Buying a BP/W from a LDS

[divezonescuba]

We setup the harness, plate, and wing and take every diver out to open water no extra cost, when they buy a plate and wing from us. This includes helping them with their weighting and weight distibution both above and below the water. We even give them a free tank. Just did one two days ago.

On the other hand, we have had divers who bought systems elsewhere wanted us to figure out their problems with them. We didn’t know how to handle that at first. Now, we charge for that.

 

[boulderjohn]

WIthin a few miles of my house, you would have a choice of 3 LDS's for your purchase. In one, you would be helped by a technical diving instructor who would be extremely knowledgeable in helping you with one of the models they have in stock. In the 2nd, they would have to order one and bring in the one guy who has some experience with it. In the 3rd, they could also order one, but no one on staff would have the foggiest idea what to order or what to do with it when it arrived.

So it depends.

 

[aquacat8]

You’re around 4 hours from High Springs, it’s really fun to go see the tech divers, visit the shops, get your gills wet in the Springs. Have you been there yet? People fly from Germany to cave dive at Ginny. Come to the fall megadive and you can go in the cavern with us with just an open water Cert and see a light show. It’s local, it’s relatively cheap, and at the dive shops you can touch gear.

 

[Roger Hobden]

On the island of Montreal there is only one dive shop that offers BP/W as far as I know,
The shop sells Scubapro, Dive Rite and XDeep brands. The price of a single-tank setup for these brands is about 600.00 canadian dollars.

In Canada, the price of a similar configuration by Halcyon (the Eclipse model) is slightly less then 1200.00 canadian dollars (excluding 15 % taxes).

Is the difference in quality really worth it ?

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

WIthin a few miles of my house, you would have a choice of 3 LDS's for your purchase. In one, you would be helped by a technical diving instructor who would be extremely knowledgeable in helping you with one of the models they have in stock. In the 2nd, they would have to order one and bring in the one guy who has some experience with it. In the 3rd, they could also order one, but no one on staff would have the foggiest idea what to order or what to do with it when it arrived.

So it depends.

Similar thing here.
All the shops in my area wouldn’t have the foggiest idea what to do with a BP/W or which side is in or out. Going down closer to Monterey there are a few shops that know about BP/W because they have more of a GUE presence there.
Here in California with 900 some odd miles of coastline and diving all up and down the coast, only a small handfull of shops sell or even know what a BP/W is. Believe it or not there a few shops that have never even heard of them yet! They’re all pretty much all cookie cutter poodle jacket and split fin shops. Very boring shops to visit, walk in and walk out.

 

[Aloha Joe]

If someone in the LDS actually dives with a BP/W, get them to help you out. Otherwise go somewhere else. That's been my experience.

 

[divad]

A bpw is as simple as a pbj..."[You] don't have to think, [you]only have to do it. The results are always perfect. But that's old news." From "Meat Puppets 2".... the album.....

 

[jlcnuke]

Hello,

In your experience, has buying a BP/W setup from a LDS been pleasant? I'm particularly interested in how much support they provided after the purchase with fitting the rig to you and your needs. Obviously all LDS are not created equal, so I'm sure there is a variance, but in general I suppose. Thanks.

Kind Regards,
David

I haven't bought a BP/W from any of the dive shops near us, but from everything I've experienced from the ones I've been to (Dive Georgia in Woodstock, Dive Dive Dive in Lawrenceville, and Divers Supply in Marietta), I would imagine if you bought gear through them they'd be very helpful (especially the first two, service at DS didn't seem as great imo). I know at least one of the guys from DG that works up at Kraken is helpful enough that he'll let people use his BP/W rig, so I'm sure they've got guys that would help out if you were looking to buy through them (I know they carry some BP/W in stock too). Unfortunately I'm terrible with names or I'd tell you his name...

I know DG also has tec instructors, so there's more than a couple that have BP/W setups themselves.