Do NOT rent regulators

[cerich]

A BC isn't quite so bad.

I disagree, it has been my observation while living/working as an instructor in Cayman for 5 years in the 90's that as many i not more "issues" were caused by rental BCD's than regs.

 

[Hoomi]

$1750 is dive shop pricing.. Thats just too much..
For our last 3 sets of gear, we purchased through LP, we got an Oceanic BC, Oceanic Sport 8 reg set with octo and a Tusa Hunter (Basically a console with a puck computer (IQ700) in it). So all of that.. Which is basically your BC, Gauges, Regs and Computer for $675. Not once but 3 times. At different times. So I know they still do the deal. Thats pretty cheap if you ask me.

I made the mistake of going through my local Dive shop for my gear and paid almost what the 3 sets cost me. Not a good deal.

After having been on many boats and dives (sure not that many compared to some of you...) I know I prefer my gear that I depend on way more than the gear I see people using from these places..

Great deals are out there, and savvy shoppers will find them. Some new divers, especially, won't know what to look for, though, and will stick with their local shop where they can handle the merchandise before deciding, try things on for fit, avail themselves of the shopkeeper's advice (which may be good or may be purely profit motivated), and will be lucky if they get out for only $1750. If they have a Platinum Card with a lot of available credit, they could easily spend a WHOLE lot more.

I will add my endorsement of supporting our local shops as much as we can, because if we have a good shop in our area, we want to keep it there. Internet and mail-order vendors can offer great prices and terrific selections, but when it's the day before we leave on the big trip, and we find we need to replace some important part of our dive gear, internet or mail order is very unlikely to get what we need to us in time for our trip.

 

[psychocabbage]

Internet and mail-order vendors can offer great prices and terrific selections, but when it's the day before we leave on the big trip, and we find we need to replace some important part of our dive gear, internet or mail order is very unlikely to get what we need to us in time for our trip.

I see this point brought up time and time again..

Just a difference in thinking.. or perhaps how we are diving..

I have found that when I find I need something before a dive trip, its already past the hours of the local dive shops.. Either that, or the dive shop should be open but they are not available since they are doing something else themselves. Repair? Not going to happen while you wait.. so, I just figure I will go shopping when I get there and often times have found awesome deals in other countries at their local dive shops.

The Keys? OMG their dive shops have the best prices in the States. Next time we are just goint to go there to buy equipment more than dive. Huge savings to be had.

All of my local dive shops can go bust. I wont sweat it. Will just let me move ahead on my plans to get a max air compressor for our own use. hahha

 

[miketsp]

I have 4 sets of regs for 3 family members, but purely for economical reasons.
And it's only economical because we dive a lot.
Otherwise the amortization cost per dive plus the yearly service costs (i used to do my own servicing but nowadays I never seem to have the time :depressed:

But in general I very rarely see rental regs have failures and in many places even the DMs are using regs from those available for rental.

After all a reg is a pretty simple device with a very high MTBF and as was already commented, most failures are actually provoked by servicing errors.

On the issue of the higiene of mouthpieces. Most complaints revolve around this aspect or torn mouthpieces that are difficult to hold in the mouth. Quite frankly, it's not a major investment to carry a mouthpiece and a couple of zip ties. Practically all regs on the market take one of two standard sizes. I don't believe any operator will complain about you doing a temporary swap. Especially if you justify it with a nicer mouthpiece like a comfi-bite or molded one.

 

[PToone]

As a boat/shore guide in a visitor destination, I'm pretty sure I can speak for my peers about the most likely regulator on the boat to free-flow; the serviced last week previously in some landlocked closet for the last 18 months reg. Even my oldest and ugliest rental reg was in the water just a few days ago and worked well enough to make a dive.

Percentage of dives aborted due rental reg failure vs successful rental reg dives might be less than 5%. Percentage of dives aborted due occasionally used personal reg failure vs successful occasionally used personal reg dives might be over 30%.

95%. Percentage of tourist divers who had to abort first vacation dive due occasionally used personal reg failure who said, "I just got that reg serviced before I left home."

Did you know that 85% of statistics are made up?

 

[marcaumarc]

Most just dip them in a barrel of water that just had peed in wetsuits in it.

I ALWAYS pee on my own mouthpiece before using a rental. The thought of other peoples' pee on it just weirds me out.

 

[Teamcasa]

We have to keep in mind that posts like many of the above forget the fact that a majority of ScubaBoard members dive on a regular basis and most own their own gear so the idea of renting is appalling.

As for buying on eBay, Craigs list or even here in the classifieds, I would suspect the biggest problem is not the actual gear condition but the state of the gear condition vs the sellers opinion of that condition and shipping/paying problems.

(I'm making the following statement with zero facts to back it up)
I would suspect that the majority of divers that rent are vacation divers that dive very infrequently and renting is a viable option for them. I'd also bet that most rental gear is well cared for and will give the vacation diver a safe dive.

 

[Monkey_Gland]

I have all my dive gear vacuum sealed. I don't dive in the sea, it's had other people and fish piddle in it.

 

[mike_s]

I will add my endorsement of supporting our local shops as much as we can, because if we have a good shop in our area, we want to keep it there. Internet and mail-order vendors can offer great prices and terrific selections, but when it's the day before we leave on the big trip, and we find we need to replace some important part of our dive gear, internet or mail order is very unlikely to get what we need to us in time for our trip.

Heck... I've had that problem before in the past, but it wasn't an internet dive shop but your local LDS. Most of them don't stock much of anything in parts.

At least now I don't have to worry about that because we have a "Fully stocking LDS, including parts" where I live. But... he wouldn't be able to keep a "full stock" unless he didn't also have the volume of online sales he does.

So you can blame not having parts on people not supporting their LDS and buying online, but I can show you how having a LDS that has a larger volume because of online just means more selection and parts for us locally.

We have to keep in mind that posts like many of the above forget the fact that a majority of ScubaBoard members dive on a regular basis and most own their own gear so the idea of renting is appalling.

As for buying on eBay, Craigs list or even here in the classifieds, [snip]
.

One thing to note, our orignal poster who is against using rental gear is apparently ok with buying USED gear from unknown and unguarenteed "suppliers" such as used EBAY stuff.

His initial post itself is basically an Oxymoron!

 

[Hoomi]

In the words of Weird Al Yankovic:

Stuff that other people throw away,
I'll buy on e-bay.