Puget Sound area dive shop reviews ...

[tangfish]

I wasn't around for the previous thread that got deleted but this one caught my eye so I thought I'd share my thoughts. First of all, to answer your question NWGratefulDiver, I am biased to one shop, being Bellevue Underwater Sports. I don't work for them but I've had a bit of history there as I'll explain. At this point though I'm just an enthusiastic customer and since I've become friends with the guys there, we go diving a lot and I write about equipment that I buy from there on my blog.

I think my particular choice started as a result of geography more than anything else. When I first got really into diving (it was in the tropics), I came home and wanted to buy some gear that I could look at and touch (rather than online). I sought out and visited most of the shops in the Seattle area as I had some time on my hands back then

Bellevue UWS is the closest dive shop to my house so I went in there a few times, a really nice guy there named Mark Gehring was patient enough to talk to me many times as I waffled over which gear to buy for my first setup. I'm sure that whatever profit they made off of me in that deal was not worth the amount of times I changed my mind or returned something or special ordered something and decided not to buy it. He was good to me in the end and said that whatever your setup is you have to like it and it has to fit. I bought my stuff and went on some more dive trips, bringing back photos and generally just hanging around the place. I don't have anything bad to say about the other shops in the area, just that I felt really comfortable at UWS with Mark and Doug (who was working there part time).

Last summer Mark became terminally ill and passed away abruptly. He had been working at the Bellevue store for decades and many people were very sad to find out that they could no longer go there and chat with him and hear his (sometimes corny) jokes. I attended his funeral and there were many police officers, city workers and divers who attended, having gotten their air fills from him for years.

The shop was in transition over the summer, with no clear indication of who was to succeed Mark in being the manager. Then last fall they decided to make Doug manager(who I think is one of the nicest guys around). Since we're of similar age, we got along from the beginning and now Doug and a few friends of ours have a small dive club, really informal and really just a few friends getting together for weekly dives.

Along the way, Doug and I realized that he manages a dive shop, and I am an equipment-phile with a few web skills (I founded an internet company here in Seattle). 2+2=4, so I basically ended up buying a lot of equipment from them and started writing up reviews and posting them to my site. I don't have any affiliation with them so I'm not encumbered by any obligation to like one product over another (other than some trash-talking once in a while when I don't agree with them).

All these things make it very hard for me to want to go to any other shop. I went to Silent World way back when I was seeking a LDS to do business with. They had good products there, but seemed too, er, business-like. The prices were kind of expensive and I just didn't get the back-slapping comraderie that I found at UWS.

I shamelessly promote Underwater Sports because I have a history with them and they've always been good to me. I've also made some good friends hanging around the shop and I likely wouldn't be diving around here much had I not met them.

Scuba Sheri, I'm sorry to hear about your experience but I don't have an explanation for you because I've only been out to the Seattle shop a few times and can't vouch for the staff there because I don't know them. I can however tell you with all honesty that the staff at the Bellevue store are pretty down to earth and likeable people.

I wrote an entry about the gear reviews I've been doing and how they relate to UWS, you can read it if it interests you.

 

[DeepDog]

I would like to begin by acknowledging NWG's comments re: Island Dive. And yes, they are indeed the only game in town and have "locked in for life" to a lease that I am sure makes life just great for the landlord. Our tour went a bit better than yours NWG, but then, I packed my own 130 and 119 for our first dives and had no issue with the shop tank fills on the second. I would reuse them if the right circumstances arose but I too felt that they knew they had it in the bag.

I previously had affiliation with Deep Fathom and as a local West-Seattleite; I miss having the neighborhood shop and the always friendly service.

My first Dry suit was from Lighthouse where I now have also been getting fills and enjoying their friendly service as well.

I have been to many of the local shops in the area including the east side and I have no negative comments. I am glad we have shops and sincerely wish them all the best of luck in business.

I will check out T.L. Sea based on reviews from this thread.

Thanks to all for unbiased commentary

 

[huskychemist]

My LDS: Underwater Sports in Federal Way.

There was a post earlier about "abrupt" service at this store, and quite frankly, I've witnessed it also. BUT, I still like this store for a few reasons. (I don't work there, but am pretty loyal.)

I did my certification through them, and loved my instructors. I've purchased gear through them (custom wetsuit, BC, Reg, Computer, all the basics) and have always felt like they gave me fair prices.

I took Stress and Rescue from Walt there, and it was a great class. I can't wait for my Advanced.

It's a smaller store, but they've been able to order things for me. Three examples: I'm built like an NFL lineman, without all the muscle and money...so I needed my own wetsuit. None of the rentals fit. So they helped me order a custom suit from Harvey's. It's been a great suit. I also needed my own BC, as the XL rental BCs were a bit small. So they helped me research BCs that came in XXL and found a good one for me. I just got my computer and reg, which they held for me for a few weeks while I was waiting for the Christmas money to come in.

So they've taken good care of me there...and I'll keep going back until they don't.

There's also a dive club associated with the shop (Puget Sound Depth Chargers) that's been fun to associate with.

My two cents.

 

[Sasquatch]

Let me spotlight the Lighthouse dive shops of which there are three that I know of. I'm about halfway between the Seattle store and the Lynnwood store so they are both pretty close to me.

I made some high dollar purchases there early last summer. In the first place because after exhaustive research into what I thought I would like to own for gear they carried/serviced nearly everything I wanted.

I'm not a real pest nor am I adept at chit chat but I knew I would have to get some face time with the staff before cracking open my wallet and proceeded to do so. I had prepared myself pretty well going in, as mentioned, and wasn't going to waste their time should things not go well.

I told the troops that I was shopping and that I was aware of the tension brought on by the whole LDS/internet deal, further telling them that I didn't need anybody to match prices I just wanted a fair deal. They made noises like they understood and that they had heard this before. Still, I was treated great. I made three trips total and finally brought my prices in and said, "what can you do"?

I loved the attitude and the customer service. They all worked with me on the prices and I'm VERY pleased at how sharp they got their pencils. No, it wasn't as low as the internet and I don't care. Service and attitude has a real value.

Since then I'm always being informed of trips, dives and other offers. Every single employee is always super informative and knowledgeable, service is great and so are the hours. Harry, the owner, seems a little bit of a curmudgeon but I don't care about that either. I owned a retail business and I had weeks where you didn't want to be around me.

Anyway, check them out if you haven't yet. My experience and those of a lot of my regular dive mates agree it's a worthy LDS.

Sea ya!

 

[Cold_H2O]

I have to agree about Underwater Sports in Bellevue. I work for the city of Bellevue. So this shop is so close. I can run out on lunch to get air fills. Doug is one of my favorite people. I always spend way to much time in the shop visiting with him.

 

[OE2X]

I have a couple of shout outs for what IMHO are excellent stores. In Seattle I go out of my way to spend money at NW Sport Divers in Kenmore. I've done a lot of business there and brought several friends to shop there as well. We all continue to have excellent experiences. Matt's prices are some of the best anywhere around and both he and Dan have a great attitude.
In Seattle I spent time and money at UW Sports, Bubbles Below, Starfish, 5th Dimension, and Starfish. I keep coming back to Matt's shop as he has always taken impecable care of me without any attitude.

Yesterday driving from Portland to Seattle I needed to buy a weighted STA for a friend of mine. I called NW Sport Divers - none in stock although Matt has several on order, but they wouldn't be in until next week. Same story at 5th D. UW Sports didn't carry that sort of thing. Since I couldn't find one in Seattle it was recommended to me by NGD to call Capitol Divers in Olympia, since it was on my way. Low and behold, they had a 6# STA in stock. They were also conviently located off of I-5. I had never been there before so it was a pleasure to see a really nice dive shop. I also met SB member Wayne Fowler. He didn't know who I was from Adam, and I have to say that his customer service skills were refreshing. He has a great attitude about diving and is knowledgable about all facets from what I could tell.

So for me I'll do my business with NWSD and Capitol Divers. These folks are great and deserve my $$$.

 

[Rick Inman]

I have a couple of shout outs for what IMHO are excellent stores. In Seattle I go out of my way to spend money at NW Sport Divers in Kenmore. I've done a lot of business there and brought several friends to shop there as well. We all continue to have excellent experiences. Matt's prices are some of the best anywhere around and both he and Dan have a great attitude.
In Seattle I spent time and money at UW Sports, Bubbles Below, Starfish, 5th Dimension, and Starfish. I keep coming back to Matt's shop as he has always taken impecable care of me without any attitude.

Yesterday driving from Portland to Seattle I needed to buy a weighted STA for a friend of mine. I called NW Sport Divers - none in stock although Matt has several on order, but they wouldn't be in until next week. Same story at 5th D. UW Sports didn't carry that sort of thing. Since I couldn't find one in Seattle it was recommended to me by NGD to call Capitol Divers in Olympia, since it was on my way. Low and behold, they had a 6# STA in stock. They were also conviently located off of I-5. I had never been there before so it was a pleasure to see a really nice dive shop. I also met SB member Wayne Fowler. He didn't know who I was from Adam, and I have to say that his customer service skills were refreshing. He has a great attitude about diving and is knowledgable about all facets from what I could tell.

So for me I'll do my business with NWSD and Capitol Divers. These folks are great and deserve my $$$.

Calling around, talking drysuits... and Matt did everything he could to earn my business, returning my calls, calling the manufacture to answer questions he wasn't sure about.

So today I bought a drysuit from him.

There's a video of how to perfectly measure yourself for the custom suit, but I live 4 hours away. So Matt went home and got his laptop and camera and wired everything together and captured the video onto his computer and then rendered the video into Quicktime format and emailed it to me.

Nice job!

 

[Bobbin-along]

I have bought from several locations for a variety of reasons (availability being foremost) and came across generally nice people everywhere.

Our drysuits came from Lighthouse thanks to their representative at the Boat Show. I've been looking for some time and when I spoke with the Lynnwood manager (Jason) he was polite, helpful, and sincere in helping me a first dry suit choice. He didn't try force me to buy the class before buying the suit like another LDS. Instead he recommended that a class can knock out lots of tips and tricks to fast track my learning curve, but then proceeded to work with me in store so I can play while a class opened up. That was cool of him and I appreciate it, I won't go out and push the limits while on a learning curve but I do want to take some extra time in an unconstructed environment to really get used to the suit. He also set up a deal for us on the steel 100 tanks I was drooling over. I have a feeling I will probably take my Nitrox and continuing ed classes from him even if it means a ferry ride back and forth....

I have bought from the UWS in south Tacoma (ankle weights and an AL80 tank) and they were superb people doing the little things like throwing in the tank base, cap, and free refill cards while doing the discount price. To top it off, I insisted that we put my reg on the new tank (just to make sure everything was working together) and found that my just serviced regulator had a broken 0-ring due to a screwup at the LDS who serviced it and broke the ring (and didn't replace it) during the inspection. So they tore the reg apart and fixed that gratis. Thanks guys, you saved the day.

Sound Dive has lots of gear but definitely sticks it to you on pricing. Now I believe that if you pay top dollar you should get great service, and some times that happens and some time it doesn't there. You also can get product bashing if it isn't part of their line, so you have to take that for what it's worth. They don't sell much in the economical line they are very much a DUI, ScubaPro, Apecks, Uwatec, Zeagle shop. Now here is the odd thing. When I went in to get a wet suit and snorkel gear before I signed up for dive classes, I was clearly an outsider and was priced accordingly. After the dive class, when getting the BC's, regs, and basic gear we knew exactly what we wanted, did local price matching, and went in and told them what we wanted and how much we were willing to spend. To their credit, they did a darn close job of price matching and we bought from them. They are in our backyard and I will spend money there when I can, but I hate the haggling and horse trading to feel like I got a square deal.

The folks at UWS Edmonds didn't seem interested in helping us buy a dry suit or anything else for that matter (I had my eye on some new footwear), so we haven't gone back.

 

[surlytart]

Re: UWS

For some inexplicable reason, I did my first classes out of the Kirkland UWS. I don't use it anymore because it's inconvenient, but we had an excellent relationship with the manager there. He went far out of his way on several occasions and was great with questions or last minute needs.

We've rented gear from Bellevue UWS and, as memory serves, it has been of lower quality than either Kirkland or Seattle - missing wet suit zippers, problems with BCs, etc. They may be great in other ways, but I wouldn't recommend their rentals. As well, they had less stock so it was easy to end up with a wet suit that was a size too big and then have serious weighting issues.

Seattle UWS has been more than accommodating through various convoluted issues, and kept consistent good humour.

My experience with Discount Divers is neither here nor there. I'll go there for tank fills since my tanks are old enough that UWS won't do a refill (most of my gear was acquired from Deep Fathom upon their closure). I've bought gear there but never anything more involved than replacing a high pressure hose on a reg. It worked; I'm still alive.

 

[laivindil]

Calling around, talking drysuits... and Matt did everything he could to earn my business, returning my calls, calling the manufacture to answer questions he wasn't sure about.

So today I bought a drysuit from him.

There's a video of how to perfectly measure yourself for the custom suit, but I live 4 hours away. So Matt went home and got his laptop and camera and wired everything together and captured the video onto his computer and then rendered the video into Quicktime format and emailed it to me.

Nice job!

That sounds like Matthew, he's cool like that. I've held off posting my opinions because I've only been diving less then a year and have stayed with one dive shop exclusivly, so take this review for what it's worth.
I went to NWSD on recomendation from NW Grateful Diver, and I'm happy I did. From day one I have been treated very well. Matthew and his staff make sure I and any customers that I've seen while I'm there are treated well and given above-average service. I was so impressed with their attitude that I have started volunteering there whenever I can, and Dan and Matthew are happy to teach me about diving equipment and the dive industry. They've helped me decide what computer I'm going to get when I get up the money, and I'm looking forward to buying more from them in the future. The great thing about NWSD is that Matthew and Dan will work with you to figure out what your diving goals are, and equip you for them. I usually don't get real buddy-buddy with shop employees at any shop but it's hard not to with Matthew, Heidi, Brian, Jeana, Dan, etc. Highly recommended shop, I send everyone I meet who's interested in diving there.