Rent or Buy

[PatW]

Well there are advantages both ways.

I found when I took my OW certification that the rental gear at the local shop was pretty good.

There are big advantages to owning your own gear:

1) You are familiar with it. Task loading is a big enough problem with diving in unfamiliar gear.
2) You know the quality.
3) You can be sure that it is serviced.

But there are disadvantages to owning and advantages to renting

1) Scuba gear is heavy and bulky and flying with it is inconvenient.
2) There is an expense factor with maintenance. Maintenance schedules are often time based.
3) Scuba gear keeps improving. Rental gear is not really state of the art. But rental gear has a relatively short life span so it is not going to be old either.
4) The gear strangeness of rental gear will be mitigated by the fact that rental gear will usually be rather basic stuff.

 

[Diving Lore]

Never rent, always buy where possible.
Fitting into rental gear is one more task than you ought to have to do.

It also makes it easier for the poor DM or instructor whose job it is to size you up

 

[Wobbegong wannabe]

Personally, I bought gear reasonably quickly (after about 10 dives); a cheap BCD first, followed by good regs and a basic computer.

Prior to that, I had a couple of lousy rental regulator experiences (the clinching one sprayed a fine mist of water with each breath and I coughed for a week) and the standard rental jackets never fit properly. I enjoyed diving with my own kit so much more that I found it was well worth it, and I found it easier to concentrate on the diving rather than figuring out yet another set of rental equipment's foibles.

Of course, you always take a gamble buying stuff for a new hobby (anyone want a second hand surfboard, barely used by an un-cordinated )?

I also found it was a good motivation to keep diving while new and a bit insecure, even when it's cold or an effort to get to the site (you bought all that gear, better be using it!).