Eric Sedletzky
Contributor
Well it depends what you call cheap.I heard back in the old days, diving used to be somewhat... Cheap (?)
I'm 48 and have been diving for 13 years, but I've heard stories about what stuff costed then in relation to what the average person made and we're better off now.
Back in the late 50's when double hose regs were common, the price for one today adjusted for inflation would be between $1200 to $1500 just for the reg.
Back then they were somewhere around $79.00 but journeyman wage was only $3.00 - $4.00 an hour.
I talked to a guy who started diving back then and he said a friend and him saved up for months to get one and put their money together to buy one. They would take turns using it, one guy would be on scuba cruising around and the other skin dove then they would switch.
Actually now a person could get into scuba dirt cheap if they knew what to get used on ebay or craigslist. I have piles of old gear people just give me because they know I like to collect old gear, and the stuff is perfectly usable.
One of these days I'm going to do an experiment to see just how inexpensively a person could get into scuba as far as gear goes.