Some tips to make budget diving?

[XTAR]

Scuba diving can be as expensive or affordable as you want, to make more budget diving, there may be different elements to be taken into account.

*Regarding dive equipment, with the continuous diving, you’ll likely start accumulating more and more gears. Method of applying a sensible economy is establish what you actually need, rather than what you want, or what you might be told you need.

*For a dive trip, plan it well in advance, you may find cheap flights, save a lot on airfare; Also considering budget-friendly accommodations, including local guesthouses, or hostels.

*Choosing a reliable dive shop that offers moderate prices also helps reduce costs. Trying to find a good dive center, you can visit several of them and compare their prices. You may also ask for a discount, especially if you’re planning on diving with them for a few days.

*As the cost of living in each country is different, to travel and dive as budget-friendly as possible, you can choose to go to budget dive destinations. Take a look at these components in advance, such as accommodation, food, transport, activities ...

If you have more tips for making scuba diving affordable, welcome to share here.

 

[Wibble]

Save money by NOT buying Chinese tat that fails after five minutes. Not all stuff is bad, but my experience at the cheap end is it's a waste of money (went through about 5 different torches that all failed -- including one that literally dissolved in the sea -- before giving up and paying the money for a half-decent torch)

That off my chest and the way you save money is joining a club and borrowing kit. Don't run out and buy kit until you know what you need.

Buying second hand kit saves a small fortune.

And ask people on here for their opinions before you put your hand in your wallet.

 

[Marie13]

The club with rental gear is a UK thing. Doesn’t exist here in the States.

Buy once, cry once. Buy good quality, used if you can find it.

 

[Wibble]

The club with rental gear is a UK thing. Doesn’t exist here in the States.

Buy once, cry once. Buy good quality, used if you can find it.

Interesting. The BSAC (British Sub Aqua Club) are very strong in universities and the like. Allows the kids access to diving without costing a fortune.

Obviously the PADI clubs are more about a commercial relationship made to look like a 'club'. They'll generally have enough kit to rent to you in the beginning, but this will push up the cost of the dive.

 

[Marie13]

What Padi clubs? I’m a member of a club here in the Chicago area. They do local Lake Michigan charters and a number of foreign trips. Local dive days at the local quarry several times a year. Meetings once a month. Good FB group page to find buddies and such. This is how most dive clubs in the US seem to be. My club is not affiliated with any particular shop. Don’t even meet at a dive shop. Usually in a back room at a pub.

 

[Wibble]

Most dive shops in the UK have formed a 'club' around it, offering discounts on fills and the like along with some events. TBH they're more like a loyalty scheme. One shop I use has a club night with a bar above the shop each Wednesday with free use of the shop's pool. Most people who go tend to be warm water divers rather than regular divers. Nice atmosphere for a chin-wag over a drink.


For newbie divers; a club's really useful a you need to rely on others when you start diving. Nothing like face-to-face meeting with people who dive. You often get buddies from them too.

 

[Ukmc]

Save money by NOT buying Chinese tat that fails after five minutes. Not all stuff is bad, but my experience at the cheap end is it's a waste of money (went through about 5 different torches that all failed -- including one that literally dissolved in the sea -- before giving up and paying the money for a half-decent torch)

That off my chest and the way you save money is joining a club and borrowing kit. Don't run out and buy kit until you know what you need.

Buying second hand kit saves a small fortune.

And ask people on here for their opinions before you put your hand in your wallet.

That is not nice. Especially that you know OP is from China.
Not all things are bad. Blanket statements like yours make you look like a fool. I use XTAR video light which has been great (color temperature, angle, duration of use) while at 1/2 the price of non-Chinese lights. I purchased various size XTAR batteries and a charger at a bargain price and none have failed me yet.
I think you have to figure out for yourself which brands are of quality and possibly manufactured in the same factories as some other expensive rebranded items, vs. cheap crap.

 

[Wibble]

Problem was I knew nothing about the lights except what was on the adverts. I learned that they lied.

Now I know that you have to ask around about which ones work and assume the rest don’t. My Hi-Max strobes are excellent and I’m happy to recommend them.

You’ve said that the XTar lights are good too.

 

[Angelo Farina]

In my family we are 4 divers: me, my wife (both instructors) and our two sons.
So every cost is multiplied by 4: getting the cheap solution was necessary...
And here a few solutions we have found:
1) stay away from Padi or other similar for-profit agencies. You can get better and cheaper training at your local diving club, which is a no-profit charity and where you find volunteer unpaid instructors, who teach just for passion (as I and my wife did for 10 years, before going pro and started working in touristic resorts).
2) Do not rely on shops: they just want to sell you things, with a significant surcharge, which can be up to 100% on some items. Buy online and only top brands (which last decades), possibly from the country where the equipment is really built. For example, Scubapro regs are manufactured here in Italy, hence you find Italian Ebay sellers selling new and officially guaranteed regs at almost half the price you pay in a shop.
3) learn to service the equipment yourself. It is much cheaper and also much safer. I would never use life-sustaining equipment which I had not serviced and assembled myself.
4) Dive autonomously. Owning or renting a small inflatable is not expensive and allows you to choose where to dive, to plan your day, and to practice other nice nautical activity such as water ski, underwater wing, etc.
5) Own your equipment: renting is cheaper only if you make just a few dives every year in remote locations.
6) if you make holidays on a boat, rent one with a compressor: this way you do not need to rely on filling stations in port. This often allows you to avoid paying for the boat stall, as you can just sleep anchored outside the port, for free, while filling your tanks.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Usually in a back room at a pub.

One of the meeting rooms in the back of Round Table. Beer and Pizza and talk about diving, it doesn’t get any better than that except for actually diving.
Unless you live in Chicago then it’s beer and Chicago style pizza which is square and the cheese is on top
See I know these things.