Cheap Bastard Divers

[captain]

Damn, I wish I had found that out before I bought all this crap...

Mask, fins, boots, snorkle - $250
Hood and gloves - $150
Drysuit - $2,000
Undies - $375
Regs - $1,200
Computer - $1,200
Bottom timer - $200
SPG - $175
Doubles (2 sets) $2,500
Deco bottle - $175
Deco reg - $400
Deco SPG - $125
21w cannister light - $1,200
Backup lights (2) - $350
Wreck reel - $200
BP/W - $650
Lift bag - $150
Fills - ???
Training - $2500 and counting
Spools, clips, lights, strobes, hoses, and everything else I've forgotten - another $1,000 easy.

Kind of verifies my must have the latest and greatest statement
I bought an unused drysuit on ebay for $200, hood $35 and use regular long underware for about $35
I made a wreck reel for only the cost of my time.
My computer was $130 on ebay
My bottom timer is a $35 Timex watch
50# lift bag $50
And I only dive air so other than compressor supplies it's free.
You chose to dive the way you do which runs up the cost but do you have more fun (the reason I dive) than me.

 

[TravisD]

I didn't read ALL 14 pages either, but I read most of them so I hope I'm not repeating here...But another angle on the price of dive gear is that there are fewer divers in the world than there are golfers, bikers, etc.

There's also another factor at work -- overhead. Diving is the only sport listed here (I think!) that requires certification. So you have shops doing certification at a loss, carrying overhead in the form of pools, instructors, divemasters,etc (not necessarily paying them...but discounts on their gear certainly have to get made up somewhere else...). Heck, even their "free" airfills have to be made up somewhere to cover the expense of running the compressor.

The averge bike shop can exist in just about any enclosed space of sufficient size, and their "pool" is the road or parking lot outside the door. And nobody has to come in and be certified before they can ride a bike -- or ski, or any of the others. Most probably got into it via a friend or just said "hey, I'm going to go do xx" - and bought or rented gear to try out As such, their cost model is a little simpler - sales and service only.

I'm certainly not an economist, but I can certainly see who all has their hands in the till when it comes to why the markups are so high.

 

[captain]

There's also another factor at work -- overhead. Diving is the only sport listed here (I think!) that requires certification. So you have shops doing certification at a loss, carrying overhead in the form of pools, instructors, divemasters,etc (not necessarily paying them...but discounts on their gear certainly have to get made up somewhere else...). Heck, even their "free" airfills have to be made up somewhere to cover the expense of running the compressor.

The averge bike shop can exist in just about any enclosed space of sufficient size, and their "pool" is the road or parking lot outside the door. And nobody has to come in and be certified before they can ride a bike -- or ski, or any of the others. Most probably got into it via a friend or just said "hey, I'm going to go do xx" - and bought or rented gear to try out As such, their cost model is a little simpler - sales and service only.

I'm certainly not an economist, but I can certainly see who all has their hands in the till when it comes to why the markups are so high.

True, but it wasn't always like that. I had a shop in the 60's. I had a compressor but no pool and no instruction and I also sold other types of sporting goods and general hardware. You got certified at the YMCA or through a recreation department such as LA County. Dive gear was sold at department stores, sporting goods stores and mail order. It wasn't until PADI came on the scene with the all encompassing dive shop, equioment, training and dive travel did the business change to what it is today. John Cronin the co founder of PADI was a master salesman and he was the developer of the model for today's dive shop.
Previous to PADI Cronin was involved in the equipment manufacturing side of the business so with his influence it was easy to tie the manufactures into their equipment pricing policies of today.

Oc Founder of PAI Dies John J Cronin

 

[RJP]

Well, the key words were "doesn't have to be...expensive". The first step is to move to someplace with warm water.

I've put my expenditures in parentheses next to yours. A lot of what you purchased may be needed for your tech diving, but certainly isn't for a rec diver. The sport can be a lot less expensive than you suggest for most people.

Kind of verifies my must have the latest and greatest statement

You chose to dive the way you do which runs up the cost but do you have more fun (the reason I dive) than me.

Actually, the key word in the post I was responding to was LOCAL.

Local diving here in NJ is predominantly deep, dark, cold, low-viz wrecks. The gear I listed is pretty much what you need if you're going to do any significant local diving. I could get away with somewhat less expensive versions of what I use, but that wouldn't save all that much in the grand scheme of things.

Could have bought a cheaper drysuit, or maybe a 10w can light, but I certainly couldn't get away with renting AL80's and diving air in a used wetsuit with a handheld light that I found and a wreck reel I made in my basement. And "move someplace warm" isn't option - certainly not a viable way of reducing cost.

 

[Scubadoo72]

I am sure this has been said...but...

I golf, mountain bike, hunt, and dive...none of them are as expensive as my diving hobby. Now that I am geared up though...I don't see a lot of residual costs (that are worth mentioning).

I am a cheap bastard but I won't cut myself short on my (dive)gear..it is far too important.

 

[ACR]

I'd think a ski resort has far higher overhead than a dive shop would have.

 

[CrackedConch]

Scuba Class: $500
Scuba Equipment: $1500
Dive Trip to the Caribbean: $1400

Diving on reefs and wrecks while seeing sharks, turtles, eels, rays and a ton of other fish: PRICELESS!!!


There aren't any other recreational activities (that I know)that "hook" certain types of people the way diving does. If you are one of those people, there is simply nothing like it!

Diving is just plain worth it!!!

 

[eko_eko]

What is it about scuba diving that brings the cheap bastards out of the woodwork?:365:

Compare diving to a few other recreational sports:

Skiing/snowboarding

It is far less expensive to be outfitted with high end scuba diving equipment than it is to be similarily outfitted with equipment for any of the above sports. I seldom hear people griping about the cost of those other sports.

I used to ski 3-4 times per week. I paid $99 for an evening pass -- all you can ski after 4pm any day of the week all season long. I bought my gear used except for my helmet and gloves. I have full skiwear, two pairs of skis, a set of poles, a snowboard, and the necessary boots for both sports. I spent less on skiing and snowboarding in three years than I have on SCUBA in as many months. A lot less.

SCUBA is damned expensive. Lots of the parts are available cheaply for other applications (o-rings, shears) but because they are for SCUBA they are marked up like crazy.

$15 for a logbook? I can buy an actual hard-bound book by an award winning author for less than that.

$300+ for a computer (read: a depth meter and timer with a built-in set of dive tables)? I've got pocket calculators with more horsepower that could do the same math with greater precision.

$500+ for a can light? Read the DIY board. If someone can build a single one for $100, a factory could pump them out for $20.

Let's not even talk about transportation. If I didn't own my own boat, I'd never have gotten certified.

 

[sambolino44]

True, but what really adds the layer of cost for diving is the need for a boat (usually).

I don't have a boat; I shore dive mostly. But I spent more for my drysuit than I did for my car!

I think several people mentioned reasons that contribute to why diving is so expensive: overhead for the shops, low numbers of divers compared to the other sports, plus the a lot of the gear really is pretty high-tech.

 

[Nemrod]

There is an amazing amount of gear that is pure junk, fahion first, functiion last absolute c---p on the market. There is just as much that is completely unimaginitive, fluffed up consumer bait that is not needed or required for diving. Spending a ton of money on fashion gear with pretty colors and fluffy padding is not smart nor is buying up a bunch of "accesories" to festoon oneself with--no thanks.

N