i am new to diving and i have a question about cost

[kunegochu]

please help, I here that diving is a lot of money, i was wondering around how much will I be spending if i have my own equipment? i plan on going 2-4 times a month.

 

[sberanek]

Are you asking how much equipment costs or how much diving once you have your own equipment costs?

The equipment cost varies greatly.

Diving cost varies on when/where/how you go.

In my local quarry it's a $20 entry fee plus whatever you spend on air fills and bratwurst.
I mostly do freshwater because I'm in the middle of the country with no easy or cheap access to salt water so there are others who can fill you in on that one.

--Shannon

 

[Jimmer]

You can always rent your gear for a little while before deciding if you are going to be an avid enough diver to warrant purchasing your own gear. I would say expect to pay minimum of $1000 to get a set of dive gear, and the sky is the limit from there. You can spend as much as you like on dive gear. Do you have access to free shore diving nearby? If not you have to factor in entry fees to quarrys, or boat charter fees as well. Talk to some local divers and dive shops and get an idea of what sort of expense to expect.

Jim

 

[prthd9]

please help, I here that diving is a lot of money, i was wondering around how much will I be spending if i have my own equipment? i plan on going 2-4 times a month.

If you provide more information it will be easier to gauge your cost. You did say you were going to dive 2-4 times a month, which in itself is a large range. Not too many divers in the grand sceme dive 1 a week. If you do it is much cheaper to purchase your gear. I dive in SoCal and rentals are betwee $50 & $60 dollars for less than decent gear. I purchased all mine I think for around 2500 - 3000. I usually dive 1-2 times per week, which justifies my purchasing of gear. I bought a fill card to get my tanks filled and it now only cost me about $3 plus gas to go diving.

There are some things you don't need to buy like a tank. Tanks are merely a convenience and you will not see any return on your tank investment for a long time if at all, but I wanted to dive steel and not aluminum.

First you need to know how often you are going to dive before you start buying gear. Its a classic "cost benefit analysis".

 

[TCWestby]

So far I'm into it for about $3800.00 after buying my basic gearincluding my recent purchase of a used dry suit. now that that is done it is just the cost of air fills, I live in the seattle area and there are lots of free shore dives here. My buddies and I try to get 1-2 dives in every friday as an unwinder after work.

 

[Spratman]

My initial outlay as a newbie was about $1500. That was good equipment, used and new. Regs and wetsuit are the most critical. You want something that is solid and reliable. With the wetsuit, if you aren't comfortable, diving will be a torturous experience.

Others have already gave some good advice. Dive safe!

 

[David P]

class $600
mask 100
fins 100
booties 50
gloves 30
snorkel 20 (obviously you can get cheaper or more expensive, but these are prices for good quality gear)
These are the necessary personal gear you'll need... after that comes
wetsuit 300
BC 500 (big range her but Ill say backplate wings and HOG harness)
Regulator 500 (again good quality but can get cheaper)
tank 150 aluminum
tank 400 steel
then all the little stuff like lights, compass, slate, nitrox class,
boat fees around here are ~$100
then you get:
doubles 1200
new wing 400
can light 1400
2 good regs 1000
drysuit 2000
argon kit 300
deco bottle 700 (with another good reg)
advanced nitrox class
deco class
cavern class
cave class
Trimix class
rebreathers...

by the way have you noticed that Diving is followed by Divorce in the phone book?

 

[TheWetRookie]

Since you are just starting out and most likely not sure of what to buy, brand model and such. Look for a shop that has a rental package. Some stores out there offer 3 or 6 month rental packages, even 1 year I have seen. Doing this at the begining is cheap and allows you time to see what is out there and what other people are diving without investing a lot of money up front. It gives you time to ask other divers questions and seek their advice directly and even touch and maybe use the gear first.

As far as cost goes it varies greatly depending on where you will be diving and whether you are a warm water or cold water diver.

 

[Laruuk]

I dropped right under $3000 for my gear (all new), including a drysuit and air integrated console computer.

It was said a few posts up -- $1000 is the bare minimum, sky's the limit after that.

 

[Bobyjimmie]

The expensive part is getting your gear and any additional classes but I have found once you have all that gear diving gets pretty inexpensive or as expensive as you want it to be. My typical dive day;

Beach dive: free entry + air fills $10 roughly
gas to beach:$15 bucks unless you got a dive buddy who chips in
Burger King after dive: $8.00
Seeing a loggerhead Turtle in CA watersriceless