Do you feel safer owning your own equipment?

[tracydr]

I know my own gear which makes me feel safer. I know how everything works which lessons my task loading. I know that it's all pretty new and I know that what's is not new is in very good working order and recently checked. I check everything in my pool before any trip and when I buy new gear or reconfigure anything. I do pool or lake checks regularly, especially if its been awhile since our last dive trip. Living in a desert, we don't get to go diving all the time. It's a big deal to even drive to the lake and my husband hates lake diving but I can use my pool anytime I want so I take advantage of this and make sure my gear is familiar to me and functioning properly.
This is so much better than getting to a dive trip and having gear I've never used and that I'm unfamiliar wwithers it something I'm renting or just purchased. I don't even like to dive with a new set of fins or new light without doing a pool or lake dive first.
I haven't seen too much chlorine damage either, although I try not to use my good drysuit or BC much in the pool.

 

[Insta-Gator]

Yep, I do.

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[redacted]

If I buy a reg from a local dive store and then have them service it, is it any safer than renting a reg from the same store serviced by the same person?

Obviously I can be more familiar with my gear if I've got the same setup every week, and It'll cop less abuse if it's just me using it, but it's still the same tech signing off to say that equipment's good to go.

If you ever had any trouble with your gear, would you do something about it or might you just return the gear and not bother to mention it?

 

[tech_diver]

If you don't feel safer and more comfortable in the gear you purchased, you probably bought the wrong gear...

 

[Aquabot]

Yes I do. At least I know how its been taken care of.


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[beanojones]

If you ever had any trouble with your gear, would you do something about it or might you just return the gear and not bother to mention it?

I wish we had an industry standard about this. But if someone rents gear and ties off the hose of the bit having problems, for the most part, people will check that part of the gear.

Although several places I worked at, they complained about people doing that, claiming it was bad for the hoses.

 

[tplyons]

Absolutely. I have it serviced as needed, and I know the person that services my gear very well.

Can't say the same about some of the rentals out there.

 

[Griffo]

Very shortly after I learnt to dive I received a set of rental gear and over 2 days had
a) a split inflator hose
b) an SPG that got "stuck" around half way down
c) a very wet breathing reg

I decided then and there to buy my own gear.

 

[NW Dive Dawg]

Definitely feel safer in our own gear. Primarily due to complete familiarity with the performance, fit and function, and secondly knowing the history, treatment, storage, etc.

As for service and maintenance in general, I personally think a lot of it is LDS profit motivated overkill. Kinda like the oil changer folks telling you that you must change your oil every3,000 miles. Yeah, Yeah, I know….. ifyour reg fails, you can’t just pull over and call AAA.. Heard it.

BUT….yearly maintenance does contribute to the LDS financial health so that’s a bonus that is worth considering.

My wife and I have our regs serviced about every 3 or 4 years and we've never paid a cent for BC maintenance. Just clean and maintain well…. store properly. We both dive Zeagle Stiletto’s in warm water and Sea Quest Black Diamonds in cold.

As far as peripheral gear goes, I just carry an extra mask strap, fin strap, multi-tool and misc o-ring pack in my BC pocket for any needed pre-dive malfunctions that might happen.

Bottom line….. IMHO……is that dive gear is just like our boat and our bodies. Use it and it takes a lick’n and keeps on tick’n. Let it sit, and it can deteriorate quickly.

 

[Abaco24]

Really 49 replies to this? No I prefer to rent my gear from a guy in an ally who says he sells Nitooks, has no teeth and its all out of a van!