Alternative to Backscatter as UW Photography Shop

[scubadada]

Reef Photo

 

[Cali_diver]

Reef photo (east coast) and Ocean Optical (west coast) both have great customer service.

 

[Darnold9999]

I have used Mozaik with good results. Have heard good things about Jack Connick from people who shop there.

 

[John Dietz]

There are a few others. Jack Connick at Optical Ocean Sales is a good guy, with a lot of gear other shops don't have. Mozaik is another shop with great customer service
Bill

I wanted to try both of those shops a while back. Optical Ocean Sales seemed helpful and knowledgeable, but was making the shipping a bit cumbersome and expensive. As far as Mozaik, the rep was misleading and didn't seem to know very well the product I wanted to buy.

 

[John Dietz]

As do I. Other than Shearwater, Reef Photo and Video has the best customer service (and attitude) I've experienced.

Yes, attitude and good advice to customers are key. Despite I have invested a great deal of money with backscatter over the last two years, I feel sort of ignored.

 

[Nemrod]

Some years back I was doing my annual SoFla dive trip and my Inon strobe was damaged by another diver on the boat. I called Reef and they did not have any D2000 strobes in stock but said they would give mine a look see for repair. They even stayed after to take the strobe in as I could not quite make it by closing time. Meanwhile, I called Backscatter and they had them in stock, shipped it to me over night to a dive store in WPB. By the next afternoon I had two strobes in working order. And I got the one from Backscatter first thing in the morning so was able to have my camera functional for the trip.

Just because I am Florida-centric I suppose most of my purchases of photo-gear and maintenance has been handled by Reef. I will probably be dropping a pile'o'cash on them again real soon.

N

 

[stuartv]

Reef has given me very good customer service. The first thing I ever bought from them was an obscure $20 Nauticam part that they didn't even have listed on their website. Even though it was a $20 sale and they had no prior experience with me, they were super responsive, found the part I needed, etc..

I have also since learned that they are literally, physically right next door to the US Nauticam warehouse. So, if you plan to invest in Nauticam housings, etc., they are extremely knowledgeable on Nauticam and have immediate access to parts that other places might take longer to get.

 

[scubadada]

And...Reef has very nice and knowledgeable employees, willing to spend as much time as you need to make your important purchase. I highly recommend Lee and Phil Burghard.

 

[Aqua-Andy]

Crap, I was going to mention these guys from, eh, New Hampshire; but Backscatter bought them out . . .

Yes, Underwater Photo Tech was bought out by Backscatter and became Backscatter East. With that the employee that runs the store Is great and will spend the time required to get you what you need. Mike is really a great guy to work with.

 

[JackConnick]

I wanted to try both of those shops a while back. Optical Ocean Sales seemed helpful and knowledgeable, but was making the shipping a bit cumbersome and expensive. As far as Mozaik, the rep was misleading and didn't seem to know very well the product I wanted to buy.

John; I don't know when that was. Some products have to be ordered, and aren't readily available, some can be drop shipped, some not. We're sort of at the mercy of the distributors in these cases, but are always honest about what the timeframes will be.

We also pride ourselves on an extremely accurate bar code scanned order fulfillment process, unlike many others. Otherwise we ship free for over $200 - ground service to CA is about 2-3 days.

Gina Lusardi and myself are experienced UW photographers and can help you. Nobody works on commission.

AND we are a Scubaboard supporter and advertiser helping keep the lights on!