Are you "cheap"?

[Irene]

Never add up the costs of all your equipment... ignorance is bliss.

What helps me rationalize the cost is to divide the cost per dive. Since I'm a computer geek too, I keep a running spreadsheet of my dives, with a column for the really expensive stuff. I check off the stuff I use and excel tells me what my current cost per dive is.

$500 HID light = $3/dive and still dropping!
$1000 dry suit = $13/dive and I was warm (and diving) all winter!

It hasn't been expensive at all with this perspective!

 

[Stu S.]

Let's say cost effective instead of cheap. Cost per dive is a good example. It costs 10 or 12 dollars to rent a 3mm wet suit around here, and you can buy a new one for under a hundred. Pays off in 10 dives. A BC rents for say, $15, and if you can get one you like for $300 (hopefully less), that pays off fairly fast, too. Some things have a slow payoff, like diving cylinders. Some of these rent for only two bucks more than an airfill.

You can outfit a very nice Florida diver if you shop around, for less than $1000.

Buying stuff and not using it is of course anti-cheap.

 

[dvrliz1]

I really don't know what my stuff costs, my husband treats me! I will say one thing though, even though we do watch costs, when it comes to diving, quality is paramount. With regular maintenance and good care, believe it or not I have had the same regulator for the last 14 years. I guess the "new toy" thing is a "guy" thing (ok, don't kill me for that statement, but you all have heard the adage, the only difference between men and boys are the size of their toys...). I did buy a women's BC a few years ago, due to illness couldn't dive for almost 2 years, but it fell apart. I went cheap....to me it's all about quality and the length of use with proper maintenance. Like I said my regulator is 14 years old, I love it and when it decides to retire...well it will be like loosing a very close friend.

 

[Stu S.]

Nobody on this thread seems really cheap. Cheap people bum things. Did you ever have anyone ask to borrow your regulator? How about a wetsuit? Do you lend out your computer often? If your equipment breaks in the hands of a cheapskate, they will return it to you, not repaired.

Have you ever heard: "Since you got those new wings, can I use your old BC for a while"? Cheap people bum a ride to the dive boat and back and don't donate gas money. That tank of gas for an F-150 is $50 at least. The cheapskate will want to stay in your hotel room at Pompano Beach.

What would you lend, long term, to another diver? Obviously, it depends who it is. Sometimes my friends and I share things, but typically only cylinders. We have different sizes, and can help each other out. Cheapness is not the same as sharing, it is taking advantage of the goodness in others.

I shop for price to keep diving within the family budget. That's not the same as being cheap.

 

[dbombtek]

Nobody on this thread seems really cheap. Cheap people bum things. Did you ever have anyone ask to borrow your regulator? How about a wetsuit? Do you lend out your computer often? If your equipment breaks in the hands of a cheapskate, they will return it to you, not repaired.

Have you ever heard: "Since you got those new wings, can I use your old BC for a while"? Cheap people bum a ride to the dive boat and back and don't donate gas money. That tank of gas for an F-150 is $50 at least. The cheapskate will want to stay in your hotel room at Pompano Beach.

What would you lend, long term, to another diver? Obviously, it depends who it is. Sometimes my friends and I share things, but typically only cylinders. We have different sizes, and can help each other out. Cheapness is not the same as sharing, it is taking advantage of the goodness in others.

I shop for price to keep diving within the family budget. That's not the same as being cheap.

You make cheap sound bad. A bum is anoying especially when they break your stuff.
I was given my first reg a conshelf 14 with a manta bc its old but still works like a champ I upgraded to delta 4 with a probe bc but I still keep the 14 as a backup and I love it.

 

[Stu S.]

Real cheap is worse than cheap. You are not real cheap. It reads like somebody gave you a nice gift and you have taken care of it. Real cheap means you put a bunch of cookies and a couple of Cokes from the dive boat in your gear bag, and eat em when you get back home.

 

[Guba]

Hey, Islandfrog (Brad)!
Yup, I've been on the "receiving end" of your loans on more than one occassion. Much obliged, compadre! Thankfully (but most embarassingly), I had to accept the loans of equipment due to forgetfulness and not breakage, but it was certainly nice of you to offer your gear to both me and others.
This thread is giving me a lot of ammunition for discussions with my wife. I need to run off some of these equipment lists to show her. After seeing some of them, she might decide I don't spend "that much" after all!
Then again, it might terrify her and she'll want me to drop the hobby immediately in order to prevent me from spending all that cash in the future! Hmmmmm.

 

[pupdiver]

What helps me rationalize the cost is to divide the cost per dive. Since I'm a computer geek too, I keep a running spreadsheet of my dives, with a column for the really expensive stuff. I check off the stuff I use and excel tells me what my current cost per dive is.

$500 HID light = $3/dive and still dropping!
$1000 dry suit = $13/dive and I was warm (and diving) all winter!

It hasn't been expensive at all with this perspective!

Oh man. when it degenerates into using Excel to figure out the amortizationn schedule for your dive costs, things have gotten out of hand. I hope you don't bring the laptop on the boat to figure it out real time. If you do, make sure you add a line for the cost of your laptop. Sorry, I hope I didn't just bump you up to $15/dive!

 

[IslandFrog]

Hey, Islandfrog (Brad)!
Yup, I've been on the "receiving end" of your loans on more than one occassion. Much obliged, compadre! Thankfully (but most embarassingly), I had to accept the loans of equipment due to forgetfulness and not breakage, but it was certainly nice of you to offer your gear to both me and others.
This thread is giving me a lot of ammunition for discussions with my wife. I need to run off some of these equipment lists to show her. After seeing some of them, she might decide I don't spend "that much" after all!
Then again, it might terrify her and she'll want me to drop the hobby immediately in order to prevent me from spending all that cash in the future! Hmmmmm.

Guba,
You just need to learn how to use her HGTV addiction properly. What she thinks is a new workshed for the gardening equipment can really hold a lot of gear you know!!!

 

[mnj1233]

My cable bill for the last 3 yrs was $3960 not much difference over same span.