What NOT to buy used?

[beaverdivers]

Buy anything used that works, fits & does the job you need it to do!

 

[HenrikBP]

Jim,
I can suggest one item not to buy - The stainless steel Halcyon inflator.

Just get the one with the scribed line in the inflator button - post-recall version

 

[elan]

Although these criteria fully apply to condom catheters I would never buy them used

Buy anything used that works, fits & does the job you need it to do!

 

[flots am]

A simple question: what equipment you wouldn't recommend buying used and why?

Wetsuits, booties, regulator mouthpieces. I don't want someone else's infection, foot fungus or mysterious skin rash.

Any serviceable items that don't have parts available anymore.

Lights that aren't LED. (why change batteries after a dive when you can change them after a dive season)?

flots.

 

[rhwestfall]

Lights that aren't LED.

I've gotten some great deals on "old" lights that I then upgraded for much less than what they would have cost as an LED model.....

 

[rivers]

Just get the one with the scribed line in the inflator button - post-recall version

Even the post recall inflator is an inflate-o-matic. I gave my inflator of death away, and stole the one off my single wing to put on my twinset wing.

 

[CT-Rich]

Depends on the needs and condition of the gear. If you buy something you don't need or can use, is it a great bargain? Assume that gear will need standard servicing when you buy it. That awesome reg may need a new hose after hanging in a closet for 3 years. Nothing wrong with it, but plan on spending $50 additional to make sure it is operational. When I look at gear, I google its name and "reviews" & "recall" "complaints." save a lot of heart ache if I go in knowing the down side.

As far as suits go, nothing wrong with washing used gear. I wouldn't wear my own clothes twice if I could see crap stains. If it looks funky, wait for something better, it is out there.

 

[Dsix36]

When I was new to diving I had the thought of buying new since it would last me forever. There is also the fact of the matter that I did not know what to look for when buying used gear.

Now that I have been diving for awhile and gained a bit of experience, I am comfortable with buying used gear. i do have an issue with buying anything used that will be on or near my "manhood" and therefore (as previously posted) I would not want to use a used condom cather or a used bathing suit. I am also a bit fussy as to what goes in my mouth and therefore any mouthpiece that shows any sign of use at all is out of the question.

Basically, just do what is comfortable in your own mind and make sure to test it thoroughly before trusting your life to it underwater.

 

[Nemrod]

When I was new to diving I had the thought of buying new since it would last me forever.

Forever is a long time.

These things do not last forever and in fact, might be good for only a few years at best:

1. Wetsuits
2. Gloves
3. Boots
4. Drysuits
5. BCs
6. Plastic fins
7. Plastic regulators
8. Anything made out of plastic or relying on any sort of plastic, "composite" etc.

These things should last much longer but often do not:

1. Regulators
2. Fins
3. Masks
4. backplates
5. weights
6. tanks
7. Lights
8. Knife
9. hoses and fittings

Almost forever:

1. USD Aqua Master, Mistral and Royal Aqua Master Regulators, Voit equivalents in the double hose and the MR12, USD Conshelf single hose, ScubaPro 109 with Mark V
2. ScubaPro Jet Fins
3. Steel or aluminum backplates
4. metal D rings and fittings, buckles etc


This will cause a firestorm of hate mail and fussing but there are two brands that frankly stand heads and shouders above all others in long term support, common parts usage and ability to find service anywhere even decades after purchase and the list is short:

1. Aqua Lung (includes USD)
2. Scuba Pro

Thirty years from now get back with me on the rest.

Aside from "vintage" and antique and classic etc., there are two kinds of people and they will never see eye to eye:

1. New car people
2. Used car people

N

 

[Bob DBF]

6531 Aluminum tanks

Bought five of them a while back, of course it was the J-valve doubles manifold and back pack and a surface pressure gauge, that caught my attention. When we made the deal he had found and tossed in a Darrell Allen light, a USD second stage, and an unused in the box USD second stage, and some other stuff that was uninteresting. I figure I can get my $20 bucks back by scrapping the tanks if I don't run across someone who still uses them.

The Darrell light is running with an LED, the used USD reg I went through and it's my backup reg, and I have not deternined the fate of the boxed reg or the tanks.



Bob
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Even a blind pig gets an acorn once in a while.