Do NOT rent regulators

[Hoomi]

Half a day, Darnold? I would think an hour in the pool would be plenty to make sure everything is working right.

For someone who is going to dive maybe once or twice on a week-long vacation, I definitely see your point. There's more than a few divers, though, who schedule trips specifically around diving, with the plan of getting in a couple of dives every day of the vacation. We're flying to Fiji next year, and you can bet with investing that kind of money and travel time into a dive vacation, we're going to spend a little time before we leave making sure everything is ready.

Even making a weekend trip to Mexico, I'd invest the time to checking things out before we go.

In your situation, renting makes sense. For those that do own their gear and are preparing for a dive vacation, I still think it makes sense to check things out before leaving, especially if they, like us, aren't that far from someplace like a dive shop where they can do a pool dive to make sure everything still works fine.

Rather like checking the oil, antifreeze, tire pressure, etc. on the car before a long road trip.

 

[Jupiter31]

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.

Agree 100%

There have been how many serious accidents and fatatalities solely attributed to rental gear failure??? None that I'm aware.

Sure, I agree if you are serious about the sport you should have your own gear, but all too often the "wrong" stuff is purchased by new divers, or bought as part of a package.

Strongly recommend renatal for the 1st "X number" of dives; talk to other divers, observe different eq, get some experience - then you are in a position to make a smarter buying decision.

The blanket statement made by the OP is wrong.

 

[Ardy]

I disagree with several of the statements made here.

1. Ebay or second hand could be ex rental gear. The number of new divers abandoning the sport and selling must exceed rental gear by many hundreds maybe thousands to one. Buying a good second hand reg makes a lot of sense. I dont buy the idea that people dont know what they want, if they have been using a rental or a OW dive course rental reg it takes only about 1 hour of reading on a site like this to find out a decent manufacturer. Most new regs from good manufacturers work well and are reliable or they wouldnt be in the diving business for long.

2. 'Storing gear that gets used once or twice a year can lead to failure' I do this these days and have been doing it for the last 10 years. I do about 2-3 trips a year and clock up about 60-80 dives a year. Never had a problem and I am using a reg and BC I am confident with. As HOOMI says above I always check my gear in a pool prior to a trip, except mid winter when It's too bloody cold for me to jump in the pool. If I have only one dive trip in a year (happened one year) then I dont get my gear serviced until the following year.

Somebody asked about the rental gear failure I had. This was with a twin hose in 1973 and it stopped delivering air whilst I was in a cave. You had to work your way into the entrance and getting out without air wasnt easy. Of course gear is better today and I aint saying this is THE reason I dont rent and wouldnt rent. I have seen divers kitting up with rental gear and experiencing free flows and breathing difficulties which the dive shop fixes in a few seconds as they have the service bench right there.

Having your own gear makes basic sense to me when I am going into an environment where I could die, I want to have control over the gear I am going to breath out of. I dont want a dive shop to have that control.

 

[psychocabbage]

Agree 100%

There have been how many serious accidents and fatatalities solely attributed to rental gear failure??? None that I'm aware.

Sure, I agree if you are serious about the sport you should have your own gear, but all too often the "wrong" stuff is purchased by new divers, or bought as part of a package.

Strongly recommend renatal for the 1st "X number" of dives; talk to other divers, observe different eq, get some experience - then you are in a position to make a smarter buying decision.

The blanket statement made by the OP is wrong.

So what you are saying is that a majority of the new divers lack the ability to read and research products properly to make an informed decision.

I can buy into that..

I only used rental gear for about 1 day of my "training" Then I was on my own gear. I went with the XS RG200 TriMetal as it had excellent reviews and for the price point was not too cheap and not too expensive. It definately breathes easier than my wifes Tusa which we purchased at the same time. I was also urged to get a Cochran computer. I said no and stated that after my research, I would like the TUSA IQ700. To this day I am very happy I made my decision and did my research because I now own 5 IQ700s and only need 1 PC hookup for the lot (the whole family dives the same computer).

Now after I have done 60+ dives and seen everything from full face setups to rebreathers, would I change? No. I may look at a Posideon later on in life but for now that is definately overkill.

Now back on Topic.. Rental gear. Perhaps its the fact that I have seen the gear across the counter that brings me to my belief that its just not good stuff. Its upper lower end products and more times than not, they have leaks around the primaries. Its kinda funny to see the DM and the rental group with their little trail of bubbles oozing out while the wife and kids and I only have our exhaust bubbles..

I dont think I could use rental gear and have peace of mind. I would rather just get new gear and enjoy. To each their own, but I think the OP was just stating that he was surprised that people do use rental gear and was stating that he opposes it..

I agree.. I oppose it.. I know poeple that only dive a couple times a year. thats their thing.. We do about 30-40 per year.. Renting would not be cost effective for us.

 

[RonFrank]

Most of the rental gear I have seen in the US is certainly well maintained.

That holds true for Coz as well. I've read of issues in some areas, but I don't think I've ever read of an account where rental gear has killed a diver.

Having good and properly maintained gear is important, but I don't think one can make a blanket statement like rental gear is bad.

I'd inspect and test any gear topside before diving it. If there is duct tape involved with the gear, I would reject it! I have read a couple incidents involving duct tape on BC's.

In general, renting gear is a no brainier. If the gear is in poor condition, find another rental agency.

 

[RonFrank]

Its kinda funny to see the DM and the rental group with their little trail of bubbles oozing out while the wife and kids and I only have our exhaust bubbles..

My buddy has a reg that bubbles. It is by design. Can't remember the make but whatever. You assumption that this is a problem may not be valid. There is a least one manufacture that makes regulators that bubble by design.

 

[divinginn]

My buddy has a reg that bubbles. It is by design. Can't remember the make but whatever. You assumption that this is a problem may not be valid. There is a least one manufacture that makes regulators that bubble by design.

That would be the sherwoods,older ones anyhow.

 

[Reg Braithwaite]

I hear y'all about rentals, and I own my own regs. HOWEVER, my wife is a fair-weather, warm-water diver so she rents when we travel. What we do is rent from our LDS and take them with us, rather than renting from a resort or charter operator. The regs are usually used for OW classes in a pool, so the shop does a tune-up and inspection on the regs before we take them. We do lots of business there, so the shop is motivated to give us a working set.

While I prefer to own, I must admit that from a risk perspective I have often rented cars, and who knows what condition the brakes are in? Likewise I don't take my own tanks on trips or do my own fills at all. At some point when thinking about things that could go wrong I shrug and accept the risks...

 

[blue islands diving]

Most reputable dive organizations take a lot of care with there equipment, especially regs and service or replace these items on a regular basis. Far more so than some privately owned regs. I would never discourage people from renting equipment from reputable dive operations.

 

[BTravlin]

I just got back from a cruise where we did a couple of tanks in St. Lucia. Rented all my gear from the dive op because I didn't want to haul all of mine just for two tanks. No problem with the reg but I couldn't get a good mask fit and had continual water fill and got a nasty blister from the fins. The reg and BC were great though.