DiveSeekers merging with Scubadelphia, Hillsborough NJ location closing

[Joneill]

Guess they're ok with spending half their dive fiddling with unfamiliar BCDs that usually lack weight integration, strange dive computers and previously pissed in wetsuits because they aren't willing to push another piece of luggage around an airport and are perfectly ok with paying more for the luxury of doing so. Whether that's "better" is up for serious debate.

Seriously? Why would they spend half their dive fiddling with their BC's. It's not rocket science and most rental grear is pretty simllar in function and easy to figure out as are the basic dive computers they rent. We're talking recreational vacation diving for fun here - not technical diving... and, yes, mant people don't care about the long term economics - it's just not worth the money and effort for them and that is perfectly OK as it is THEIR decision - not yours!

I like having my own gear - but end up spending time packing it for a dive trip, lugging it to the airport , checking it, waiting to pick it up at baggage claim and lug it to the condo and assemble it. Then every day, I lug it to the dive boat or shore site, clean/rinse it after diving is done for the day and hang it somewhere to dry. On the backend, I have to disassemble, and lug it back home though the airports and unpack and do a more thorough cleaning/rinsing and put it all away.

I personally have no problem doing that - but I recognize that many recreational divers would not be so enamored. They want to fly somewhere with minimal baggage and get some dives in with nothing to lug around or clean - just hop on a boat or go to a shore site , gear up , dive and leave to do something else!

 

[Joneill]

forge

Ok maybe not half the dive but there's going to be the lack of familiarity, the BCD may need some adjustment during the dive and it's not going to be an instinctive move to find the straps if they can be located at all, the vast majority of rental BCDs are not weight integrated which means you've got to deal with a weight belt and all the inconvenience and difficulty with trim that goes with it, along with the fact that the BCD is probably jacket style not rear inflate or wings and the trim is going to be far from perfect, certainly not nearly as good as it would be for a diver who has adjusted their weights over time with a BCD that allows putting weights in various places. The dump valves won't necessarily be in predictable locations, some BCDs simply require a pull on the dump valve others require that it be lifted over the divers head. Some BCDs have rear upper and lower dump valves, others do not.

These things can make a big difference even in easy warm water recreational diving.

I've seen many divers messing with rental computers that they have no clue how to use, I see DMs and crew helping divers with their computers all the time when it comes to setting the proper gas blend and explaining the screens. And forget about uploading your dives from your computer if it's rented.

Plus all the other reasons I gave that you did not dispute in your post.

Not worth arguiing with somone who is narrow-minded and doesn't see the other points of view that very obviouisly exist for MANY divers out there...

 

[Lobzilla]

Ok maybe not half the dive but there's going to be the lack of familiarity, the BCD may need some adjustment during the dive and it's not going to be an instinctive move to find the straps if they can be located at all, the vast majority of rental BCDs are not weight integrated which means you've got to deal with a weight belt and all the inconvenience and difficulty with trim that goes with it, along with the fact that the BCD is probably jacket style not rear inflate or wings and the trim is going to be far from perfect, certainly not nearly as good as it would be for a diver who has adjusted their weights over time with a BCD that allows putting weights in various places. The dump valves won't necessarily be in predictable locations, some BCDs simply require a pull on the dump valve others require that it be lifted over the divers head. Some BCDs have rear upper and lower dump valves, others do not.

These things can make a big difference even in easy warm water recreational diving.

I've seen many divers messing with rental computers that they have no clue how to use, I see DMs and crew helping divers with their computers all the time when it comes to setting the proper gas blend and explaining the screens. And forget about uploading your dives from your computer if it's rented.

Plus all the other reasons I gave that you did not dispute in your post.

There is a very simple solution to dealing with all the convolution. Just rent and dive DIR gear

 

[Charles2]

The title of this thread scared me just a little.

I placed an order this morning at 11:41.

It was shipped at 2:33 this afternoon.

Seems like excellent service to me.

 

[Joneill]

The title of this thread scared me just a little.

I placed an order this morning at 11:41.

It was shipped at 2:33 this afternoon.

Seems like excellent service to me.

Diveseekers.com did not close - it was aquired so no disruption of service there - just new owners. The brick and mortar store is closing and that creates a big void in the area.

 

[Lobzilla]

How does that solve the following issues:

1- for regular divers the rental costs will far exceed the initial purchase and maintenance costs
2- pissed in wetsuits
3- dive computers will still vary with DIR configurations
4- is DIR rental gear even available?

I have shown up with my drysuit, mask, and gauges/computer and everything else just "bolted on" seamlessly. Cost was less than paying the extra baggage fee. But you need to know people in the community or be in cave country. Look at EEs rental rates, scroll down to the gear packages, and ask yourself how much you have to dive to break even on buying all that at retail price. If I would not have bought all of my gear used for pennies on the dollar (sorry retail shops) I would have done better with renting so far.

The other point I tried to make is: If rental cars were like SCUBA, some cars would have the brake on the right and the accelerator on the left. Some car's transmission would go P-D-3-2-N-R instead of P-R-N-D...Some would have turn signal lever on the right others on the dash and so on. Fortunately, we do not put up with this nonsense in real life. You get a compact car, a big car, or a really big car/SUV. Done.

The problems with renting due to lack of gear familiarity are self inflicted in the SCUBA industry.

And apparently, all the individuality of SCUBA gear that supposedly makes things better or easier did not really keep the stores alive. For every item that one customer buys, the store has to stock dozens of other items that serve the same purpose just differently and often with a different user interface. Does that have a positive influence on profitability?

 

[Lobzilla]

Diveseekers.com did not close - it was aquired so no disruption of service there - just new owners. The brick and mortar store is closing and that creates a big void in the area.

Does anybody know what Jason and Wayne are doing in the future?

 

[tridacna]

Easiest IGNORE I’ve ever implemented. So long AI, we hardly knew ye!

 

[Diveseekers.com]

Hello Everyone Justin here.
While loosing a shop always sucks were trying hard to make it as easy as possible to keep serving our customers that are not local to the new location.
We will be adding more availability of ship in/out for service.
You will still be able to talk to me. <-- Best part if I don't say so myself.
All the instructional staff is welcome in the move.
The online store will be changing a little as well. We will be offering more products and some other surprises that I can't tell you about yet.

Wonder how/if this will effect OceanEdgeOutfitters?

Separate Business

Does anybody know what Jason and Wayne are doing in the future?

They will still be teaching.

The title of this thread scared me just a little.
I placed an order this morning at 11:41.
It was shipped at 2:33 this afternoon.
Seems like excellent service to me.

Thanks.
We will be posting a warning in the next few days on the checkout page that there may be delays on shipping just because inventory will be spread between 2 locations until the massive pack-move-unpack is complete.

Thanks for understanding.

 

[broncobowsher]

Diveseekers.com did not close - it was aquired so no disruption of service there - just new owners. The brick and mortar store is closing and that creates a big void in the area.

That's not exactly true. I had been getting cells for my revo through them. It is time to get another. The web site is now stripped of all revo stuff. The only thing left are the Analytical Industries cells. No more spare parts. I was ordering up a few spares with each oxygen cell. They were the best online deal. Now it is time to start my shopping all over again.