Opinionated LDS's...

[cybordolphin]

The LDS that I have gone to in my area has this phylosophy.

He expects me to buy ALL of my equipment from him. He explained that his training equipment is VERY poor quality, and wants me to buy ALL of my equipment prior to my OW dives.
(not a bad idea to use REALLY crap gear for training to push your customer into buying new stuff)

He only carries a few brands. VERY few. And has a VERY small selection. None of which is the brand(s) I have researched and decided I would like to try out.

He immediately wanted to know if I had any equipment yet. And almost made me feel as though if I had all of my equipment already... that he was not interested in my business (training me).

He wants $299 for a mask/snorkel/fin/bootie set that I don't think is worth $100 from what I have researched. This he wants me to purchase from him right off the bat.

Then his full gear "packages" range from $3500 to $5000. Again I KNOW I can purchase better gear and spend half that.

So... my dilema.

What should I do? Look elsewhere for a company that has a large inventory of gear, or hope to find one that does not care about selling me my gear so much..... and will still give me quality training even if I already have my own gear or most of it?

I would rather pay more $$ for my training rather than have some guy try to sell me his crap inventory, so he feels like he is making a buck.

 

[GP]

Originally posted by cybordolphin
The LDS that I have gone to in my area has this phylosophy.

He expects me to buy ALL of my equipment from him. He explained that his training equipment is VERY poor quality, and wants me to buy ALL of my equipment prior to my OW dives.
(not a bad idea to use REALLY crap gear for training to push your customer into buying new stuff)

He only carries a few brands. VERY few. And has a VERY small selection. None of which is the brand(s) I have researched and decided I would like to try out.

He immediately wanted to know if I had any equipment yet. And almost made me feel as though if I had all of my equipment already... that he was not interested in my business (training me).

He wants $299 for a mask/snorkel/fin/bootie set that I don't think is worth $100 from what I have researched. This he wants me to purchase from him right off the bat.

Then his full gear "packages" range from $3500 to $5000. Again I KNOW I can purchase better gear and spend half that.

So... my dilema.

What should I do? Look elsewhere for a company that has a large inventory of gear, or hope to find one that does not care about selling me my gear so much..... and will still give me quality training even if I already have my own gear or most of it?

I would rather pay more $$ for my training rather than have some guy try to sell me his crap inventory, so he feels like he is making a buck.

Yep, time to find a new LDS and if you can't then just buy online. Some LDS's have employees that are not trained well concerning equipment and are probably working for close to nothing and some people that just don't care about the customer. Those are the places to stay away from.

 

[cybordolphin]

Unfortunately this was the owner (new owner). Am looking around at other shops now.

 

[ckharlan66]

Cybordolfin,

I wouldn't recommend buying anything more than mask/fins/snorkle before you do your training. After you get your c card try out as much different gear as you can and then make your decision. Everyone has differing opions on what gear to use and the only way to make a good decision is to try it for yourself.

Chad

 

[Scottri]

Some dive shops are very opinionated and I usually just ignore them. Nothing pisses me off more than being treated like an idiot and I've had diveshop personel treat me like a moron for wanting to buy certain equipment just because they sell a different brand. On the other hand I've been to shops that provide objective answers and opinions. Guess who I shop with now? Anyway, take it all with a grain of salt and buy what makes you happy. It's your equipment and yours alone. If it fits and works for you so damn what what the LDS opinion of it is.

Scott

 

[Uncle Pug]

Hi Stingray!!! Was tonight the night??? of your OW that is...

I am getting to this thread late.... but just wanted to say enjoy yourself...have fun...your really gonna love scuba

Oh....that bit about the stuff used *only* in the pool....
I would rather have stuff that had been in the salt than stuff that had been in the chlorine!!!! I think there is a little coercion going on there.

 

[jobowker]

Renting before you buy can be cheaper in the long run. That way you can make a more informed decision as your tastes change. Sure, you can get everyone else's views, but when it comes down to it, you will have your own preferences. There is very little crap out there, as far as safety goes. Any well known brand name is good. Many people buy SUV's and never go offroading. All of my dives have been 100 ft or less, and I don't penetrate wrecks, go crazy deep, or breathe anything other than air. I didn't want to drop a tremendous amount of cash when I started (new house, new truck, saving up to upgrade boat) so when the LDS had a pool used SeaQuest Specrtrum BC for $80, I bought it instead of the Zeagle Ranger I wanted. He had a 2 year old al80 tank with boot and current vip + fills for $100. I bought an Aqualung Titan for $100 off from someone who was upgrading. I made my purchases based on price, and didn't know about this board. Now, two years later, I am ready to upgrade some of my stuff. When I bought that BC, I assumed that would be the first thing I would replace, but thought that I would never get a different regulator. Now, I have no problems with my BC and will keep it, and if my Aqualung was environmentally sealed and had a DIN fitting, I'd keep it too. Since I want to go to HP steel tanks and have been in cold water (less than 40 degrees) I'd like to get an Apeks or Oceanic. I will probably never do penetration dives, wicked deep dives, deco dives (on purpose) or any of that stuff, so I don't need real techie stuff. More air in a smaller container with better buoyancy characteristics would be nice. Forty degrees gets chilly in a wetsuit, especially at depth. Dive computer is an Oceanic DataMax 100 that is fairly simple. I'm used to it, so it works for me. My fins are Mares Plana Avantis and not really fancy, but until I start lagging behind, I see no need to replace tehm.A drysuit would be nice. A new cold water DIN reg would be good too. Had I known then what I do now, I would have waited on the tanks until I could buy steels, and spent the extra cake up front to buy a cold water reg. If I were never diving in cold water, I'd keep the reg I have now and probably not get the steel tanks. To make a short story long, even 15 or 20 dives will make you start to form an opinion about what you like and don't like, and often it's different than your initial opinion before you start diving. I followed the LDS's thinking that "if you trian with your own stuff, you will be comfortable with it for teh cert dives". Hindsight is 20/20.

 

[stingray01]

UP: I did my checkouts in the beginning of December at Mikes Beach in Washington. It was a mere 45 degrees, not to bad in a dry suit, choppy the first day, clean and clear as glass the next day. I'm now a carded individual! So far I've logged 6 dives and was planning on getting more with two more dive trips this month. Unfortunately, it appears that work is now dictating when I'll be diving for a bit so those dives are now off. That's a bit of a stinker but I guess the water will still be there.

jobowker: May I say that I really appreciate the information that you've posted here. I don't have the experience to back what you are saying but it sounds like completely sound advice from an experienced point of view. I have already gone out and gotten all of my equipment (just about everything now..) and I'm completely satisfied with what I have. I love my BC (works perfectly for me), I love my Regulator... man I really do like my regulator (I can only compare it to what I used in the training class, which I came to use three different regs during my training), and heck, I love everything that I got; that's why I got it. Some of my purchases were based on opinion here, some where swayed by opinion here (thank you to the many who offered opinions), others were my own decision, but all where based on quite a bit of research that I had done. Below is a list of the equipment that I currently have (all donned in my profile pic.. ):

• Seaquest BlackDiamond BC
• APEKS TX-100 w/TX-40 Octo
• Andy's Drysuit
• Suunto Cobra with Compass
• O'neill Dry hood
• Deep Sea Titanium 7mm gloves
• SCUBAPRO Black TwinJets
• US Divers mask/snorkel (one that I've had for quite some time, but it just works)

I haven't gotten tanks yet, and don't really plan to immediately. I figure for the cost of rental, I can ride on that for a while.

 

[Uncle Pug]

Originally posted by stingray
UP: I did my checkouts in the beginning of December at Mikes Beach in Washington.

Boy, I really was late with my congratulations!!!

the equipment that I currently have (all donned in my profile pic.. ):

Nice picture of what appears to be a very happy man...
And I notice that the Andy's has a wrist dump.... 5thD?

 

[stingray01]

I hate to plead ignorance here but, what is a 5thD?

Yes the dry suit that I'm using has a wrist dump valve.

I read the post that you (UP) had been involved in relating to buoyancy and the dry suit. I too had been taught (as well as told by the instructor who checked me out) that you use your dry suit for buoyancy. After reading that buoyancy thread, I'm thinking next time I'm gunna try and use my BC just to see which is easier.