I think I would suggest for you to buy locally like the others have said, if I lived in the states -- but for people outside of the USA matters are different. I live in Western Canada, and our little city (under 1 million people) has 6+ dive shops. This is in an area that has only a few diveable lakes and a real small dive community. These shops sell at mfg List, and Mfg List in Canada includes excessive padding for exchange that goes into the manufactures pocket. I like my local dive shop, I even dive with the owners of two of them. However my Mares M1 I bought out of a dive shop in NYC cost under $150 delivered with a warrantee. The LDS wanted $600 and that was a sale price was because it was the old model with out RGBM. I show my support in other ways, like booking trips and classes -- but that price difference was just too crazy. We are going to loose some of our local dive shops, not because of my purchases elsewhere but because these guys are kidding themselves that we need that many LDS in this little town.
Some manufactures are now refusing to sell to dealers who resell on the web, I think that is a mistake. The Internet is shrinking the world and people worldwide need a competitive price not just in big city America -- but everywhere.
When I lived in the states I saw Wall Mart shut down the main street of many a little town in North Carolina, and it was unfortunate, but it is what happens. We had a union in Canada try to boycott Wall Mart till they let a union in. The head of the Union was caught by a news crew in a Wall Mart, he sheepishly grinned at the camera and said he could not resist the prices. US productivity in 2004 grew by 11% and almost half of that was attributed to Wall Mart. Controlled economies without market efficiency killed the USSR, and we must drive out inefficiency if we want our high standards of living. Do you recall the days of regulated long Distance and Airfares? Would you really pay a $1 a minute to call 1,000 miles away or pay $1,200 to fly to the coast? Even Wall Mart was pulling people away from local stores with only 20% discount, but 400% + that some dive shops ask is beyond reason, no matter how nice my local dive shop is.
I am a small business owner myself but I know the reality is that I must charge a price inline with the big guys and that I cannot stay in business by overcharging an uninformed consumer, or make a living in an overly crowded market just because I like the lifestyle. Yes local service, warrantee and support is valuable, very very valuable when your life depends on your gear, and I expect to pay more for that, I just say, please forgive me but there is a limit.