Do you feel safer owning your own equipment?

[gcarter]

Feel safer because I know its service history and my familiarity increases my comfort in my ability to deal with issues if they DO arise. I do not let it make me feel complacent.

 

[chrpai]

I'd say it's more of a process... I was very involved in understanding the choices available to me, selected my kit, assembled it, care for it... I'm fully involved and theres no magic to it. This is what I feel makes me feel safer not just because I own it or dive it a lot.

 

[TMHeimer]

Yes for same reason I feel safer driving my car instead of e rental, I know where everything is and how it works.

Exactly. My stuff was mostly bought used and I've been diving with it since day 1 - 7+ years ago. I think that brand new rental stuff would probably actually be safer due to age of my stuff. But of course, it's more comfortable with your own stuff. Plus, like a new car that's a rental, you could just get a lemon anyway, it would be less safe, and you have to get used to a rental.

 

[birdwrasse]

thanks to everyone who has replied and posted responses! the feedback has been great!


--c

 

[tracydr]

I feel safer with my stuff because every time I go diving I do a careful run-through of all my gear. Everything gets checked out in the quiet of my house and I often jump in my pool if its been awhile and I need to make sure everything is in good working order.
my husband is very mechanical so if I have any questions he's able to help me fix almost anything, he even rebuilds our regulators. I know everything is well serviced because I know that my technician has my safety in mind and wasn't in a hurry while working on my gear. Plus, I didn't have to hurry at all while checking my gear out.
Lastly, I pack everything up and it always goes in the bag the same way. My husband has similar gear and packs his bag almost the same. When we get to a dive site ( shore diving) we unpack on a tarp the same way every time. We both put our stuff in the same spot every time (mirror image) so that we don't forget anything.
We have a similar process for boat diving.
Can't do anything like this with rental gear. I don't like getting gear last minute and being unfamiliar with it. Something important is more likely to be forgotten or non-functioning.

 

[traveler218]

I said no because I have always felt "safe" in rental equipment. For me it has always been more of a comfort and familiarity thing. I like knowing every detail about how each price of equipment works and what the features are, that's hard to do with rental equipment.

The more I think about it though, having that level of knowledge and comfort with my gear contributes to safety because I am more relaxed and know exactly how to respond in an emergency. So essentially i do feel safer.

 

[divin'dog]

Totally safe!... I always know that I have to hold the left weight pocket in when slightly inverted, that the inflator button will stick only if I press too hard, that my BC only leaks a little bit and that my mouthpiece is easy to put back on when it separates from the regulator. Other than that, I feel pretty safe...

 

[Tigerman]

Totally safe!... I always know that I have to hold the left weight pocket in when slightly inverted, that the inflator button will stick only if I press too hard, that my BC only leaks a little bit and that my mouthpiece is easy to put back on when it separates from the regulator. Other than that, I feel pretty safe...

Yeah, but imagine renting gear you dont expect to have such quirks and being surprised when they kick in :crazyeye:

 

[ajduplessis]

Yes!!

I maintain and service my equipment according to manufactures specifications and test dive (NDL) all equipment before any tech dives. I am also very familiar with my kit and can find/adjust/remove/troubleshoot every piece of kit blindfolded and know how it will behave. You can't do that with unfamiliar kit/configurations.

 

[Searcaigh]

Feel much safer using my own gear, if you saw some rental gear in this part of the world you would know why.