New Member, old diver

[ScubaGreen02]

I’m new to ScubaBoard but not new to diving. I’ve been out of the water for about 12 years, life and family took priority. My whole family is interested in getting into scuba. My 17‑year‑old son is especially keen, so he and I will be doing a lot of local freshwater diving to get back into the swing of things.

I had around 75 dives under my belt when I stopped. This is going to be a bit of an investment: my son and I will both need new gear, and we’re planning on completing certification for all four of them. So basic gear for 5 first big hit at cert. For now, the others will use rental BCDs and regs until they decide if they want to commit to their own equipment. That probably won’t be until next year — our youngest is 10, so we’ll pace things accordingly.

 

[went_postal]

Hello from NC.

my family and I are new to scuba. That sticker shock on the equipment is real. =)

I have a friend whose whole family wants to get into it as well.. buying rigs for 5 people sounds painful.

Just curious about your dive experience? Mostly fresh water in TN? (asking because I've not hit the salt yet). Trying to convince my kid that she NEEDS to practice in the quarry and get her basics down before she hast to deal with ocean currents and whatnot.

 

[JMarc]

Welcome back to the waters. I also had an iatus of 21 or 22 years due to life and family reasons. It didn't took many dives to be again at ease under water, so you can hope to be quickly up to speed.

 

[Rob9876]

Welcome to the forums! What part of Tennessee are you in? Surprisingly there's a fairly active diving community in eastern Tennessee. And I think a decent bit in middle Tennessee also. Have not heard as much about western Tennessee diving.

As far as gear for multiple family members, there's really no more economical option than the Scuba Gear Value System Package at Divers Supply. Ordered this for my son and I over 6 years ago and they have been great for hundreds of dives. Sea Elite is the "white label" house brand of Divers Supply, and these are actually manufactured by HOG/Edge, a well known maker of diving equipment with a number of locations where it can be serviced (including shops in western, central, and eastern TN) -- although Divers Supply makes it easy and economical to ship it to them when maintenance is required.

 

[went_postal]

As far as gear for multiple family members, there's really no more economical option than the Scuba Gear Value System Package at Divers Supply. Ordered this for my son and I over 6 years ago and they have been great for hundreds of dives. Sea Elite is the "white label" house brand of Divers Supply, and these are actually manufactured by HOG/Edge, a well known maker of diving equipment with a number of locations where it can be serviced (including shops in western, central, and eastern TN) -- although Divers Supply makes it easy and economical to ship it to them when maintenance is required.

I started diving on HOG and like their equipment... I eventually went with ScubaPro just because the people local that can service HOG/Edge are a little lean here. There are a metric butt load of ScubaPro certified techs around here. The HOG stuff is really nice though.

 

[Rob9876]

I started diving on HOG and like their equipment... I eventually went with ScubaPro just because the people local that can service HOG/Edge are a little lean here. There are a metric butt load of ScubaPro certified techs around here. The HOG stuff is really nice though.

I agree the HOG/Edge/Sea Elite stuff has held up great. In my town in Tennessee our local shop is certified to work on HOG gear (but more $$ than shipping to Divers Supply), but cannot work on ScubaPro gear.

I have a ScubaPro reg also, so I just send both the HOG/Sea Elite reg and the ScubaPro reg to Divers Supply, who are certified to work on both. The ScubaPro costs a good bit more to service though (maybe $40 more, can't recall), as the Sea Elite service parts are included for free for life when Divers Supply performs the maintenance -- which makes it even more of a great deal!

 

[went_postal]

Sea Elite service parts are included for free for life when Divers Supply performs the maintenance -- which makes it even more of a great deal!

Yeah... I actually bought all my stuff locally and got everything ScubaPro so that I could get the fpfl. Honestly... my local shop did not upcharge more than what I could find it for on a lot of the online retailers.

Shipping the stuff out for repair just freaks me out a bit (but that's just me). UPS, FedEX, and USPS all have a horrible habit of "losing" things here in NC and not giving a rat's behind that they did. 'Oh well... guess you can just buy a new one..' No thanks.

For myself... I just wanted to find stuff local so I could also have a local resource for questions and everything.

Honestly... I would never buy anything online if I could. I would love to support local businesses. The problem is that so many places (even Lowes or Home Depot) simply don't stock things locally. Its maddening.

 

[Rob9876]

Yeah... I actually bought all my stuff locally and got everything ScubaPro so that I could get the fpfl. Honestly... my local shop did not upcharge more than what I could find it for on a lot of the online retailers.

Shipping the stuff out for repair just freaks me out a bit (but that's just me). UPS, FedEX, and USPS all have a horrible habit of "losing" things here in NC and not giving a rat's behind that they did. 'Oh well... guess you can just buy a new one..' No thanks.

For myself... I just wanted to find stuff local so I could also have a local resource for questions and everything.

Honestly... I would never buy anything online if I could. I would love to support local businesses. The problem is that so many places (even Lowes or Home Depot) simply don't stock things locally. Its maddening.

I get it. Shipping for service sounds daunting at first, but Divers Supply makes it easy by providing a UPS label with tracking, and they have quick turn around also.

I do buy local too, but one thing I like about Divers Supply is that they do have bricks and mortar stores also -- I've been to the one in Marietta (outside of Atlanta) many times and the people there are great. They have also been great by donating pool time for use by a group I'm involved with (DiveHeart Atlanta) that helps disabled people enjoy diving. So, I feel very good about doing business with Divers Supply.

 

[went_postal]

donating pool time for use by a group I'm involved with (DiveHeart Atlanta)

That's pretty cool.

I am not knocking on any online outfit... Sounds like they are a pretty good one. And I have bought a lot of random stuff online as well.

The other reason I went local... I really wanted to talk to honest to gosh people that dove... and I had been looking for people that were not jerks.

You may find this surprising... the scuba community is not super welcoming in many cases. I've met a lot of people where it's borderline fraternity hazing and I am just not down with that. Some of the online community is almost as bad as the real life "experts."

So when I found a shop that was willing to talk, willing to actually help without judgement, and were open more than once a year... I was happy to help spend some money there to make sure they stick around a little longer. =)