LDS in Fort Lauderdale area (focus: customer service)

*I pre-apologize if this has been covered in another thread. I did some searching and didn't find what I was looking for. If anyone can point me to the pertinent links, feel free.*

I recently moved to Coral Springs (just outside of Ft. Lauderdale) from Michigan. I'm looking for a lds in the area (I'm willing to drive a while to get to a good one). I've been certified for a couple of years, but haven't done much diving due to the fact that I don't really care much for cold water diving (I bounce off the thermocline) and 7mm wetsuits. I absolutely LOVE diving and want to do a lot of it now that we are in a warmer clime.

What I would like is a dive shop that is high into customer service. One that will help me in my search for the best equipment for me (I am interested in purchasing as soon as I find what I want) and help me in my quest to take more classes and generally seems to care about diving and its customers. I was spoiled in Michigan with a fantabulous dive shop.

When visiting a couple of shops here I wasn't terribly impressed. One lady told me that they didn't rent or demo 'the good stuff' only the low end bcds from Scubapro. They used to deal in other brands but since Scubapro was the best they stopped carrying them and we should just trust someone who 'knows' how to tell us what we need. No disrespect to Scubapro but I would kind of like to try some options before I drop that amount of money on equipment (also even if I was pretty sure I wanted a Ladyhawk, wouldn't I want to try it before I bought it?).

I guess I've read a lot on the board about people trying out all sorts of equipment brands and types...where do you do that? Thank you for you input and assistance.

I too, am new to the Ft. Lauderdale area, and have less than 50 dives. For cheap air, I like Divers Direct in Dania by the Outdoor World/Bass Proshop. Get their free card and your fills will be $2.00. Other places charge $4.00 if you buy a card worth 10 fills. The people there are friendly and have done things (adjustments, installations, parts) for me that I know other shops would have charged for. The only mystery is that it takes almost 20 minutes to fill a tank.

They don't have a pool, and I haven't made any big purchases, but they do have a good selection of merchandise.

My other favorite is Divers Unlimited on Pines Blvd. Instructors and DM's work the floor, they have an on-site pool, their own boat, and a bigger selection of gear than most. Fills are faster and $5.00 ($4.00 bulk purchase). Prices are higher than some others. I believe they demo. I haven't answered everything, but it's my $.02 worth.

Stop by Fill Express in Pompano. They have an amazing banked gas setup and fill station. They also rent good DiveRite equipment, reg and tech.

I second dive rite for their Air although it is a little more expensive. They charge 7 cents a cubic feet. For my steel hp 100 tank it usually costs me about $5-6 to fill up, and they charge the same for nitrox. The real positive thing is that all their equiptment is O2 compatible and the owner seems to be very meticulous about his air. Probably the purest air in region. As for the rentals, they do allow you to rent gear, and they give you 50% back of the rental charges if you decide to buy that peice of gear. However, they really focus on technical diving equipment which means more of the backplate and wings setup, which alot of people advocate. Currently I'm using my back inflate bc from seaquest which is great. I might jump into using a BP/wing one of these days but, since my gear is pretty new, and works just great, I can't justify spending more money on a different setup. Unless of course my mom really starts diving more, in which case I might give her my bc if it fits, and perhaps look into buying a bp wing setup.

Fill Express is located on Dixie Highway just south of Copans on the west side of the street.


My personal LDS is call Underseas Sports. The owner Matt, is absolutely awsome. He is incredibly knowledgeable and very easy to deal with. I bought all of my gear from him after he explained everything about the different parts of the gear, including what he liked and didn't liked. He also doesn't make you buy the most expensive gear he has, which some stores do. I was thinking about buying a more expensive regulator (more expensive, better built, therefore better for life support? what did i know) . Anyways, he talked me into buying a cheaper reg made by the same company because of what I would be using the gear for. He also offered lending me his bc, which is the one I was interested in purchasing so that I could try it out and see if it worked well for me. I didn't because my friend had the same bc and he loved it, and we both had similar body types and diving habits. Sure enough, I too love the bc and rest of my gear.

Underseas Sports is located on Federal Highway (US1) just north of Sunrise Blvd on the east side of the street.

As far as Divers Direct (World Watersports) they have a nice array of things, and they have alot of knowledgeable people as well as others who are not so knowledgeble. The prices seem to be good in some things and not so good in others. I also look at it as a if all else fails, go to diver's direct.

Diver's Direct is located Just west of i-95 and griffin. I believe there are few signs pointed to where it is, but it is by the amtrack or train station, and the place is pretty big. It is next to Outdoor World.

Hope this helps.

We are a couple miles east of you in Lighthouse Point. Here's my opinion;

For fills you can't beat FillExpress (except that they are not open on Sunday). The folks there are genuine and helpful. The price for gas is great especially if you buy a fill card and stick to 32/36 premix (or air - same price). You only pay for what you need. As for gear they are all about DiveRite. His rental gear is rotated regularly and rental is applied to purchase. You can't beat his honest customer service.

Unfortunately my wife and I are ScubaPro bigots. We buy most of our gear online at LeisurePro or ebay. However, if we had a trip in 2 days and needed to buy something across the counter we would go to Lighthouse Dive in Pompano. They are also nice people. They have ScubaPro gear for rent. We have purchased elsewhere but wouldn't go back.

For boat trips I would recommend Parrot Island or South Florida Diving Headquarters.

Finally - last week I had a very pleasant helpful experience at Force-E on Atlantic in Pompano, who used to be a ScubaPro dealer. They may have scubaPro gear for rent.

olddiver2:

I too, am new to the Ft. Lauderdale area, and have less than 50 dives. For cheap air, I like Divers Direct in Dania by the Outdoor World/Bass Proshop. Get their free card and your fills will be $2.00. Other places charge $4.00 if you buy a card worth 10 fills. The people there are friendly and have done things (adjustments, installations, parts) for me that I know other shops would have charged for. The only mystery is that it takes almost 20 minutes to fill a tank.

Click to expand...

Diver's Direct (AKA World Watersports) is a nice shop... Large selection... cheap fills...

The only thing about their fills, is that so far, they keep filling me less than 3000 psi. I am willing to pay an extra dollar or two for a FULL FILL..

Just my 2¢

I agree with the above suggestions and would like to add Coastal Marine Supply on Dania Beach Blvd. The guys there (Mike, Brian, and the others) are very knowledgable and will give you good advice and never do the old hard sell to get you into their gear.

Good luck,
Grier

And I have used Force-E for more than 10 years. They have stores in Pompano Beach and Boca Raton. My daughter took her check-out dives with them. Great time!
I still use gear I bought from them in 1995.

Thanks for all the suggestions! I appreciate it. I'm hoping to do advanced open water cert. soon and then...who knows!

howarde:

Diver's Direct (AKA World Watersports) is a nice shop... Large selection... cheap fills...

The only thing about their fills, is that so far, they keep filling me less than 3000 psi. I am willing to pay an extra dollar or two for a FULL FILL..

Just my 2¢

Click to expand...

Hmmm, I am just the opposite. Seeing 3,100+ psi each time I wonder if my al 80 will soon start to swell like a balloon fish.

Maybe it's my good looks that gets me more air?