certification cost

[ladycute1]

The place I dive most often charges $225.00 for OW certification. That includes books, instruction, all gear rental, tanks, photo, cards. EVERYTHING.

I didn't buy a single piece of gear until I had about 30 dives in. And, I bought my current snorkle at a thrift store for $2.99.

Liz

 

[fredk]

At our shop we charge $250. cdn. which includes everything for confined and open water dives, this price also includes student crew pak. Students must supply or buy mask, fins, snorkel, booties and weight belt with 6 lbs. of lead. No furhter added costs.

 

[Ron Brandt]

FREDK - Why do you "make" them buy a 6 LB weight belt ?

Ron

 

[Welshman]

Getting your own mask, schnorkel, fins/boots sounds like a good idea but as someone else has suggested I'd also get a full wetsuit of the appropriate thickness (not a shortie). In the Uk I could source this for around £150 -180 and there would be no need to go anywhere need the £Sterling equivalent of $750.

 

[LilmanHSU]

Everyone here seems to have the same general consensus:

Buy the "personal" gear that gets you started.. If it turns out you don't like the sport, you can always have fancy snorkel gear to play in the pool with ;-)

My class overall with gear and everything was probably about $500 dollars.. that includes the cost I shelled out to buy fins, mask, snorkel, booties, and gloves. Also the classroom, rental gear, air fills, and the boat trips.

I don't like straight fin blades anymore, i went to splits, much more comfortable, but I didn't get those until I finished my OWC. But I got started off straight fins first.

I obtained other gear as I got more into it.. Suit next, then BC System later..

Haven't bought my reg system yet. Saving up for a particular model, so in the mean time, i rent for 25 dollars the tank and reg setup from my LDS. So far, the only problem was the LP/HP hoses were lose, quick fix with a cresent wrench.

Anyhow, thats my 2 cents.

Happy Diving!

Pauly

 

[Ron Brandt]

I charge $30.00 per session. Academic & Pool. Lend out Mask sorkel and fins for pool. Check out weekend $150.00 . Includes equipment rental . C Card $30

Ron

 

[TheDivingBear]

.... My wife and I are trying to get out OW cert. The cost of the classroom/confined dives was like $175 each. We had to buy our own snorkel, mask, and fins. No biggie. Then we knew we would have to rent the equipment for our open water dive, if we were going to do it locally and that would cost us $65 each (to cover equipment rental). However, we can't get our Open Water dives in before we go to Hawaii. Most of the dive shops I've called in Hawaii want another $250 per person. I knew this was an expensive hobby (I've been shopping equipment prices, WOW!!), but why so much more? Is this reasonable??

Jim

 

[jetblast00]

Originally posted by TheDivingBear
.... My wife and I are trying to get out OW cert. The cost of the classroom/confined dives was like $175 each. We had to buy our own snorkel, mask, and fins. No biggie. Then we knew we would have to rent the equipment for our open water dive, if we were going to do it locally and that would cost us $65 each (to cover equipment rental). However, we can't get our Open Water dives in before we go to Hawaii. Most of the dive shops I've called in Hawaii want another $250 per person. I knew this was an expensive hobby (I've been shopping equipment prices, WOW!!), but why so much more? Is this reasonable??

Jim

The prices you're quoting seem average. Yes, this is a VERY expensive sport... be sure not to go tech, or you'll need another garage, automoile, day in the week, and morgage... It costs a bit to get into it, but after certification, you can decide just how much you want to further invest into it. Only diving on vacation once a year? then just rent gear. Diving alot locally, well then it might be smart to make another large investment to buy your own gear.

 

[CuriousMe]

Originally posted by TheDivingBear
.... My wife and I are trying to get out OW cert. The cost of the classroom/confined dives was like $175 each. We had to buy our own snorkel, mask, and fins. No biggie. Then we knew we would have to rent the equipment for our open water dive, if we were going to do it locally and that would cost us $65 each (to cover equipment rental). However, we can't get our Open Water dives in before we go to Hawaii. Most of the dive shops I've called in Hawaii want another $250 per person. I knew this was an expensive hobby (I've been shopping equipment prices, WOW!!), but why so much more? Is this reasonable??

Jim

Unfortunately, the price varies wildly area by area....that is far more than I paid to certify. I paid $150 for the class and $50 for my books. This included classroom, confined water dives (with full equipment rental...didn't even have a mask), my c-card and my open water dives for a class of 5 including me. This was only the beginning of this year, so it was recently.

From what I hear....everything in Hawaii is expensive.

Keep checking around....of course you don't want price to be the only factor you look at when chooseing who to go with....reality does step in and make it at least one of the factors you need to look at.

Good luck!

 

[sdexcalibur]

I had to get Mask,fins,snorkle,hood,weight belt,gloves I also dive in cold water. Try different places. I use my lds to find the gear I want but buy it on-line. They are just cheaper. E-bay you can get a good deal sometimes. if you know what you want.:madelf: