Buying old rental gear?

[complete_newb]

Hi,

I got an offer to buy a used BCD for $40 from a dive shop. The BCD has been used regularly in the pool as a rental gear. He said, he has to get rid of it because its an older model and getting faded from the pool. He assured me that it will be completely safe, as the shop will test all the used BCDs out in the pool and cut up and throw away any dysfunctional ones. It seems like a great deal, but almost to good to be legitimate. What do you think?

My Thoughts:
- being rental gear, it was probably serviced/maintained regularly. However, it is probably pretty worn.

- my concern is whether it will be of a good enough quality that I can dive in open water with it for the next few years.

- being a dive shop/school, whose courses I will likely take for the next while, it is in the shops interest to sell me something of safe enough quality, so that I come back as a customer.

-However, I don't trust mechanics/salesmen, especially those who know you know little about their trade. I'm always suspicious their out to make a buck off my naivety.

Any thoughts - is this a good deal or a scam?

 

[Stu S.]

Probably an OK deal. BC's rent for $10-15 daily around here. You could use that item four times then trash it, and lose no money. Pools make gear look bad, but it's what's inside that counts.

have fun with it.

 

[knowone]

Cheapest goodwill you can buy. Thats your price. To many thoughts. A corrugated hose is forty bucks. He said what he said. If it looks good it may well be. I just bought a couple for a little bit more. Excellent. I hate when they melt sizes and stuff into the back pack for ID. How long does forty bucks last.

 

[kaerius]

I've heard of shops that actively sell their rental gear after a year for a little less than the shop bought it for, and it actually saves them money, compared to using it until it wears out after 3-4 years, plus they always have new looking gear for their customers. It's not a bad deal to buy either. So basically it's win for both the shop and the buyer in many cases.

Best deals are from buying used diveshop gear from freshwater diveshops, BCD's particularly, as there won't have been any salt abrasion in the bladder(s). And BCD's are the main piece of gear this is done with by diveshops.

 

[herman]

Welcome to the board.

I would go for it if you like the style. Pool BCs start to LOOK pretty rough after a few years, the chlorine is rough on the dies- it is bleach after all- but there are actually very few actual working parts on a BC, the inflators, deflators and bladder. All of which are not really effected by the chlorine and with the exception of the bladder can easily be serviced, which it sounds like the LDS has done. It's not uncommon to get 15-20 or more years out of a BC even with fairly heavy use, it might look a little....experienced…. but it is still fine to dive.
Lets look at the possible problems. First off, lets get rid of the "it's life support equipment" myth, no it's not. It is a buoyancy COMPENSATOR, it compensates for changes in buoyancy as you dive, specifically wet suit compression and changes in tank buoyancy. Unless you are diving with a very thick wet suit or huge doubles this is in the range of 4 to 8 lbs of negative buoyancy, an amount easily swam up from depth. If you start the dive needing more than a little air in the BC you are overweighed to start with. And remember those weight on your belt, you can drop them at the surface after you swam to the surface, instant positive buoyancy.
The possible failures fall into 3 categories, total loss of the air in the bladder, a gradual leak either in or out and an inflator stuck open. Total air loss is almost unheard of and even so, just swim to the surface and dump your weights. A gradual leak in or out is no issue at all, just add/dump a little from time to time and get if fixed later. The worst of the bunch is a stuck inflator but if your instructor did his/her job you know how to disconnect the LP inflator hose, problem solved, oral inflate the rest of the dive and get it fixed later.

From an economic standpoint, it's also a good deal. Even if you use it a couple of years and trash it, you have spent no where near what you would have spent in rental fees. Odds are you can/will use it for 4 or 5 years and can still sell it for almost what you have in it.

 

[mksmith713]

Buy it..... use it.....you'll be fine.
If you don't like the fade to brown look.....dye it another color.

 

[Ed Palma]

40 bucks? If you get to examine it prior to purchase, and it works (and it fits...), why not? If not, then you can use it for spare parts later.

 

[Saudi-Diver]

Sounds like a bargain, check the inflator and dumps works. Inflate it leave it a couple of hours if it stays inflated its good to go. I used exrental gear for a long time. The only problem was because it came with a slightly worn patina people thought I was way more experienced than I actually was!!!

 

[Reef Tank]

In addition to the above, it will probably not be weight integrated. The chlorine in the pool is very hard on the fabric, like straps, but the bladder will probably be ok (the chlorine will have been inside the bladder). The equipment was not rinsed with fresh water at night. BTW, the shop giving the instruction has been in business for many, many years and is well qualified.

All of the rental bc I used in the ool for training was falling apart. One of the instructors was kept busy just fixing equipment.

 

[Caver95]

Aside from it being discolored does it hold air? are parts on it frayed very badly?

by the thing it will get you out there diving.