So here is the Dive Gear Express take on the classic AL80 tank pricing.
First, know there will ALWAYS be someone who sells an AL80 cheaper than the next guy and we are no exception. No matter what price you find, if you look hard enough you'll find someone else a dollar less, stop when you get to diminishing returns on your time. Then take that price in to your LDS and ask for price match if you wish, including one or more free fills, and if you think it you are "supporting" your local dealer then good on you. (But also know the LDS at best broke even and probably just actually lost money on the deal, but may not realize it because he doesn't know his actual true costs.) The reality is that, on an ongoing basis, the AL80 is consistently best deal in the dive industry for the diver. For the dive retailer, online or local, the AL80 is one of our most consistent headaches. But here a few things to consider...
The lowest prices online often don't include an inspection, any inspection at all, by the seller. Technically, the cylinder was inspected as part of the hydro test but as every long time inspector of new cylinders will tell you they reject a surprising number of brand new cylinders out of the box every year. Most often for contamination (water, insects, foreign objects, and rarely but sometimes for thread faults.) My personal best is opening the box, popping the neck cap off, dropping the light in and seeing a 1/2 inch threaded hole completely through the bottom center of a brand new Luxfer AL80 still in the distributor box and sealed in the plastic bag.
If the cylinder IS inspected, last I heard from PSI, only a relatively small number of people performing "inspections" are PSI or TDI certified to inspect. DGX inspects every cylinder before is ships (unless we screw up, extremely rare but has happened) and everyone in the company is a certified PSI inspector that retrains every 3 years. We know there are a lot of unqualified inspectors because from time-to-time we get a angry call from a customer who has been told by their LDS (who took it upon themselves to reinspect) that we sold them a defective cylinder and shows them the "cracks" in the neck to prove it. The four evenly spaced "cracks", each 90 degrees from the next.
If the cylinder gets a valve, it also gets a VIP decal (unless we screw up and fail to put it on, or fail to punch it, also rare but also has happened). Our Nitrox Ready VIP decal isn't a giant shop advertisement, it's actually contains useful advice if you read it. Most importantly it indicates the cylinder can be used with gases containing more than 23.5% oxygen. Many VIP decals are either absent (meaning it's incumbent on someone else downstream to guess if the cylinder is really suitable for oxygen rich gas) or is an air only VIP decal. DGX specializes in customers to whom Nitrox Ready is an important feature in our products, and that costs a little extra because it's not just a matter of punching out a hole on the decal. We have policies and practices, specialized equipment and work areas, as well as the materials to stand behind that Nitrox Ready VIP decal. If it's not important to you, then an air only AL80 should always be priced less. We can't sell both air and Nitrox Ready tanks because we don't want to take the risk of co-mingled air and nitrox materials. There are no rubber o-rings and no silicone lubes anywhere in our operation, we only inventory and use oxygen compatible materials.
We ship our cylinders assembled with the valve (unless you ask us not too) which saves time and effort for you, but causes some headaches. The delivery guy who dumps the tank on your porch and breaks off the knob at the valve stem (because that's what it's supposed to do on impact) is an ongoing problem for us and unfortunately it's not as rare as we would hope. Because we always make it right with the customer, and that's an indirect cost but our price includes the assembly and thus the 'insurance' if it's damaged. We pack them very well, at a shocking cost in packing time and materials last time I checked, see
but some how damage still happens and we have a no-hassles policy.
We install a good quality Nitrox Ready valve (not all are created equal and you get what you pay for is as true for cylinder valves as it is for most everything else). Many of the lowest priced on-line deals use a valve with a quality that essentially negates the great price. We also offer more valve options than most on-line retailers.
Yep, we charge for shipping on large cylinders, it's one of the few items for which we don't have a free shipping option. We do charge only what it really costs us, and we get some really good discounts on shipping from the carriers. Some on-line retailers will 'price average' the shipping cost for something as big as an AL80 , add that to the selling price and call the shipping free. We used to do that, but discovered we were shipping a lot more cylinders to the west coast than the east coast and it just didn't seem fair. So if you live really far from Florida, a retailer who is closer to you or who offers 'free' shipping on tanks might very well have a lower price than DGX.
So there you go, not all AL80's are the same, even when the price is the same. Want to help support your local dive shop? Rent your tanks, please don't buy them!
