Do NOT rent regulators

[MauiScubaSteve]

As a boat/shore guide in a visitor destination, I'm pretty sure I can speak for my peers about the most likely regulator on the boat to free-flow; the serviced last week previously in some landlocked closet for the last 18 months reg. Even my oldest and ugliest rental reg was in the water just a few days ago and worked well enough to make a dive.

Percentage of dives aborted due rental reg failure vs successful rental reg dives might be less than 5%. Percentage of dives aborted due occasionally used personal reg failure vs successful occasionally used personal reg dives might be over 30%.

95%. Percentage of tourist divers who had to abort first vacation dive due occasionally used personal reg failure who said, "I just got that reg serviced before I left home."

 

[mike_s]

When is the last time you saw a dive shop sanitize a mouthpiece? I never have but that is just me. Most just dip them in a barrel of water that just had peed in wetsuits in it. .

I think you're giving most LDS's a lot of credit there.

I'd guess that 90% of shops don't rinse or santitize their regs......



Personally, this thread "saying don't rent regulators" is about as stupid as posting "don't fly in airplanes because you will die".

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

When is the last time you saw a dive shop sanitize a mouthpiece? I never have but that is just me. Most just dip them in a barrel of water that just had peed in wetsuits in it. If I ever had to rent I would buy a new mouthpiece and have it installed.

I think you're giving most LDS's a lot of credit there.

I'd guess that 90% of shops don't rinse or santitize their regs......

If you have never seen a dive shop sanitize a mouthpiece, and you'd guess that 90% of shops don't rinse or sanitize, then I think you are both cursed with very bad dive shops. I can't imagine an Open Water certification course that did not include proper cleaning and maintenance of the dive gear, including sanitization. Quite a few of my past employers have dedicated reg buckets (used with sanitizer), the others make a point to wash regs first and wet suits last (most with sanitizer).

A large double sink system works very nicely with regards to water conservation; done right, when the wash water needs changing the rinse water can then become the wash water. Most instructors I know treat their own regs pretty much the same as the rentals, only dif is ours are the first to go in the sanitizer.

 

[Anti-Hero]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and surmise that with all the thousands of dives completed everyday using rental gear around the world, rental gear enjoys a pretty impressive safety record.

 

[Timoblue]

I used rental up to October last year without hardly any problems. Okay some of the attached mouthpieces on certain regs tasted like they had been dipped in crab paste and left overnight, i would just avoid them on the following weekends dive. This never put me off renting from my LDS though, you have to have a some trust in the equipment they own as i'm pretty sure they do.

I got my own reg just before Xmas 08. Suffice to say i had nothing but trouble with it from the outset and in the time it took to get it right - I went back to rental again.

 

[kathydee]

I use to dive with rental gear at some of the worst backpacker shops in SE Asia, saw lots of failing gear - but usually divers just ran OOA from flooded regs & water causing wrong air gauge readings.

Only a few free flowing regs and usually those happened on the surface or in shallow water. Our rule was to stick VERY close to your buddy just in case!
Now I own beautiful gear & am sooo glad those days are long behind me.

But I still stick close to my buddy - just in case .

 

[Dtaine]

I have been reading threads on this site for the last few months and I'm shocked by the number of divers who rent regs and BC's.

A regulator is so critical to a safe and comfortable dive why would you leave it up to somebody else to provide this for you? A BC isn't quite so bad but I would still suggest that all divers own theirs, particularly if they have to change hoses to fit your reg because this is another point of potential failure.

A second hand, good quality reg, can be bought on ebay for $100 why wouldn't you get one. BTW get it serviced before you use it and then get used to it.

So you don't trust the shop to rent you a regulator but you'll trust them to service one that you just bought off of ebay?

I'm pretty sure I put my own regulators through more abuse than those I rent. I'm much more likely to think "Oh I can rinse it when I get back home" when I get off the boat, and then forget to rinse my gear for a week; whereas with a rental I rinse it thoroughly right after the dive, every dive.

 

[Garrobo]

I don't rent but the dive operation where I do most of my diving does an excellent job of maintaining their rentals. I've watched them as they service them on a regular basis. They buy new regs and sell off the year-old ones every year. I would have no qualms about renting from them if I didn't have my own.

 

[psychocabbage]

A blanket statement of "Don't rent", however, paints all dive shops in a negative light, and furthers the perception that only those with ample money to dump on all their equipment RIGHT NOW can take up diving. A lot of people aren't ready to drop $400 for a BC, $400 for a reg set-up, $200 for gages, $300 for a computer, $150 for a wet suit, $80 for fins, $70 for the mask, $100 for belt and weights, $40 for neoprene boots, $20 for a snorkel, and whatever other incidentals they might need or want, before they even get certified and decide whether they like scuba diving or not.

$1750 - $2000 or more might be "pocket change" to some people, but to a lot of working folk like me, it's a major investment for a recreational sport, and moreso if you have more than one member of the household taking it up. Renting allows us to enjoy the sport while watching for good deals on equipment when we have the money to spend on it.

$1750 is dive shop pricing.. Thats just too much..
For our last 3 sets of gear, we purchased through LP, we got an Oceanic BC, Oceanic Sport 8 reg set with octo and a Tusa Hunter (Basically a console with a puck computer (IQ700) in it). So all of that.. Which is basically your BC, Gauges, Regs and Computer for $675. Not once but 3 times. At different times. So I know they still do the deal. Thats pretty cheap if you ask me.

I made the mistake of going through my local Dive shop for my gear and paid almost what the 3 sets cost me. Not a good deal.

After having been on many boats and dives (sure not that many compared to some of you...) I know I prefer my gear that I depend on way more than the gear I see people using from these places..

 

[mike_s]

If you have never seen a dive shop sanitize a mouthpiece, and you'd guess that 90% of shops don't rinse or sanitize, then I think you are both cursed with very bad dive shops. I can't imagine an Open Water certification course that did not include proper cleaning and maintenance of the dive gear, including sanitization. Quite a few of my past employers have dedicated reg buckets (used with sanitizer), the others make a point to wash regs first and wet suits last (most with sanitizer).

I still bet that if you go into 10 shops and rent a reg and take it back, that at 9 of those shops, they just hang it on the shelf/rack with all the other regs.

I think others here will agree with me.