The scuba industry could learn a few things from the golf industry....

[jrg]

If the little dive store doesn't let you try the equipment before you buy it, what's the advantage of buying it from them instead of from your favorite online store?

Some LDSs do rotate their rental equipment and will let you try anything you want, despite the manufacturers lack of help. Some LDSs will not do this for you.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Most companies do offer demo equipment or discontinued equipment at very attractive prices to dealers. Some dealer use this as a means to offer lower cost equipment to divers they would otherwise lose to another shop or to online sales. Unfortunatetly some shops just use options on discontinued equipment as a means to get low cost equipment that they then sell at full retail price to improve their profit margin.

Used equipment is a very good option particulary as much of the used equipment out there is used very little. Rental equipment is usually upgraded every couple of years to correspond to changes in the manufacturers product line or in response to a dive shop changing dealers.

The discounts to dive professionals are a double edged sword. You can get cheap equipment, but in exchange you end up having to dive what the shop sells. I have managed to snag a couple of really good deals on Scubapro regs (example: $125 for a nearly new MK 25 D400) from hard pressed and low paid dive instructors who had to buy new equipment to pacify the shop they worked for. I essentially got their "old" but better SP regs for their cost of upgrading to less capable but new Dacor regs.