Damselfish
Contributor
There are many places to buy gear besides Craigslist and your local shop. Such as other shops, obviously. There's many online stores, many of which are local shops that simply do a lot of business online too. There's some independents that pretty much sell their own products that are good but sometimes not sold elsewhere. eBay (of course pretty much like buying on Craigslist just less likely to be local, but sometimes it can work out.) Scubaboard is probably a more reliable place to find used gear than eBay or Craigslist, because if someone is selling overpriced or junk or is known to be an unreliable seller, someone will probably see it and say something. Same with other scuba message boards.Anyways, I have been checking Craigslist every few days for gear, and everything seems very high end or very low end- nothing in between.
There is a shop that offers free OW class and certification with purchase of a scuba gear package. Now, I know that I would end up paying for the class one way or the other, but at least this way I can pick each element to fit me and also have the peace of mind that everything is from the same store, with warranties, and I would be learning on gear that I will dive with. The store also offers free pool time for life, discounts on dive trips they do, and they have a great reputation for 50+ years.
As far as Craig's list (or any source of used gear), sometimes you can find fair to great deals on good stuff. And sometimes you will find junk, or ok gear that is way overpriced - often people have an inflated opinion of what the used gear sitting in their garage for 10 years is worth. It all comes down to learning about gear and doing your homework, and will take more time than buying new . Note that high-priced does not always correlate to high end or good - and vice versa.
Buying everything from one shop does not allow you to pick each element, it limits you to what they sell, which will be a subset of all the many brands available and may not be what you discover you really want. As far as peace of mind that everything is from one store, that's not one I've heard before, and I don't really see why it would offer peace of mind. Learning on gear you will dive with is not necessarily a good thing, learning is the perfect time to try some things and see what you like or don't like about them. It sounds like you are talking about buying before even starting class. Nearly all people will tell you that's not a good idea, and you should only buy the things you really need to and can't rent. (Buying just mask/snorkel, maybe fins and booties, is much more typical.) You don't know if you will like diving, or if you might turn out to have some problem with it. Even if you love it, which you probably will, you really will have no idea what kind of gear you want until you at least learn to dive and try a few things. After diving awhile there's still a chance you'll change your mind on some stuff, but buying before you start gives you even less chance of buying gear you won't want to replace in a year, or a month.
So maybe the shop is great, but I'd be quite leery of tying together class and gear like that. I don't think they are doing you any favors and I doubt it will save you money over paying for a class and buying what you really want where you want - especially if you have buyers remorse and wind up replacing things. Maybe you will buy some things from them, but you don't want to be locked in or limit yourself. I'm not fond of packages, or of buying everything from one shop, or of buying everything one brand.
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