How many buy used scuba gear on eBay?

[scubafanatic]

Hi ew1usnr,

....yeah, I'm trying to encourage him to do more dives, so I thought that might be a nice 'incentive' for him. I don't mind him (or anyone else using my regs.......God knows I've got enough 'extras' to equip a small city!) ....but everyone likes to own their own stuff.

As far as 'modern' regs, I pretty much dive Poseidons (Odins) and Mares (Ruby/Voltrex)...so Aqualung regs are 'non-standard' for me.......never tried them, but the product reviews were OK......but for simplicity/standardization that's what I'll stick to for personal use.

Karl

 

[Curly]

The only piece of "gear" I've purchase via eBay was an Akona 6.5mm FJ wetsuit. At $140, it was an incredible bargain (especially since I soon afterward saw the same suit in a shop for $380)...

There are margins, and then there is insanity.

 

[ew1usnr]

These arrived in the mail last night. They look very nice. The chrome US Divers 2nd stage is marked "Octopus". These old USD regulators breathe easy and smooth. The design is simple, they are easy to service, and parts are readily available. The Sportsways gauge is interesting. It has a double ended pointer and a scale marked in psi and another in bars. It also has a capillary depth gauge around the rim. I love ebay.

 

[ew1usnr]

I got this for $15 off ebay. A Sportsways-Waterlung Sub-Jac 360. It has two hoses at the bottom that connect the front and back air cells. This lets you do barrel rolls and the air won't shift and your buoyancy position will stay constant. The BC is in great shape. It holds air with no leaks. The CO2 inflator cartridge is in place and operational. It has an over expasion valve plus a shoulder mounted dump valve with the pull cord integrated in the inflator hose. The auto-inflator works fine. The yellow color is terriffic. It will really stand out from among a crowd of new black BC's. I've never seen another BC like this. All the wing divers will be envious.

 

[scubafanatic]

Hi ew1usnr,

.......in the last 2 weeks I bought a nice 'petite' doubles set (Scubapro --Faber--LP 76 steels, with NIB Highland bands and NIB Scubapro isolation manifold) for $450 ...... and got 'em back form the shop last week, assembled with new hydros/visuals (original hydro set to expire 03/2004 so went ahead and hydro'ed them now for the 2004 dive new season) for another $100 so they totalled out to $550. Dove them for the 1st time at one of the local quarries yesterday and am very pleased with them! The perfect length for my body height, and a thin, tight package (tanks are only 6.75 inches wide each and there's only an inch or so of space between the tanks). Great for nice long 'rec' dives or 'light' tech dives.

Also acquired a pair of Odins, (set up cave-style) so now I'll have a 2nd pair of Odins to act as spares for my original set of cave-style Odins......so now I can outfit 2 twinsets simultaneously.

Karl

 

[ew1usnr]

I wanted an old 72 to use with my older regulators. My local dive shop didn't have any and suggested that I buy a new LP steel 90 instead. That thing was $300! I don't know what dive shops charge for a new twin tank isolation valve, but I'll guess that would be another $300. You got your 72 set for $550. A new equivalent set of 90's would cost at least $1000 altogether.

The Poseidon Odin used to be the gold standard for technical and cave divers back in the 1980's. No one on Scuba Board mentions them. All they talk about are Apeks. They seem to like Apeks because they can disassemble them underwater. I can just picture myself doing that in deep or dark water and dropping the parts. If my regulator screws up, I will switch to back-up and get to the surface before taking anything apart. My Odin is my highest performance regulator.

 

[scubafanatic]

Hi ew1usnr,

......yeah, I already had a new OMS LP 85 steel twinset, and wanted to buy another set that size or a little smaller for lake/boat dives...something managable boarding a boat, doing up/down stairs, slopes, etc. so the LP 76 twinset is just right for that.

You're right about the new pricing......all my other steels were purchased new and ranged between $300--$350 per each tank.

I'm kicking around buying another twinset.......either the new OMS galvanized tanks if they ever hit the market (maybe another LP 85 twinset) or maybe a PST E7-120 twinset, since those are already on the market and I'm interested in the tough galvanized finish. Those 7 inch tanks with narrow gaps between the bands are more streamlined, and a bit lighter than the 8 inch wide E 130's. I already have one E7-120 and one E8-130, and like both tanks, but I think the E8-130 as a twinset will be a bit wider/heavier than I really want to lug around.

About the Odins....... I know they're 'controversial' on the board, but I really enjoy them (now I have 6 Odin reg sets---2 'rec' sets, 4 sets for my doubles) I've never had any problems with them......and dove them, among other places, in Sept at Akumal for a week of cave diving, so I trust them.

I 'tried' an Apeks during some OOA line drills in the caves, (breathed off my buddy's long hose) it worked fine, no problems, but it didn't strike me as anything special, just another adequate regulator.

I guess I've gotten to enjoy the breathing feel of the Odins, I like the way the air 'swooshes' in and instantly fills the lungs...when I inhale, I like the air delivered NOW!)

I always been amused by the 'disassembly-underwater' concept...somehow I can't see myself in a high-flow dark cave, or amid ocean currents, trying to overhaul a 2nd-stage on the fly...that's what dive buddies/ isolation manifolds, etc are meant for, to provide decent redundancy.

Karl

 

[ew1usnr]

I just won this of ebay for ..... $15! This is a nice regulator. The orange exhaust-tee's are somewhat rare. Scubapro does not make new orange replacements.

Hey, Karl. I dove with my Odin down to 140-feet this past Sunday. It breathed perfect as always. I've had that regulator for about 15-years. It has seen several hundred freshwater dives (never salt!) and has never given me one problem (I did replace the mouthpiece a couple of times). It has been overhauled one time. And even then it didn't need it. The thing always breathed so well that I didn't want the goombas where I bought it from to touch it. It is a magnificent regulator.

 

[ew1usnr]

I just bought this for .... $8.50!

The description read "DACOR PACER XLE BALANCED SECOND STAGE REGULATOR Chrome brass body a few small scratches but other wise in good condition. I hooked it up to a first stage and tried it out in a pool and it breathes nice with minimal cracking effort. Its just been serviced the low pressure hose is in excellent condition."

Cool! This will go on my Dacor Olympic 800 set as the primary (since it will probably breath better than the Olympic 2nd).

 

[torbaydiver]

I don't purchase anything second-hand as I believe it is false economy !
Why purchase somebody else's castoffs !