dive centers and have rinsed rental gear at the end of the day will agree with me. You can buy a cheapie basic wetsuit (Evo, Deepsea) that will work just fine for next to nothing.

For most vacation destinations and casual divers a mask, snorkel (if you need it or plan to snorkel some too), simple wrist computer, and a 1 or 3 mil wetsuit is all you need. If weight is an issue with luggage use rental fins too, although I would rather have my own.

 

[InTheDrink]

Oh, one other tip and an important one - I really strongly suggest posting here and/or getting local advice prior to making any purchases. I'm quite impulsive and bought various high ticket items that I can't justify changing now just cos I know better. So before you buy something, ask either here or on the equipment forums. You'll at least get steered in the approximate right direction.

Hopefully

J

 

[cloudswinger]

On the flip side.. when you buy good quality equipment you'll have it a good "long time"! Maybe too long! LOL I bought mine in the 80's and cleaned it after every use, took good care to store properly and have it serviced annually or at least bi-annually. Now I had to give it away and pass some down to the kids just to justify buying all new pretty equipmet! LOL

Proper care of equipemt can make it stay in good shape.. forever!!!!

No kidding. My gear is 10 years old and looks pretty new. My husbands gear is a horsecollar bc, and the last time he sent it in for a warranty service(the bladder burst), they basically replaced everything except the faded fabric. He's still stuck with it.

 

[singler]

Here's another mark in the rental column.
I own my own gear circa 1988 BCD and reg. I don't dive enough (5-6 dives every other year in the tropics) to justify replacing this otherwise well cared for set. I got tired of spending $50 to have it serviced before every trip, so the wife and I put our money into wetsuits and a dive computer instead. Combined with our own mask/fin/snorkel, we are quite content to rent when we arrive. Even on Glover's (Belize), the equipment was just fine.

 

[pittyyofool]

RENT! for now. try a bunch of different things. you might have to rent from several different dive shops to get a good feel for many different products. then buy what you like. there is nothing worse than buying a bc, or reg because someone told you it was good then using something different and figuring out you don't like yours.

If you find your self in so.cal. going out to the channel islands. i have a whole garage full of gear you can try out.

 

[SolarStorm]

Well we are back now and I am thrilled that we purchased our own gear before going. The only real downside was lugging it through the airports.

We purchased good quality stuff, got used to it. and began to love it. The only thing I regret getting (and since it was "thrown" in so I really cant regret too much) is the pig stickers that stayed in our dive bags.

The real benefits of having our own stuff.

1. Quality. The rental stuff wasnt bad, but ours was far better.
2. MY wetsuit. I dont really want to think about what might be in the rentals.
3. We got used to it.
4. Nice Divecomputer, bought Atom 2's. We were able to do buddy checks, and it very nicely logged all of dives and the dive profiles. We were then able to look at the dive profiles and could learn how much or SAC rate increased as we swam against current or simply driffed.
5. We are now talking about the next trip to use our gear.

The down side.
1. The airport drag.

 

[Water Monkey]

Here is my two cents
1. Rental gear is “like a box of chocolates, you never know what your going to get” I have had students drop there gear with there regulators attached and land on the regulator. Everything looks ok afterward but what happens is that it distorts the seat on the yoke. It will hold air when you hook it up, but when you get in the water the o-ring will extrude and you will have a catastrophic failure.
2. “If you just do the follow me dives you don’t need a computer” I dove once in Cozumel on a follow me dive. We bottomed out at 100 feet and on the way up my computer said that we needed to make a deco stop at 10 feet, the dive master blew right past it. I was the only one that stopped. On the boat I asked if I could see his computer, he wouldn’t show it to me. NEVER, NEVER put your profile in someone else’s hands!
3. “You don’t need to service your gear once a year if you don’t use it” I have found just the opposite. The more you dive your gear the less you need to service it. If you just let it sit in the closet, the seals dry out and it tends to corrode WAY more than if you dive it regularly.