Any experience with rental gear?

[Hoosier]

Is there anybody who has bought the 2nd end SP or any brand rental regulator from the shop? If then, how was it?

Have you experienced any unreasonable wearness or failures?

If it is properly serviced again, is it going to be OK by then (I mean, after replacing the parts and adjusting the reg.)?

One of my colleage kids asked me about the rental gear, but I don't have that much clues about the technical area. Please put your 2 cents that I can help him with.

Thanks in advance,

 

[derwoodwithasherwood]

My understanding is that dive shops tend to pick tough reliable regulators for rental units. So from that point of view, they should be good to go after a proper service and inspection.

On the other hand, the rental units tend to be rather basic. So it may not be as fully featured as a top-of-the-line model.

For example, a popular rental unit is the Sherwood Brut. It comes with a reputation as a simple, easy to service, durable regulator. But a little hard breathing at depth and without the additional high pressure port, balancing orfice, second high-flow port, fins, heat sink, or adjustability features of their more expensive models.

 

[sailingking]

Proper servicing will restore any reg to like new working condition. The rental regs will have scuffs on the outside from use but when a shop sells it's rental fleet they tend to do a full overhaul on the regs prior to sale.
As posted above, rental regs tend to be simple, usualy unbalanced pistons, for ease of servicing and because there aren't many parts, thus very little can go wrong with them.

 

[Stirling]

I wouldn't worry if I thought the regulator was of a type that I was otherwise satisfied with (that is, one that I would also want to own if I was buying it new). There are some good regulators in rental service (e.g., Aqualung Titans) and if they are not too old and have been maintained and serviced, I would look at the opportunity to buy used rental equipment from a reputable LDS as a good thing. If it was a shop unloading things one or two at a time (perhaps as they get tired of trying to fix or maintain it), I wouldn't do it. But some shops replace lots of their stuff every year or every two years all at once, and in that case I see no reason to doubt its continued safety and reliability.

 

[Scottri]

The shop I am working for is getting ready to sell off their rental regs. They are all middle of the pack Mares. I rebuild all of the first and second stages before they go up for sale. When I am done they are good as new except for some scuffs and scrapes but they have all be rebuilt and flow bench tested. I would worry about any shop that did not rebuild them prior to selling them. One warning though, you probably won't get any warranty since it usually goes to the original owner.

Scott

 

[Hoosier]

Wait, wait, wait,

What is the difference between the ordinary annual service and rebuild?
Do you mean any manufacture upgrades or complete replacement of the part?
I am not sure if there is the sepecific distinction.

Thanks,

 

[O2BBubbleFree]

I recently looked into buying some rental gear; when a local shop was going out of business. ScubaPro mk15/G250s.

They had not been serviced, no warranty, and the shop still wanted way too much for them. I checked with them on the last day that they were open and still wouldn't come down on the price, even though they still had lots of regs.

I chose to buy a second-hand setup from an individual for less than half what the LDS wanted. Then got it serviced by a shop that was going to be around for a while.

If I could have gotten good rental gear at a good price from a good LDS, things might have been different.

 

[Hoosier]

That's the reason why your local shop was going out of business. They didn't know how to run the business...

I recently looked into buying some rental gear; when a local shop was going out of business. ScubaPro mk15/G250s.

They had not been serviced, no warranty, and the shop still wanted way too much for them. I checked with them on the last day that they were open and still wouldn't come down on the price, even though they still had lots of regs.

I chose to buy a second-hand setup from an individual for less than half what the LDS wanted. Then got it serviced by a shop that was going to be around for a while.

If I could have gotten good rental gear at a good price from a good LDS, things might have been different.

 

[O2BBubbleFree]

That's the reason why your local shop was going out of business. They didn't know how to run the business...

Yeah. All too common, though. I have yet to see ‘used’ gear in an LDS that doesn’t have a ‘new’ price.

 

[Hoosier]

3dent,

Just my curiosity! I don't know how far from Scubatoys you are? At least, you are in the same state. Why did you put yourself into the hassle to get the gear? Do you know how much other divers in other states envy you guys who live in TX? If you live in Mid-West, it is often worse case than you had. The shop used to monopolize the market. They don’t care how market goes in outside of world. In addition, I am getting sick and tried of seeing some DMs and instructors who are buttering up the shop owners to maintain 20% discount of the gear and a free scuba trip with the customers. Of course, they always study owner’s facial expression.

Yeah. All too common, though. I have yet to see ‘used’ gear in an LDS that doesn’t have a ‘new’ price.