Do You Really Trust Rental Gear?

[JustAnotherDiveBum]

This is in no way set up to discourage or scare any new diver out there! SCUBA gear is almost bulletproof! I know this from better than 10 years in the industry and over twenty years as a diver. If you watch Myth Busters they proved SCUBA Tanks are in fact "Bullet Proof". My question and what I am looking for is more along the lines of what is really expected and how have you been disapointed or pleased? Weight belts vs. integrated BC's ect. Computer costing extra? If rental gear has failed you I want to know why and how!
Shops are required to service their gear and the gear is required to be safe but whats the deciding factor for good rental and bad rental gear? even if you are on your third or fourth set of personal gear you have rented in the past, there is no shame in it we've all had to rent at one point so lets find out why people complain so much about rental gear!

 

[DandyDon]

Renting computers is like renting a dive camera or a bulldozer: You have no idea how to work it. Most of the dive gear is similar enough that if you know how to check it out and do so, it's probly safe enough. Flying gear to destinations is getting so expensive, it's tempting to rent, but I like diving my own gear that I know well - and know when the regs were serviced as well as how they've been treated in the water.

 

[DevonDiver]

Rental gear varies greatly in quality depending upon the supplier. You can expect it to be 'worn', but it should be fully functional. There's no excuses for leaks and other defects.

 

[Jim Ernst]

The shop I started Diving with ( Got open water Certed with) and is the place I used to rent all of my gear through of course.

The last time I ever rented gear, My Girlfriend and I were at 35-38 feet, I took a breath and all was fine, Next breath, I got a mouth full of water, I switched to my alternate, Looked down to see the pieces of my primary Reg in the sand, My girlfriend and I picked up the pieces and called the dive...

Back on the surface, took the pieces to my Instructor, who was also the Gear Tech, showed him, He yelled at the shop owner about not updating the old worn out gear, Saying the new diver that I was could have drown, He then set me up with the gear that I still use today!!

I have not used rental gear sense, That being said, I am with a different shop as an Instructor, and their rental gear is very strictly inspected after every use...

 

[Bubbletrubble]

When it comes to renting regs and BCDs, I care that the gear is in good functional order. I'll do a comprehensive check on everything before leaving the shop. If I find any issues with the gear, I'll ask the shop to make an adjustment or provide a replacement.

Often times people pass judgment on rental gear based on cosmetics alone. A few scratches/blemishes here or there shouldn't affect the functionality of the gear, though.

In my experience, the most common complaint that people have with rental gear has to do with the reg. They rent the reg without testing it in the shop first. They hop in the car, drive to the dock, and board a dive boat. When they finally attach the reg to a tank and pressurize the system, they find that one of the second stages is hissing a little bit (minor freeflow). They blame the shop for renting out faulty equipment. The truth of the matter is that it's an issue they should have identified when they first took possession of the equipment. I wish that OW instructors would spend some time teaching their students how to do a comprehensive reg inspection.

 

[Jorgy]

It depends on the Dive Op.......

I have used some great rental gear in Maui, Spain, Italy and the Red Sea.....I have bought former rentals from my LDS for my family......

If i would dive with an op, I would use their rental gear......biggest issue for me is the boat, the crew and breathing gas......

I do get a kick out of folks who say that they always use their gear because they know it is well maintained......then they strap on a tank of gas filled from a compressor owned by an op that they would not use rental gear from....

I have also seen plenty of regs free flow/fall apart/o rings blow and BCD's leak that were hauled halfway around the world......

I get that folks like to dive the gear they know, it is more comfortable.....so I do sometimes haul my own gear....but if my wing or reg became damaged, I would rent in a heart beat......

Just my thoughts........M

 

[Crowley]

Rental gear -

Requirements for the customer - it fits comfortably, works, and doesn't kill you.

Requirements for the dive centre - it fits reasonably well, works, doesn't kill customers, is easy to maintain and inexpensive.

Harsh, perhaps, but true. Equipment is a significant overhead for dive centres - actually probably the most significant overhead. Given the financial issues and potential liability involved, the equipment may well be a bit worn, but at least in my experience, is well cared for and well maintained. One lawsuit over a malfunctioning regulator could wipe out an entire dive centre, so it's in the interests of all parties concerned to ensure that rental equipment is working comfortably and safely.

Yes, some dive centres will look at profit margins versus safety, so don't dive with them.

Given the volume of custom that your typical resort dive centre has to deal with, there will inevitably be some failures, but these are usually fixed on setup, rather than in water. Leaks and freeflows and whatnot are usually obvious as soon as you open the tank valve.

As I have posted before - for recreational divers on a budget looking to buy their own equipment, you can't really go wrong with the basic rental packages marketed by - for example - Scubapro. It might not be as trick as the thousand dollar christmas tree BCD but it's solid, inexpensive and works.

For sure, comfort, fit and style are required, and more technical diving requires that a person has this that or the other type of equipment, but for basic recreational floating about with the fish sort of diving, rental packages are usually pretty good. I base this claim on the fact that, for the last six years, very few people actually complain about the gear we rent to them.

When a dive centre owns 250 BCDs/regs whatever, then failure of one component or another is pretty much guaranteed, but in 99.9999% of cases, it's fixed during equipment setup, and random failures underwater cannot be predicted, and although they do happen, are very rare.

There are exceptions, but generally speaking, rental gear is a pretty safe choice.

Cheers

C.

 

[jcfahy]

One bad experience in Saudi side of Red Sea and now I try to have my own reg with me. The rented SPG needle got stuck and i ran low own air but without incident as i was watching my computer and following the plan. Next dive the BC started to bubble for loss of air. The incidents were within my first 25 dives but the strange series of event boosted my confidence that I would cope without panic. I did the pre-dive equipment checks. I will still rent when necessary but am more fastidious in equip checks.

 

[scubafanatic]

The problem with rental gear is that you don't know until it's too late the quality of the on-site rental gear, when it's a little late to wish you'd brought your own stuff. Also, it's one thing to be doing kiddie/discover scuba dives off the beach versus being in a remote/hardcore diving situation, where I'm not trusting my life to 'low bidder'--'rode hard and put away wet gear'! Sure, the vast majority of divers using low-end/rental gear seem to survive OK, but for the 'serious' diver (experienced in diving and experienced in evaluating the associated risks) rental gear is definitely 'plan B'.

For me personally, I'm exceptionally demanding with respect to dive gear (I custom design/build/modify my own gear) with 100's of advanced open ocean dives in good, bad, and ugly conditions, and I like my gear to be perfect in form and function (and condition)...light years beyond anything you'll ever see in a rental fleet, which gives me the peace of mind to really enjoy those dives that I've invested much time/$ trying to accomplish on a spendy vacation.

 

[Searcaigh]

The shop I started Diving with ( Got open water Certed with) and is the place I used to rent all of my gear through of course.

The last time I ever rented gear, My Girlfriend and I were at 35-38 feet, I took a breath and all was fine, Next breath, I got a mouth full of water, I switched to my alternate, Looked down to see the pieces of my primary Reg in the sand, My girlfriend and I picked up the pieces and called the dive...

Back on the surface, took the pieces to my Instructor, who was also the Gear Tech, showed him, He yelled at the shop owner about not updating the old worn out gear, Saying the new diver that I was could have drown, He then set me up with the gear that I still use today!!

I have not used rental gear sense, That being said, I am with a different shop as an Instructor, and their rental gear is very strictly inspected after every use...

I had a similar situation in Thailand years ago and since then always carry all of my own gear except weights.

When I first move to Saudi back in the 80s the magic number was 35 dives, any more than that number of dives per year then it was economical to own your own equipment and that included your own tank back then.