Using own gear?

[TMHeimer]

Question to shop owners/instructors: What % of shops rent equipment (BCs, etc.) to students for OW (or other) courses as opposed to "free" use or included in the course price? Our shop does the latter and after a while sells the stuff as used. I assumed this was pretty much the norm. Am I correct?

 

[tstormdiver]

Our shop- Students are required to have their own mask, fins, snorkels & boots. They may purchase at our shop, or if they bring their own, it needs to fit & be functional. We supply BC's, regs, cylinders, weightbelts, weights & computers for the pool session. It is said up front that there is a $30 rental fee for regs, BC's & wetsuits that go to the quarry for check- out dives. The instructor brings the cylinders, computers, weights & weightbelts. As mentioned earlier, if the student wants to use thier own equipment, we will only allow it after it has been inspected at no cost & if it is deemed unsafe (we will go over with the owner why it is unsafe right then & there while they are there at the shop) or has not been serviced in the past 2 years, then it must be serviced & brought to safe condition before being allowed. If for some reason, it can not be serviced in time, they can use the pool equipment until it is for that portion. If it can not be serviced before their OW dives, we will supply them with rental equipment at no cost to them. We try to be as honest/ fair as possible, but just can not allow equipment that is unsafe or have no history on.

 

[W1ngz]

This may have already been covered, but having just signed up for my open water, I'm starting on the PADI book and right there in the introduction on page 15 par. 3 - "Ideally, learn to dive in your own gear."

 

[DoubleAA]

There was a local shop here that offered a Groupon or Livingsocial deal for cheap open water classes. It requires you to buy mask/fins/snorkel from them. It did provide for discounts on those as well.
Possibly OP is using a Groupon or something similar and the shop is looking to make a little money on the equipment aspect.


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[Belzelbub]

Our shop- Students are required to have their own mask, fins, snorkels & boots. They may purchase at our shop, or if they bring their own, it needs to fit & be functional. We supply BC's, regs, cylinders, weightbelts, weights & computers for the pool session. It is said up front that there is a $30 rental fee for regs, BC's & wetsuits that go to the quarry for check- out dives. The instructor brings the cylinders, computers, weights & weightbelts. As mentioned earlier, if the student wants to use thier own equipment, we will only allow it after it has been inspected at no cost & if it is deemed unsafe (we will go over with the owner why it is unsafe right then & there while they are there at the shop) or has not been serviced in the past 2 years, then it must be serviced & brought to safe condition before being allowed. If for some reason, it can not be serviced in time, they can use the pool equipment until it is for that portion. If it can not be serviced before their OW dives, we will supply them with rental equipment at no cost to them. We try to be as honest/ fair as possible, but just can not allow equipment that is unsafe or have no history on.

That is a very reasonable policy. The student should be required to have the basic (mask, fins, snorkel, etc.) gear, but everything else should be provided. No problem with a rental fee for the open water dives, as long as this is discussed at time of signing up. If the student already has their own gear, it is sufficient for the course, and in good working order, they should be allowed to use it regardless of brand.

This may have already been covered, but having just signed up for my open water, I'm starting on the PADI book and right there in the introduction on page 15 par. 3 - "Ideally, learn to dive in your own gear."

This is true, but not always reasonable. If the diver has their own gear already, and it is sufficient and in good working order, then by all means learn to dive in this. Most new divers do not, however, and there are so many different styles and choices they probably are not in a good position to make a decision on what works best for them. Some dive shops will work with them on this, but some will try to up-sell. How is the new diver to know which is which.

My daughter will be learning to dive later this year. I plan to have her learn in her own gear. Her setup will be very similar to mine, which I think is quite important at her age (10). She'll be doing all of her dives, at least for the near future, with me. So by being familiar with her gear, and learning in it, she'll be familiar with mine.

There was a local shop here that offered a Groupon or Livingsocial deal for cheap open water classes. It requires you to buy mask/fins/snorkel from them. It did provide for discounts on those as well.
Possibly OP is using a Groupon or something similar and the shop is looking to make a little money on the equipment aspect.

Based on what I've heard, I'd be very wary of those Groupon deals. A local shop got quite a bit of bad press, deservedly based on my experiences with them, on a Groupon deal. There was apparently an error in the Groupon text. The deal the customer signed up for was one where the shop would provide (for rental fee) all gear including mask, fins, snorkel. The customer was prepared to pay to rent the mask, fins, snorkel, but the shop was unwilling to rent. Instead, they offered to sell to the customer at $500.00 per diver.

 

[TMHeimer]

Agree with the last two posts. A shop I took courses from in FL required we pay our own way to the Vortex Spring site.
The PADI manual and shop policies regarding condition of one's own equipment also makes sense. PADI does say "Ideally" and at times uses the word "recommended", which is fine I guess. I don't recommend two new divers buddying up though (as my old manual suggests), but you do what you do.