can a person ever buy used equipment?

[Fordan]

There are a few gotcha about buying used... http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=170824 demonstrates one. But as long as you can get it repaired/serviced reasonably cheaply without manufacture policies biting you, I'd think it should be fine

 

[Crazy Fingers]

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 know lots of people (some of them very reputable, others not so much ) who never service their regulators and are fine. The trick is to keep the saltwater out of them. By the time it wears out, I guarantee you will have bought a new one anyways. I have tons of gas regulators (not scuba, but the same principle) of various types and various manufacturers at work which have passed hundreds of thousands of scft of gas and have never been serviced. Some are 40+ years old. The only ones to ever fail were ones left outside in the rain for months, and then only if the water is allowed to get inside.

A particular, ancient Sherwood Brut was loaned to me when I busted my low pressure hose when my setup fell off a bench. The first breath I took off it resulted in a mouth full of cobwebs! The rubber was looking pretty old and grey to boot. I am sure that it hadn't been serviced in well over 10 years. But once I purged it out and took a few breaths off of it, it was a damn sweet breathing regulator which I took to 80 feet without hesitation.

I would just take a look at the frit and if it was all corroded up I would not buy it. If it looked good, then I'd buy it and if it breathes at 6 feet in a pool, it gets my approval.

But you know me, I have a "Death Wish" and am "Lucky to be alive."

 

[Loneranger]

I have bought used equipment over the years and can not say I regret any of the deals I made. Patience and being educated on the equipment helps make a good decision.

 

[nice-diver]

thanks to ebay, I know have all the dive gear I always wanted from the eighties; I have been hasseled from my lack of income induced buying decisions

 

[tremtech]

A used wet suits can not have processed more pee through them than rental gear has, but every year the largest lds in my area sells off all of last years rental gear for some cheap prices like $15 bucks for wet suits like Bare ,Mares reg sets &45 bucks , it saves them alot of maintenance, they put out the brand new equiptment for rent and they probably write off the loss on taxes

 

[Garrobo]

I ended up with a bunch of used stuff when an inlaw died. That's what got me into diving. I had all the regs either rebuilt or serviced and have been using them with no problems at all. The dive shop where I took the SDI course was more than glad to do the work and I ended up with a set of regs for a $200 investment. The guy in the shop liked them because they were metal instead of plastic and said that they would probably be usable when I was gone.

 

[Garrobo]

Something I forgot to mention is that I bought a Mares Tutor computer on Ebay. The seller stated that he had bought two of them, one for himself and one for his 15 year-old son and that the son had made one dive with him and quit. Sure enough when it came I checked the log and it had only one dive on it. The one dive the son had made was five minutes at a max depth of 118 feet. You figure it out. Anyway, I like the computer and it has a replacable AAA battery to operate it.