LDS telling a story

[ReelDuel]

I was almost ready to purchase from my one and only LDS, Until he started telling me that all of the internet stuff was BS. Well he only carried Aqualung products and said all of the others are not as good. How do you feel about about this comment I received? It made me ready to just order all my gear from the net... ScubaToys or LeisurePro.... I have tried to deal with the lds and mind you I do not like it. So I am going to go net to get my gear. Heck I can service it anyway even though I have never seen it. I do all the work on my home and race car ( does that sound stupid) Heck I will tell you most things in your house (Plumbing wise) are not to far from scuba. Hit me with your best thoughts. I have tried to come to reason but cannot. Fred

 

[ReelDuel]

Sorry one last question. He is an Aqualung dealer and he told me all he could offer me was a 10% discount on MSRP. Is this correct?? I am done with this....

 

[Diver Dennis]

I'd be wary of someone who told you that. Did he explain why they are BS?

 

[shoturtle]

I am not advocating any on online retailer as I uses all the big online stores. LP will service their products, so if you want your reg service, you can just ship it back to them and they will service it and ship it back to you. Just call them, box up the reg, ship it, and you will get it back in a week or so. The link below tells you a little about the service tech at LP.

Our Winning Team | LeisurePro.com

 

[tc]

You may want to research parts availability for the regs you're thinking about purchasing, it can be difficult to get parts unless you work for a shop or repair facility.

They seem to be a bit concerned about folks who have not been trained working on life support equipment.

While mechanical ability/aptitude is very helpful in working on the gear knowing the specifics of how they work, adjustments, tolerances, etc. is pretty important too.

There are many good brands of dive gear out there, you can look in the gear forums here on Scubaboard to see what opinions users have about many specific pieces of gear.

Good luck!

 

[shoturtle]

Sorry one last question. He is an Aqualung dealer and he told me all he could offer me was a 10% discount on MSRP. Is this correct?? I am done with this....

Well that is AL's official MAP policy. But was AL in the store to enforce it. Just as an example the AL diva xlt bcd is 499 msrp, LP has it via gray market for 375. So do the math the mark up is ridiculous. LP is still making money at 375.

 

[shoturtle]

AL has good products, but I would not say they are the best, there are way to many good gear out there to say on brand is the best. So for the LDS to say that all other brands are no good, that is an automatic sign to say goodbye for me. Prue BS from another LDS.

I live in NYC, there is a bunch of LDS here excluding LP, besides LP there is only one other I would do business with and they are a 30 drive away.

Side note, The US Navy and USCG uses Oceanic delta 4 and Mares Proton Ice Extream. These regs have been put though extreme test met to milspce and get military approval. So I think this blow the LDS statement, that AL is the best and all other are no good, out of the water. The regs are in the same price range as the AL legend reg

 

[Creed]

They seem to be a bit concerned about folks who have not been trained working on life support equipment.

While mechanical ability/aptitude is very helpful in working on the gear knowing the specifics of how they work, adjustments, tolerances, etc. is pretty important too.

Open circuit regulators are dead simple in operation(rebreathers are a different story entirely). If a person was actually incapable of maintaining one, I would consider them(the person) to be unsafe to dive with. Frankly, if a regulator really did require a course to maintain, I would consider it fundamentally flawed, and wouldn't trust it anyway.

 

[DiveMaven]

ScubaToys will both service and sell you regulator parts kits for Zeagles.

 

[spectrum]

Well it sounds like you BS meter was working and that is good!

There are some things that you give up by not buying locally that is certainly not the only way to get gear. Furthermore AquaLung does not have a lock on quality, performance or much of anything else for that matter. There is plenty of gear from plenty of manufacturers and sellers that will do you just fine.

If you go online you do want to be aware of the term "grey market" and understand when and where it applies.

I'll defer to the insiders on what AquaLung allows for discounts and 10% cash off is a decent start. There is nothing that keeps the shop from flipping you some air cards, free service or bigger discounts on less tightly controlled items. There are plenty of creative ways for the shop to be competitive.

With training and parts you probably can service your gear if you are so inclined. There are some good books on the topic and you may be able to have a mentor show you a few tricks. Getting the parts is another story. If this will be your strategy then make that part of your decision tree. Some brands such as Dive Rite make parts readily available.

Pete