Cost to start Diving?

[fresh_fish]

...And, one must remember that (according to a local instructor) 90% of those who certify are not active dives a year later.

Welcome to diving. Have fun with it.

I'd have to agree with this. My husband and I got certified, then went 18 months before our next dive. I'm still an active diver, but most people spend the money on the courses and dives, and get buyers remorse. We kept saying it costs too much, when the expensive part was really the gear and the course. (Though, it would have cost $300 for both of us to dive for a weekend.)

Then you come around, and realize how much you really enjoyed it, then you're hooked!

 

[BarryTX]

I came back to Scuba this summer. I bought the mask, fins, snorkle, and weight belt from the LDS that I was getting my refresher course at, and spent close to $200. I could have saved money but everything fit, so I was happy. After the course I've been putting together my equipment and have bought regulator, octo, dive knife, and backplate & wing setup used - mostly from the postings on this board. Great equipment and fair prices, by the way. I also picked up a dive computer, wetsuit, and gauges at Scubatoys (online / phone orders) at great prices - the dive computer and wetsuit were closeouts, on the gauges they matched another site's price. Scubatoys customer service is excellent, by the way. All in I've spent about $1,150 on the equipment, I feel like that is a bargain. Just be patient to learn what you want and then look for them in the places that can save you money.

 

[eelnoraa]

I just went through OW 2 monthes ago, here is what it has costed me:

OW class from LDS: $295 (include $145 pool/classroom/rental fees, $150 instructors fee)

PADI course material: Costed me $50 because I shared some item with my buddy. Otherwise $100 if you buy everything as package. IMHO, most of these items are waste of money or one time use thing. If you have friends did this before, borrow as much as possible from them.

Basic gear: mask, fin, snorkle, boot, glove. I am sorry, I didn't support my LDS, I went with Leisurepro expect the mask. mask ($75), fin($125), boot (6.5mm $40), gloves (5mm $30), snorkle ($20). Total costed me about $300.

So far, costed me $750 to get OW cert.

One of my LDS offer daily rent at $35/day for 1 tank, reg, bc, weight, wet suit. If I dont buy anything, it will cost me $35/day of diving from now on.

After a few dives, I found bouyancy control is one of the most importnat thing in water. And since rental offer me different BC and wetsuit everything, I decide to get my own BC/wet suit/weight.

BC: BP/W + misc items, ~$550
Wetsuit/hood: $180
Weight/belt: ~$70 ( I didn't know lead can be this expansive)

so this is another $800 in equipment (total $1100 in equipment). I still need to rent reg and tank everytime I go, so that is about $15 per day.

Diving is definitely not cheap, but compare to hobbies like photography, goft, sailing, I actually think it isnot too bad.

 

[Web Monkey]

So far, costed me $750 to get OW cert.

One of my LDS offer daily rent at $35/day for 1 tank, reg, bc, weight, wet suit. If I dont buy anything, it will cost me $35/day of diving from now on.

The nice part is that once you buy your own tank/BC wetsuit and reg, you can dive for about $6. You can't get lunch at McDonalds for $6 anymore.

People never beleive me when I tell them that diving is a really cheap hobby once you get everything you want.

The only catch is that you never get everything you want.

Terry

 

[Doc Harry]

Scuba is like any other hobby. You can spend basically as little or as much as you want. You could prob. get a package for around $500 or could spend $5000 on a rec setup. I personally think scuba is my cheapest hobby by far behind golf, hunting, and fishing.

Hmmmm. I think golf, hunting, and fishing are pretty cheap. Here's what I've spent on those hobbies:

Golf $0
Hunting $0
Fishing $0

You get what you pay for. Perhaps you should rent scuba gear for a while and decide how much you like the sport. That will help you to decide how much you want to spend on gear.

You can buy your own mouth piece - but you're going to be doing air-sharing drills during the dive class. That involves taking a regulator directly from one person's mouth and putting it directly into your mouth. So get over it! Having your own mouthpiece is rather pointless.

Additionally, you are "contaminating" the entire second stage with spit, so what you really want is your own personal second stage and not just the mouth piece. If you carry a couple of adjustable wrenches you can swap out a second stage in less than a minute.

 

[eelnoraa]

Hmmmm. I think golf, hunting, and fishing are pretty cheap. Here's what I've spent on those hobbies:

Golf $0
Hunting $0
Fishing $0

.

Are you sure?? How do golf and fishing cost $0??? If you play on the greens, you will need a set of iron, a putter, a driver. These could easily cost $2000 for decent set. Then you need to pay the green fee every time you play, it can range from $30 to $75 in my area. Of course, if you only do driving range and use house club, it cost $15 for 100 golf balls. But I see this vs real golfing as discovery diving in pool vs real OW scuba diving.

For fishing, you need a fishing pole, a wheel, a fishing license just to start fishing by the shore. You may need a small boat either rent or buy, or you may need to pay for a charter boat for deep see fishing. It is just not $0

I don't do hunting, but I don't see how it can cost $0 either.
I don't do hunting, I would think the gears for hunting would cost a bit of money too.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

Perhaps he doesn't do golf, fishing or hunting. Posts here on SB are only rarely logical.

 

[elmer fudd]

Around where I live, (Puget Sound), I would plan on spending $3000 to get a decent scuba setup new. That would include a low end drysuit like an Apollo, a pair of steel tanks, reg, octopus, puck type computer, gauges, mask, fins, BC, weight, knife and light. If you want a better drysuit, an air integrated computer and a pony bottle you better add another $1400 to the cost. Buy half your stuff off of Craigslist and dive wet and you could probably pull it off for $1500 or less.

Obviously in a tropical area you could get away with spending a whole lot less.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

All the gear I'm using right now cost me:

Super thick custom wetsuit $1000
Reg w/octo and custom length hoses $700
fins w/ spring straps $110
High Tide booties $90
Kevlar gloves $50
Oceanic Shadow mask $69
Bottom timer ? it was given to me but it's worth $200
BP/W $500
Compass $65
Knife $75
Shears $35
Snorkel $20
Steel tank $389
Boat $8000

Total of what I use right now $11,753.00
and that doesn't include the other 8 tanks I have or all the other stuff including doubles, can lights, other lights, cameras, etc. That's just what I use to go diving now.

If I was to add up everything I ever spent on diving I could have bought a house free and clear.
Let's not go there.