equipment for rental advice

[Tigerman]

I have never seen a shop that rents BP/W's as standard rental gear. Not that it's not a good idea.
I wonder about the expense vs. a basic BC with weight belt though.

I typically see Sherwood and Scubapro gear for rent - Sherwood Brut's seem pretty indestructible.

I'd recommend your friend look at the material the BC's are made of also. Some models (Zeagle is one) are made of Ballistic Nylon, it will take a lot more abuse.

I don't know if beanojones is still around but afaik he was doing something similar recently.

If your friend stocks open-heel fins, he'll sell more boots. Plus if he's in Ireland do they even wear full-foot fins in cold water?

At least here, the standard process is you purchase yoru personal mask/fins/snorkel before class. It's probably a good revenue stream for a diveop since it can be upsold easily: "you're going to continue diving after class right? Better to buy the good stuff now..."

I cant say for Ireland, but here in Norway I think Ive never ever seen a diver with full-foot fins. Its not very compatible with drysuits...

 

[diveandclimb]

Most renters that I have seen don't rent mask/snorkel/fins/boots. You are expected to buy these yourself. Getting divers to make the first purchase of these items is incredibly important. Once you get them to buy a few items they can get hooked on gear ownership and end up buying it all after their certification instead of renting. If you never require new divers to buy anything they can become so used to using only rental gear that they never want to buy gear at all.

 

[Tigerman]

Most renters that I have seen don't rent mask/snorkel/fins/boots. You are expected to buy these yourself. Getting divers to make the first purchase of these items is incredibly important. Once you get them to buy a few items they can get hooked on gear ownership and end up buying it all after their certification instead of renting. If you never require new divers to buy anything they can become so used to using only rental gear that they never want to buy gear at all.

Thats all good in theory, but once you start traveling you might want to bring as little gear as possible as it can get heavy and expensive to bring your own.
Another thing is divers who travel for work or other reasons and didnt plan to dive but suddenly have the opportunity if they only had the gear.
The dive ops ive been using when ive been traveling gladly rent you anything but fresh underwear, but personally I can only just get under the weight limit if I dont bring my suit, weights and tank so thats what I do. I usually weigh in 0.5 lbs under the weight limit when doing so though..

 

[diveandclimb]

@Tigerman: That's a good point. I think it really depends on the location of the OP's friend's business. I have only dove with LDSs in cold water locations and I think they are more gear sale/long term customer building focused and I think that warm water shops are more aimed at getting as much from each vacation diver as they can before they go home.

 

[Doc]

Sounds like one of those peculiar lines of questions that got the FBI all interested in SCUBA diving schools back in 2002.

 

[diveandclimb]

Sounds like one of those peculiar lines of questions that got the FBI all interested in SCUBA diving schools back in 2002.

Honestly, I think that its is kind of crazy to think that an OW SCUBA cert is going to do anything to help a terrorist. The whole underwater explosion issue is much harder implement as part of a plot than actually getting the device to the target. But one thing I will say is that the OPs friend is going to be screwed if they think they can run a dive op but can't even figure out what gear to buy.

 

[vtxkev]

I have never seen a shop that rents BP/W's as standard rental gear. Not that it's not a good idea.
I wonder about the expense vs. a basic BC with weight belt though.

My shop has 2 of the BP&W units in their rental gear. One for adults and the other for children. I am also glad they do because as a bigger guy this is the only piece of equipment that would fit me. I recommend at least 1 & 1. FWIW they also rent with weight pockets but usually just the weight belt.