can a person ever buy used equipment?

[dk2943]

My friends who are DMs told me I had to buy only new, which put a real crimp in my limited budget, but when I walked into a local shop and found a used, but late model Atomic Z1 that they had serviced and cleaned up and backed, I could not resist. I have not been sorry.

Oh yes, I also bought a used wetsuit.

 

[Jason Ooi]

Why not, Yes you can buy used equipments, make sure stuff in good condition, I bought second Apeks reg from our member on board...Happy on it

 

[IceIce]

I bought my Apexs regulator and SPG from the e-bay and it works well.
But as someone mentioned, I prefer to buy it directly from diver than the shop. For the reg, I made sure that it had been serviced before I bought it, and I was lucky because I happened to know the guy who sold it for his friend. The reg is great and worth for money, only seen few dives before became mine.

The SPG, I took my chance by judging from the picture posted, it works well too.

I guess for equipment I'm very lucky so far. I don't have 'first set' because what I bought have proven to me that they are good enough.

Another thing, for big purchase, anything more expensive than 30/50 bucks I will insist on meet up, don't send big money to stranger, unless they set up proper cyber business, mostly they don't have reputation to keep and have nothing to lose.

 

[ams511]

If you can get it for less, buy it and use it. Don't buy into the scare tactics.

I agree with 100%

I would not hesitate to dive a used regulator. The only thing I would do is test it out in a pool first. If it worked fine, then use it. I doubt I would even service it unless it was really really old (in which case I probably wouldn't have bought it.)

I also agree is it fine to buy a used reg but feel it is foolish not to get it checked out first. Is your life not worth the $50 to get it serviced?

I also disagree with your comments about really old regs. If you can get a old MK5 with a G250 off ebay for $ 100 and get it rebuilt for $100, you are getting a much better performing regulator than a Mk2 R190 which is about $ 200 new at an LDS. It may be a step below a new G250 with a MK25 but then again it costs less than half of the new model.

BCs, etc... oh hell yuh, bring 'em on.

I never bought a used one but was given one and it worked fine. To me the trick with bc's is not the age but how they are cleaned and stored. If cleaned and stored properly a quality BC can last 10-15 years. This is an item that I would buy used only if I could see it in person, or if it is a recent model, or on SB from someone I would trust.

 

[Goatfish face]

I'm with Almitywife about your lds. I'm about 1 1/2 hours north of her and our lds dont care where the gear comes from, we will service it. All of my first set of gear was 2nd hand. After saying that I am an LDS and service tech and some of the 2nd hand stuff that comes in is really bad. For about a 9 month period we had so much ebay junk come in that cost more to repair than they cost the customer to buy in the first place. Age didnt matter either. The worst was a set of regs 18 months old which had probably not been rinced after a dive ever and were self serviced and a few parts were missing.

By all means buy 2nd hand.
BUT.... know what your buying, If you don't know take someone who does. Avoid buying unseen items. BCDs & Regs are life support equipment, treat it as such.

Check out the LDS for any 2nd hand gear that they have. Then they should have no issues with service and support.

 

[LittleBug]

I think a lot of the shops are leary of repairing used gear b/c they don't know where it's been or how it's been maintained up to that point. Also, if that shop isn't a dealer of that line, they cannot get parts for it. So it's a choice as to whether to have them service it with parts that aren't provided by the manufacturer.

Another thing is that parts may not be available or extremely hard to track down for older models. If you are buying used gear, call the manufacturer first. Pretend to be a dive shop owner and ask the customer support department if service kits are still available for this particular model and what they've seen come back for repair in terms of problems with that model. If parts are not available, don't buy it. If there are a lot of problems, don't buy it.

 

[LavaSurfer]

I think a lot of the shops are leary of repairing used gear b/c they don't know where it's been or how it's been maintained up to that point. Also, if that shop isn't a dealer of that line, they cannot get parts for it.

Using this thought process or mentality then...
If I move to a new area, I sell all my gear and buy new, correct?
That way the shop knows my equipment and where it’s been, right?

This doesn't make any sense.
Any reputable shop can work on your gear or recommend a place to have it serviced.
If they can’t, they are not a good shop and its time to search for a better shop.

As someone said here above, all gear is used once you take it in the water.

 

[Stu S.]

First, we all know the difference between used and sight-unseen. I have read postings on this board that are like: "My dive shop can't fix it, so I'm putting it on Ebay". Geez.

I've had few problems with used gear, but the bargains seem tougher to find. A lot of folks around here buy a full set of everything from a dive shop after they get certified, and want to sell out a year or two later. Problem is, they want close to what they paid for it, and we can buy new stuff on-line for less. There is a "mountain" of slightly-used dive equipment in Florida, and it will probably hang around people's closets for a long time.

 

[MSilvia]

Problem is, they want close to what they paid for it, and we can buy new stuff on-line for less. There is a "mountain" of slightly-used dive equipment in Florida, and it will probably hang around people's closets for a long time.

The same is true up here, although the mountain is probably much smaller. There's a guy on Craig's List who has been trying to get $250 for an old pair of used AL80 tanks for months now. Good luck to him.

Most of the good deals I've seen are either from folks whose spouse has given them the "clean the garage" ultimatum, or from active divers looking to upgrade or thin out the rarely used stuff.

 

[squidster]

If you buy a used chevy at a car lot and it has warrenty on it ,and then you need service work on it ,what do you do?
you take it to gm service center and guess what ? they service it
If it didnt have warrnty they still service it!
Nearl 99% of scuba equipment that is less than ten years old and has been cared for properly can be serviced.
most service centers would service equipment.
But what would you do if you took your chevy with only 50,000 miles on it, to get serviced and the dealer acted like it was crap and then told you it would cost the price of a new chevy to repair it What would you do?
You need brakes ,tires ,oil change ,tune up windshield wipers ,and a front end alighnment, Would you pay them 20,000.00 to do that service work? would you cave and buy a new chevy?
or would you go some place else!
Dive shops need to help divers to stay active in the sport and to work with them so they can build a good system that they can afford at there pace.
I purchased a new car 4 years ago in the midwest ,that shop gave great service, then i moved, and in the area where i moved, guess what? this car dealer is even better.
my car has 121000 miles on it and when i get it serviced the car dealer always responds: that car is going 300,000 miles instead of saying its old crap trade it in.
you know why he doesnt say that? because it wouldnt be true