The only "deals" I get are by being shrewd when it comes to purchasing second-hand gear. There is a lot of stuff that you can find lightly used for half the price of new, or even better. You just have to commit to knowing what you want, knowing what price you are willing to pay for it, and keeping a look out and when it comes up, jump on it.You can get a lot of good deals by purchasing the previous model, or by taking advantage of times when people are unloading the last model when the new one comes out. For example, when the Petrel 2 hit the market, a ton of original Petrels went up on the boards because people wanted the newest model. That drove the price of the original down, as well as previous models like the Predator. My latest purchase was a Predator EXT model for 1/3rd of the price it sold for when new. And I like to keep the karma rolling by selling my stuff cheap. It gets guys into good quality gear for not a lot of money.It's also good to keep a keen eye out for people getting out of diving. I've gotten some great deals from guys who have had to quit diving and just want their gear to go on to someone who will use it.Then again there is some stuff you buy new and you pay what you have to. Most things aren't like this though, and you can regularly get fins, regs, wings, and computers on the cheap.A lot of times it helps to pick up the phone too. Give a call to Dive Right In Scuba, Dive Gear Express, and Cave Adventurers (they're all my local dive shops thousands of miles away), they're often willing to work on prices or give discounts. Also, I've found that generally they have better prices, or will price match other places. Sometimes they'll have stuff that isn't on their websites, stuff they find in the back, etc.
