LTBS dive shop rentals

[Chotzi]

Well, you were all so helpful with my question about LBTS shore diving that I thought I’d ask you about dive shop rentals.
My husband and I are both newbie divers who aren’t prepared to buy our gear just yet. Money is a consideration but the main reason is that I would like to dive in something before I buy it. We have limited access to diving (even in a pool) so it’s making the try-before-you-buy process very tedious.
We are going to be in Lauderdale-By-The-Sea from May 9th thru May 14th. We can rent gear here and haul it down with us but I see a couple of problems with this. If we get equipment that we’ve already tried, we wouldn’t get the benefit of trying something different. If we get different gear, we won’t be able to try it before we go and will be new divers in unfamiliar gear in an unfamiliar place. If it turns out that for some reason, we really hate the gear, we won’t be able to return it and try something else.
I was thinking it might be smarter to rent once we get there, but I don’t know the dive shops down there. Some shops around here rent old junky crap (which is what I certified in) and some rent the latest and greatest new stuff. I am assuming it would be the same down there?
I realize that as locals you probably haven’t rented most of your gear from LDS’s but maybe you could get me started with some names of some reputable shops around LTBS? Any shops we should steer clear of?
Any suggestions or opinions are welcome!
Thanks

PS Anyone diving LTBS May 10th? We’re staying right near the pier and have that day scheduled as our lets-get-used-to-the-water-again-day. :icorolley

 

[MY01SHADOW]

Check out Force-E (www.force-e.com). They are located on Atlantic Ave between A1A and US1, about 5 blocks from Lauderdale-by-the-Sea. They offer some pretty nice rental gear and are pretty good to deal with. Also, they have discounts available (if you ask) for multi-day rentals.

The good part of renting here is you only pay for the number of days you will use the gear. If you rent from home, most of the time you pay for the total number of days you are in possession of their equipment.

Mike

 

[Divesherpa]

If you bring a computer, shoot me a PM when you get here. What part of Colorado are you from?

 

[jokeborn]

A LDS in Merritt Island FL has a great program. It is almost like a rent to own. You put a certain amount of money down, and continue to pay into the program for a year. For this, you get to "rent" store equipment for the time you are paying into the program. This allows you to try different BC's, regs, etc to find the one that you like. My wife and I did this, not only did it offset the cost of initially buying the gear, but allowed us to find the specific equipment that we liked.

 

[Chotzi]

Thanks Mike. Force-E was one we were considering. It’s nice to know they are worth a closer look.

Sherpa, now that we don’t have to drag gear with us we may very well bring the computer. Thanks! We are from the ‘burbs; way south Aurora and Littleton area.

Jokeborn, I wish I could find a place that does that around here! That sounds like just what I need. Unfortunately, all the shops here only carry one or at most two different brands and most of the shops carry the same brands! Also, there is a difference in what they sell and what they rent. I don’t know if this is the norm everywhere. We’ve already rented ScubaPro for our last dive and really want to try something different.

Well, I’ll continue to research and see what I come up with.
Thanks for the responses!