Pacific Wilderness (Orange and San Pedro), Scubahaus (Santa Monica), and Beach Cities Scuba (Laguna Sea Sports) are all excellent and get plenty of my business, but I use SCUBA.COM as my LDS and have gotten nothing but great service, gear maintenance and repair, knowledgeable advice, and even air fills from their store in Irvine!!
Sports Chalet does not price match with Scuba.com
- Thread starter Scubamike16
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Pacific Wilderness (Orange and San Pedro), Scubahaus (Santa Monica), and Beach Cities Scuba (Laguna Sea Sports) are all excellent and get plenty of my business, but I use SCUBA.COM as my LDS and have gotten nothing but great service, gear maintenance and repair, knowledgeable advice, and even air fills from their store in Irvine!!
The policy of Sports Chalet not price matching strictly on-line stores is pretty understandable to me. The overhead of a store like Sport Chalet is undoubtedly MUCH higher than that of most on-line stores. Of course the fact that Scuba.com also has a physical retail store does muddy the issue. But then I usually go to my favorite on-line "Scuba stores," E-Bay and Amazon.com since they sell used gear and there are (unfortunately) many who leave diving after far too short a stay. Being a divebum it is a necessity for me.
fnfalman
Contributor
I personally, having just moved to SoCal, would LOVE to hear about an excellent LDS or two. Unfortunately all I hear is the same old tired discussion about how "we" are killing their business. If I could find a LDS who WANTS to give me a good deal (not always a better deal mind you) and WANTS to offer great service and not lip service and who isn't afraid of the interweb then please tell me about one and i will go check it out!Honestly, I mean that.
For buying gears, I prefer Sea D Sea in Redondo Beach and Hollywood Divers in Los Angeles.
Sea D Sea is a small shop that had been around since forever and the owner is willing to wheel & deal with you on costs.
Hollywood Divers carries a lot more stuff, especially the tech stuff but also wheel & deal as well.
My preference is with Sea D Sea because I certified OW through that shop and the owner treated me extremely well (ie didn't rip me off when I told him sell me the best stuff after OW completion) and he was a fountain of information about SoCal diving.
I also get along well with the Hollywood Divers people. They are no-BSers and a wealth of knowledge, and don't submit to any sort of dogma or doctrine. They'd work with you on what you think you want to achieve out of a class.
Now and again, I'd throw a bone at Ocean Safari Scuba in San Gabriel. The owner is probably the most conscientious instructor cum salesman, not to mention they run a tight ship whenever they charter a boat.
surfinusa555
Contributor
I second Sea D Sea. All their staff give really good fills. They know their stuff.
fnfalman
Contributor
Hell, they only have TWO staff, unless you count the owner's wife and the occasional instructor helping out now and then. Barry is an old timey diver and knows lots of good tricks that he can share with you for if your gears go down. One thing about diving old school - they're not gear dependent.
blue steal
Contributor
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Yes Sea D Sea is a nice small friendly shop. They do give quick fills, great price, even better with an air card, and my HP tank is always at 3500.
I took several classes @ Sea D Sea in the mid '70's. Barry was a patient and very knowledgeable instructor.
We made many weekend dives to Catalina. We would come back to the shop and rinse our gear and talk about our dives.
Always a very friendly and comfortable place. Glad it is still the same..
We made many weekend dives to Catalina. We would come back to the shop and rinse our gear and talk about our dives.
Always a very friendly and comfortable place. Glad it is still the same..
fnfalman
Contributor
I think that Barry; because of his physical condition, hadn't dived in nearly 10-years now. Which is a shame because I wish that I could have dived with him.
The thing that impresses me with Barry is that whenever you ask him about a piece of gear, he would tell you both the pros and the cons then let you decide whether or not this particular piece of gear would fit your needs. He never foisted the coolest and/or the most expensive gears on you. Like I mentioned before after my OW dive, I was hooked, lined and sinkered with this sport. I told Barry straight out that I don't care how much it costs, just hook me up with the best. Yeah, he could have sold me a goodly boatload of gears and I wouldn't have batted an eye, but instead he sat down with me and talked through my diving aspirations then gave me suggestions. All the gears that he sold me three years and 200-dives ago, I still have and still use. I automatically got discounts without even asking. Hell, there were times I had to insist on paying for air fills.
Another thing I like about Barry is that if you had bought gears from him and the gears needed warranty work, he'd take care of it AND lends you his shop's gears for free so that you won't be missing dives. Granted that his jacket BCs won't be comfortable as my Dive Rite gears, and his Oceanic regs won't be as easy breathing as my Atomic but it's the thought that counts. My dive buddy bought a bunch of stuff from Barry but not the dive computer (Leisurepro). When the dive comp conked out, Barry lended him a set of gauges free of charge. Of course, when my buddy went back to buy a new dive computer, he bought it from Sea D Sea.
Anyway, enough harping about Sea D Sea.
I gotta give out some love to Ocean Safari Scuba in San Gabriel as well. Gabe Lu the owner is both the course director and instructor. I took a Rescue class with him and I was most impressed by his skills. The guy is literally like a fish without gill. His diving medical knowledge is also most considerable. However the best part about Gabe is that he really makes you feel like you're a part of the family, either on dive trips or in training. He and his staff go out of their ways to make sure that you have a good time on dive trips. They'd bring bags full of extra gears for just in case a diver may need something. I gently ribbed him about how that would make a diver too dependent on the shop and he said that he just wanted to make sure that nobody misses a dive because of gear issue. Also once you take a class with him, he encourages you to come back and take a refresher free of charge.
The Hollywood Divers people are just cool. Period. They don't brag, they don't talk smack, just strict professionalism and cool. Maybe it's the Hollywood thing.
I have yet to visit a "bad" shop in SoCal, but these three shops stand out for me and they are who I vote with my hard earned dollars.
The thing that impresses me with Barry is that whenever you ask him about a piece of gear, he would tell you both the pros and the cons then let you decide whether or not this particular piece of gear would fit your needs. He never foisted the coolest and/or the most expensive gears on you. Like I mentioned before after my OW dive, I was hooked, lined and sinkered with this sport. I told Barry straight out that I don't care how much it costs, just hook me up with the best. Yeah, he could have sold me a goodly boatload of gears and I wouldn't have batted an eye, but instead he sat down with me and talked through my diving aspirations then gave me suggestions. All the gears that he sold me three years and 200-dives ago, I still have and still use. I automatically got discounts without even asking. Hell, there were times I had to insist on paying for air fills.
Another thing I like about Barry is that if you had bought gears from him and the gears needed warranty work, he'd take care of it AND lends you his shop's gears for free so that you won't be missing dives. Granted that his jacket BCs won't be comfortable as my Dive Rite gears, and his Oceanic regs won't be as easy breathing as my Atomic but it's the thought that counts. My dive buddy bought a bunch of stuff from Barry but not the dive computer (Leisurepro). When the dive comp conked out, Barry lended him a set of gauges free of charge. Of course, when my buddy went back to buy a new dive computer, he bought it from Sea D Sea.
Anyway, enough harping about Sea D Sea.
I gotta give out some love to Ocean Safari Scuba in San Gabriel as well. Gabe Lu the owner is both the course director and instructor. I took a Rescue class with him and I was most impressed by his skills. The guy is literally like a fish without gill. His diving medical knowledge is also most considerable. However the best part about Gabe is that he really makes you feel like you're a part of the family, either on dive trips or in training. He and his staff go out of their ways to make sure that you have a good time on dive trips. They'd bring bags full of extra gears for just in case a diver may need something. I gently ribbed him about how that would make a diver too dependent on the shop and he said that he just wanted to make sure that nobody misses a dive because of gear issue. Also once you take a class with him, he encourages you to come back and take a refresher free of charge.
The Hollywood Divers people are just cool. Period. They don't brag, they don't talk smack, just strict professionalism and cool. Maybe it's the Hollywood thing.
I have yet to visit a "bad" shop in SoCal, but these three shops stand out for me and they are who I vote with my hard earned dollars.
The most my car can hold is 20 gallons--not worth asking just to save a dollar. But, to make this analogy more relevant, if the higher priced station is $1.49 a gallon, the lower priced station is $.99 a gallon, and the higher station claims to match local competitors' prices, I'd ask them to match the price.
Ron
desert diver 71
Guest
I have bought about 50% of my gear from Scuba.com and have been very happy with their prices and service. it's a drive for me but I usually go to the store to buy gear. The salespeople are all instructors, not kids selling equipment when they aren't even divers.
