certification cost

[robz]

I went to a local dive shop recently to get an idea of the cost to get certified. The class price sounded reasonable, but I was wondering about the equipment they wanted you to purchase. If I remember correctly it was mask, snorkel, fins, boots, gloves, 2 regulator mouthpieces and a bag to carry it all. The prices were from $250-$750 and they said the 250 was not any good. Is this a fair price range?
Thanks

 

[MNScuba]

Depends on the equipment... I can't imagine they would require you to buy all that though... Where I went we didn't have to buy anything.

 

[MnLakeDiver]

I paid about $300 for my personal gear including mask, fins, boots, bag.
so I don't thik the prices are out of line.

When I checked arround at different shops the majority of them required the purchas (or rental) of your personal gear

 

[jbd]

most places require you to buy mask, fins, boots and a snorkel. Which is reasonable. Some require the mouth pieces for "sanitary reasons". I don't think that gloves are needed to learn to scuba dive and you certainly don't need a high priced bag to carry your stuff in. also in my opinion you don't need the most expensive mask, fins,boots and snorkle to learn to dive.

The shop might require a medical exam to clear you for diving so if that was needed I would get that prior to buying any gear.

Also many people never use their snorkle once they have completed the initial training so why buy the fanciest high tech one on the market.

As always--checkout as many dive shops as you reasonably can before deciding on which shop will conduct your training.

 

[chepar]

When I got certified, we had to provide our own fins, booties, mask and snorkel.

As Murdock said, the cost of these items depends on what you get. For example, you can buy fins as cheaply as $65 or you can purchase fins that run about $190.

When I had to get my gear for class, I purchased booties and a cheaper pair of fins to start, and got by on a mask and snorkel that I already had. I didn't want to spend almost $200 on fins and then decide that I didn't like to dive. Of course, now I'm in the market for a new pair of fins - but how much you spend is really up to you and what gear you end up liking.

However, $750 as the high end for the gear you mentioned sounds a bit high - but I haven't gone pricing recently for masks, snorkels or reg mouthpieces, either.

 

[Wendy]

All I had to get was mask, fins, booties, snorkel. I think I ended up paying close to $200. Buy the cheapest snorkel they have, I made the mistke of buying the expensive cool looking one. You don't have to buy a gear bag at a dive shop. You can go to wal-mart and buy a mesh laundry bag. I would also buy a rubber maid tub with lid on it to put your dive gear in while you are in your car. The last thing you wanna do is keep putting a wet dive gear bag in your car all the time. Decorate your "gear tub" with all the dive stickers you'll end up with. But you still need the mesh bag, cuz charter boats aren't going to like you bringing the tub on the boat, takes up too much space. Mouth pieces are cheap, around $4. Never heard of anyone having to buy them for a class. Are they afraid you might have cooties? oh and I had to buy a wetsuit for my class.

Everything else was included (weights, weight belt, bc, regs, tanks).

 

[jetblast00]

IMO, you can find the following
-- good mask - $50 - $100
-- snorkel - it's a platic tube... get the cheapest you can
-- good fins - $100 - $200 (you want open foot ones)
-- booties & gloves - depends on thickness, warmer = thinner = cheaper, the gloves really woulnd't be *required* I wouln't think, the other stuff you need to dive, but you can dive without gloves (or without a snorkel for that matter, but all OW classes require them)
-- reg mouthpeices - $2
-- bag - $1 hefty sinch sack - $100's 'o dollars pelican cases... do you own a bag that can get wet and hold the above gear? great, you don't need to buy one.

Sounds like your LDS is trying to lure you in with the class prices and then squeze as much as they can out of you on the gear front. That's ok, just be a smart consumer about it.

Keep in mind, you can find alot of this stuff cheap(er) on the internet, but should you need service, advice, repairs you'll probably want to employ your LDS and they might not "service what they don't sell" so to speak... sure they will, but they charge you then for not buying it through them, lot of loyalty BS at some spots... this isn't so much the case with the above gear as much as it is when you start to buy BC's, Regs, computers, etc...

 

[GeekDiver]

The LDS that I plan on Using has prices of (includes rental gear) $125 for weekday classes and 150 for weekend combo classes (both classroom and pool) the training material is around $40 if I remember correctly and personel gear (fins, mask, boot, snorkle wieght belt and weights) $250-$400. If you buy a complete scuba gear (reg, BC etc.) the class is free!

http://www.seasportsscuba.com/new_class2.htm

 

[jetblast00]

Originally posted by GeekDiver
The LDS that I plan on Using has prices of (includes rental gear) $125 for weekday classes and 150 for weekend combo classes (both classroom and pool) the training material is around $40 if I remember correctly and personel gear (fins, mask, boot, snorkle wieght belt and weights) $250-$400. If you buy a complete scuba gear (reg, BC etc.) the class is free!

http://www.seasportsscuba.com/new_class2.htm

Wow, that's a cool twist... free class with purchase of all the gear. I'd definatly do that for myself, but then again I already know that I love to dive, that i'm going to stick with it, and what gear works for me

You'll probably want to dive a bunch of differnent BC's or regs, etc... before
1. deciding how far you want to go in diving
2. deciding how fast you want to get there
3. deciding what gear works best for you at and up to that point

Will the shop let you try different stuff in your class and then buy after? Will they refund you the cost of the class if you buy the whole package from them after you've tried/rented/borrowed enough gear to make the decision as to what is best for you?

See how lenient they are with that. Sounds like a cool deal, but I would recommend getting a few dives in before buying the big ticket items...

Also, there are a bunch of people here from Texas, maybe they can help you with the LDS's down there!

 

[scubanole]

For my certification class I had to buy
-mask
-snorkle
-booties
-fins
-weights and weight belt

BC, tanks, and wetsuits were provided.
I agree with most everyone, buy a cheaper model snorkle. I got an expensive one and never use it now.