Wow, this has been an informative thread. Thank you everyone for your comments. I wanted to clear something up that I had seen in several messages.
I did not lose all of my air in five minutes, and I never said that. From my post:
"I got down to depth and noticed something strange (and scary). "
and
"I kept track of my air but it I was pretty low after about 5 minutes or so."
So, I got down to depth (I think it was around 60ft but I can't remember and don't have my log book handy) and had about five minutes there before I had to start back up. And, I had about 1000 psi before I started back so that I had enough to compensate for the leak and still make my safety stop.
Furthermore, it was not leaking on the first dive (or at least I didn't notice it). And, I didn't notice it leaking until I got down to depth on the second dive.
I am a new diver (not brand new, but under 20 dives at the time). I had no idea what to think of the air pouring (it wasn't bubbling) out of my SPG console. It had never happened before, I never saw it before, and it was scary for me. I was probably sucking air because I was freaking out, and I wasn't having fun, that's for sure.
And, there was a dive master there who helped me to calm down because the first thing I wanted to do when I saw that was start ascending (in a safe manner of course, I wasn't going shoot to the surface or do anything drastic). But even after their efforts, I spent the next few minutes watching it like a hawk, worrying, and still not having a good time.
Now that I know that it doesn't deplete your air as quickly as it would seem from the large amount of air flowing out, I'd be less worried. But, it doesn't change the fact that it ruined that dive. And, there was a huge amount of air escaping even without my most likely increased breathing.
I'm sure looking at this from someone that has a lot more experience than me you can see the holes in what I did. Yes, I should have checked the bite grips before I left the shop the first time. Of course, the second time I exchanged the equipment I did check the bite grips (since then I knew about such issues) and I found the bite grip issue even when the shop did not check it. But, I had no idea about checking for a slow leak. Now I do. I had no idea that the SPG console could start flowing air. Now I do. Would I do all those checks before I leave a shop again with rental gear? You bet. But, the SPG console was not leaking like it was on the second dive. When I returned it, you could hear the hissing very well. It wasn't like that at first since it would have been very obvious when I hooked up my gear.
I had not been diving more than twice a year, if that. So, I rented gear. And, I thought (apparently incorrectly) that all dive shops regularly check and maintain gear (check o-rings in the SPG, or gaskets, or whatever and replace them). In fact, I saw that as a huge advantage, having gear that was checked and maintained on a regular basis from a rental shop.
As I see it, if I can't rely on a shop to maintain their equipment, or if I have to worry about it, then I might as well buy my gear. I had an incorrect impression of rental gear and Dive World has opened my eyes.
And, it was mentioned that tanks were rented there several times with no issue. I want to re-iterate, our tanks were fine, our BCD's worked fine (although not weight-integrated like the two other U.S. shops I rented from), and the weight belts and weights were fine. We just had repeated issues with the regulators.
And, I don't know a whole lot about the equipment. I always rented mine and so I wouldn't know if this type of reg was better than any other type of reg. I noticed that the BCD was not weight integrated, but anything after that was beyond my experience level. But, when I talked with some of the more experienced divers, I was told that the equipment I had was pretty old and low-quality.
In any case, I had issue with the fact that he was not replacing the replaceable, wearable parts in the equipment prior to failure. I would think rubber o-rings would be cheap and easy to replace on an annual basis. And, I was blaming his not replacing the parts with the cause of it failing so drastically on the second time it was used.
Now I'm being told that it is normal for some shops not to check or replace parts on a regular basis. I am also being told that having a SPG console leak a lot is not a big deal. Ok, as I said, I am a newbie so I will have to defer to those that have more experience than me. It is a learning experience for sure.
I still feel it is his responsibility and duty to regularly replace those parts that wear out on his rental equipment even if it costs him a few bucks and even if it takes a little time and even if they haven't failed yet. But, perhaps that is an unfair expectation.
In any case, I have learned that I can't rely on rental equipment in all cases. And, even doing two dives a year or every two years, I am going to get my own equipment. I understand that even my own equipment can fail, but I can be sure that it's going to be serviced regularly and I'll most likely have the parts and tools necessary to repair simple things in the field if needed.
But, thank you everyone for their input. I'm not trying to bash Dive World. I'm not out to get them. If the equipment had worked I probably would have said I would have preferred weight-integrated BCD's but everything worked fine, and I would have said Dive World was okay. But, that was not my experience, I did not like having to make repeated trips to get things replaced, I did not like being told that I should have checked this or that (by him) almost as if it was not his responsibility too to check it (like he didn't the second time on the bite guard), that he's not responsible for maintaining it, that every one works the same way, that he just waits for it to fail, etc.
I rented from two dive operators in Cozumel, a liveaboard operator in Thailand, ClearSprings (rented directly from them), and Adventure Scuba in Plano (got my cert from them and rented from them). In all cases, everything worked with no issues. So, maybe I was just lucky, maybe they maintain their equipment better, maybe they have better equipment, there's no telling. I'd imagine they struggle with the same issues that every other dive shop does. But, in their case, everything was fine.
