Buying Rental Gear

[Colliam7]

Can regs last forever if they are serviced regularly?

Forever is a really long time. But, they can easily last for the duration of your need for them unless they are oddball brands / models with limited parts availability.

Should I be concerned that they were rental regs?

Not particularly. But, I suggest three things to consider. 1) Do you know anything about the usual service practices at your LDS? If your shop takes maintenance of rental equipment seriously, that's good. If they basically use gear til it fails, that's NOT good. 2) You mention 'getting two regs and getting them serviced'. The order should be the other way around. Even if the LDS sells them 'pretty cheap', they should be selling them after an annual service. 3) The things I would worry about with buying rental regs include: a) is the housing of the second stage intact? That is one part that gets a lot of abuse (dropped on hard surfaces, crushed under tanks, etc.), and may have hard-to-detect cracks, that require replacement of the housing. Not an expensive proposition by any means, if you do it yourself, but something to keep in mind. I had to replace an entire second stage on a used / rental Mares reg that I bought from my LDS because the particular housing was no longer available. Mares provided one free to the LDS, who provided it to me at the same cost. But, it took a while to get (as with everything Mares); and b) just because a reg has been regularly 'serviced' doesn't necessarily mean the service technician did a good job. If there are internal scratches / gouges in the right places, and there is some IP creep as a result, I wouldn't want the reg.

Basically, when properly serviced you have a new reg inside, reguardless of what it looks like outside. The one possible exception is the hoses and they are easy to replace if necessary.

What herman said, with emphasis on 'properly'.

 

[Scared Silly]

As said, the regs should have been fully overhauled by the shop before being put up for sale. If not, then ask that to be thrown in for free as part of the purchase. If there are multiple sets available I would not hesitate to ask to mix and match those in the best condition.

What I have seen with rental gear is that the adjustment knobs, exhaust ports, and purge get banged up pretty good. However, folks like Atomics sell accent kits that replace all that stuff for $30. So one can cosmetically upgrade the second stage pretty cheaply. But again as said only if the body is in good shape.

As for the first stage look for any dinging of the chrome plating. Not much can be done to fix a first stage body.

 

[herman]

Servicing does not mean every single component gets replaced brand new as per your car fairy tale. If it did, it would not be at ¼ of the price. Please compare apples with apples.

OK tell me EXACTLY which parts that do not degrade with age/use that are not replaced during a proper service? The brass and stainless internal parts of the regs do not wear out, 50 years old is just as good as new....and I have 50yo regs to prove it....and if by some chance they are damaged by corrosion, they will be replaced if the tech is doing his/her job. What parts am I missing?

 

[mike_s]

This all depends on the regulator, the cost, and the shop it came from.

Lots of shops don't maintain their rental gear like a good diver would. I don't trust a lot of shops either to use their rental gear.

Also... one of our local shops sells it's rental gear every couple years for about the same price I can buy the stuff new from Leisure Pro on. So why buy worn out rental gear when I can buy new for the same price?

 

[ajduplessis]

1. OK tell me EXACTLY which parts that do not degrade with age/use that are not replaced during a proper service? 2. The brass and stainless internal parts of the regs do not wear out, 50 years old is just as good as new....and I have 50yo regs to prove it....and if by some chance they are damaged by corrosion, they will be replaced if the tech is doing his/her job. 3. What parts am I missing?

1. Firstly all materials do corrode and degrade over time including stainless and brass.
2. Secondly, internal parts will wear over time. If this was not the case why service them?
3. All of the above

Lastly parts that need replacement (your first post) is not going to be a 1/4 of the price as you describe. If this was the case everyone would buy brand new parts an have regs assembled cheaply.

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

1. Firstly all materials do corrode and degrade over time including stainless and brass.
2. Secondly, internal parts will wear over time. If this was not the case why service them?
3. All of the above

Lastly parts that need replacement (your first post) is not going to be a 1/4 of the price as you describe. If this was the case everyone would buy brand new parts an have regs assembled cheaply.

The metal internal parts of properly cared-for regulators do not corrode significantly enough to cause any worries. The marine brass and stainless steel parts will last, well, until all of us are long gone... and our children... and theirs... seriously.

The "soft" parts, that are designed to wear out are the parts that are changed each service, which in effect "renews" the regulator, bringing it to "like-new" status internally.

That is the beauty of regulator design! The "soft parts" can be considered like the sacrificial anodes on boats..... they wear out, sparing the the expensive metal parts... the "soft seats" are replaced, the o-rings are replaced, diaphragms.... pistons can wear and be replaced, more current diaphragm regs have hard seats that are also replaceable.....

The last 4 regulator I bought were used. It will take an awful lot to convince me to buy a new regulator again, when I can buy a great used one at 25% the cost, spend about $30 on parts, and service it myself.....

Best wishes.

 

[mike_s]

The metal internal parts of properly cared-for regulators do not corrode significantly enough to cause any worries. The marine brass and stainless steel parts will last, well, until all of us are long gone... and our children... and theirs... seriously.

The "soft" parts, that are designed to wear out are the parts that are changed each service, which in effect "renews" the regulator, bringing it to "like-new" status internally.

That is the beauty of regulator design! The "soft parts" can be considered like the sacrificial anodes on boats..... they wear out, sparing the the expensive metal parts... the "soft seats" are replaced, the o-rings are replaced, diaphragms.... pistons can wear and be replaced, more current diaphragm regs have hard seats that are also replaceable.....

The last 4 regulator I bought were used. It will take an awful lot to convince me to buy a new regulator again, when I can buy a great used one at 25% the cost, spend about $30 on parts, and service it myself.....

Best wishes.

The problem with this is that rental regulators are also the ones used in most classes for open water divers. they are rarely rinsed out properly and spend a lot of time in corrosive environments, like chlorine from the pool and salt from the ocean.

 

[ECpirates96]

Would you buy a used rental car?

In a heart beat. Most people are buying these and do not even know it. New verses used. Used every time as for rental gear that has been serviced. Shop should be maintaining the regs and service them prior to the sale.

Instead of rental gear watch craiglist or this site. I see new divers get gung ho and load up on new equipment, Dive 1 summer and never see the water again. Here is the opertunity to pick up equipment. Advertise on craigslist for wanted XYZ regulator.

The choice is yours but the rental gear is usually only in service for 2 years or so before its sold off and usually it is their workhorse regulators.

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

The problem with this is that rental regulators are also the ones used in most classes for open water divers. they are rarely rinsed out properly and spend a lot of time in corrosive environments, like chlorine from the pool and salt from the ocean.

You are right. Helping out with open water dives at my local dive shop, and chatting with the owner when rental regs have come back in fully supports what you are saying. The stories dive shops can tell about how some folks treat rental gear.....

It really depends on how well the LDS inspects and cares for their rental fleet. A good shop will suspect water intrusion if they see a reg come back with the dust cover off... but it might get missed.

Buying rental regs would be a "case by case" deal for me, and I'd expect them to be inspected & serviced prior to the sale.... but if the shop is ethical and good, and the tech is good, I would not have any major concerns.... But once again, I would not pay much for regs coming out of a rental fleet. There are lots of great deals from private owners who decided scuba was not for them if you are patient and search a little.

Best wishes.

 

[Damselfish]

My lds is selling some of there rental regs pretty cheap. Im sure that they are pretty banged up on the outside. I was planning on getting two regs and getting them serviced. Can regs last forever if they are serviced regularly? Should I be concerned that they were rental regs?

There's a few drawbacks to buying rental regs, like good chance they will be well used, and lower end workhorse models not higher end stuff - no chance of getting a deal on a lightly used high end gem you could get lucky with elsewhere. On the other hand the dive shop is presumably a known quantity that is hopefully lower risk than buying stuff off eBay. And from what I've seen most dive shops will service their rental regs before selling them and provide some sort of warranty. If they're not doing either of those things I'd pass.