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I am finally cleared after an accident to finish my certification. My certification instructor has told me what I need to do to finish. Woohoo! My question is this: I have a friend that is telling me to buy my tanks.
Is it better to purchase your own tanks or rent them for the day at the dive location (ie Vortex?)
I would definitely rent the tanks for a check out dive. I don't know the rates at Vortex but it should be less than $20 for Alum 80 rental and a fill or 2.
Save your money on tanks now, soon you will have so much more "stuff" that you will want to buy!
Agreed, tanks are nice but should be one of the last things purchased. I see you live in Birmingham, how often do you think you are going to dive in a year?
Still, if you decide you need to buy, there are good deals on craigslist if you are patient.
Tanks were one of the first things I bought. I didn't want to make a trip to a dive shop every time I wanted to dive and their hours weren't fitting my schedule very well. Also it was a major pain in the ass to get 'em back to the dive shop after diving because they weren't open when it was convenient to me.
To me it's a little misleading to say tanks were first or last thing to be purchased. I'm always buying dive equipment so who knows where they fall into place.
I bought my tanks shortly after getting certified because I like the convenience of having my tanks home, filled & ready to go; no rushing to the shop to rent stuff. Plus my LDS has offers free fills with the purchase of tanks, if you're diving regularly it's less expensive than renting.
If you're going to be an occasional diver or a holiday diver buying tanks may not make sense for you. If you plan on diving locally & regularly it could be a worthwhile purchase (tanks were just about the last thing I bought).
Agreed, tanks are nice but should be one of the last things purchased. I see you live in Birmingham, how often do you think you are going to dive in a year?
Still, if you decide you need to buy, there are good deals on craigslist if you are patient.
I do live in Birmingham. I graduate from Samford in May. I start law school in Tuscaloosa next fall. I'm torn over the tank situation because my schedule is just so busy. I am asking myself would it be worth the money to not have to be on a LDS schedule?
I do plan on diving at least five times a year either at Vortex or Blue Water in Pelham.
I would definitely rent the tanks for a check out dive. I don't know the rates at Vortex but it should be less than $20 for Alum 80 rental and a fill or 2.
Save your money on tanks now, soon you will have so much more "stuff" that you will want to buy!
There are things I've been looking at I want to buy. A few of my friends are thinking about getting certified so we are looking at the wireless systems for when we all dive together.
I put tanks at the bottom of the list simply because without all the other stuff higher on the list, you can't dive without renting something and you might as well get tanks at the same time.
If you already have everything else, then yes, it's time to buy some tanks. It's nice to have the tanks filled and ready to go at a moment's notice.
Here's what I did since I still consider myself a new diver. I bought all of my gear and left tanks for last. Once I started logging more than 3 dives per month or 2 tanks per day boat diving, I felt it was worth it in the long run to have my own tanks. So I purchased them and now my diving has increased because I have them and can get them filled on my schedule.
If you're only going to dive about 5 times a year, I can't see that the cost is worthwhile unless you have extra cash to burn. That was the advice my instructors gave me. But in that case there's always other more fun dive gear to purchase, IMO.
Good luck either way, I enjoy having my tanks, but wouldn't have done it if I only planned on diving a handful of times a year.
Last edited by N2DeepInAz; November 2nd, 2009 at 12:57 PM.
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Originally Posted by OldNSalty
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