Relative cost of diving equipment then and now.

[elmer fudd]

What cost $100 in 1970 would cost $555.13 in 2010.

That's really only half true. Inflation has certainly occurred, but it hasn't occurred evenly. Certain things like medical care and education have exceeded the official inflation rate, other things like houses, cars and fuel have kept pace with inflation, but many manufactured items are much cheaper than they were when I was a kid. For example, I remember back around 1978 I wanted a certain bike out of the Sears catalog in the worst way. I think it was $90. Recently, I bought my daughter a bike of similar quality for slightly over $100, but this one had suspension that actually worked and 21 gears. Back in the early 80's I saved my money and bought a cheap Goldstar VCR for about $300. Now you can get the equivalent Walmart DVD player for under $30. Scuba gear obviously hasn't declined in price like that though.

I kind of have mixed opinions on scuba gear. On the one hand I think we pay much too much for a lot of the modern gear. There's no reason in my mind that plastic fins should ever sell for more than $50. On the other hand, the idea of diving with a no name Chinese regulator would scare me.

 

[captain]

Keep in mind inflation alone is not the only variable. In the 1950's there were few divers and fewer equipment manufactures so prices were higher than later in the 60's and 70's when more divers and more manufactures drove competition and economies of scale. Also most equipment was discounted 10 to 20 percent off MSRP. Today modern CNC machining and plastic injection molding keeps prices down.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

I started scuba diving in 1959, when I was still in Junior High School. My only source of income at the time was the money I could make picking strawberries and beans. Strawberries brought in $0.25 per carrier, which had six one-pint hallocks in them. I could usually pick somewhere between 8 and 20 carriers a day, for about $2-5 per day. My Healthways Scuba regulator cost somewhere around $35 used, and I also bought a 38 cubic foot tank. Later (probably the next year), I bought a White Stag wet suit at an employee discount, which was probably somewhere around $65 for the full suit (I froze in 1959 during my first dive in the Santiam River near Salem, Oregon wearing a sweat shirt). The major equipment manufacturers were Swimaster, Voit, US Divers Co., Dacor, Sportsways and Healthways. I already had a pair of Swimaster Duck Feet fins (I traded back a Sportsways full-foot fin for the Duck Feet fins), a Voit mask and a flex snorkel (Voit--white on top with a blue corrugated flex plastic--it didn't bend and restrict flow in a current like the Swimaster one did). So that was my dive gear for the first few years of diving. My next regulator, just a year or two later, was a Healthways Scuba Star single hose regulator, which from memory was about $38 new. In 1963 I bought a Voit V-11 Viking 40 single hose (the Voit equivalent to the first generation Calypso), and dove it for many years. I think it cost somewhere around $65 by mail order (Central Skin Divers, as I remember). By that time I was making better money fighting fires for the State of Oregon (~$220/month), and for a church camp (~$230/month, but in New York state instead of Oregon for the summer). So the amount of cost is relative to the income at the time. You had to really, really want it because scuba gear was expensive. I just added that up on my fingers and that's 52 years I've been scuba diving! 'Hadn't thought about it that way.

SeaRat

 

[AfterDark]

I've always felt like dive shops were punishing me for saving money on tanks by recouping their profits on fills.

I'm friendly with 3 guys that own LDS all 3 told me that a $7.00 fill in this area MA RI should cost about $26.00!!

 

[redacted]

I'm friendly with 3 guys that own LDS all 3 told me that a $7.00 fill in this area MA RI should cost about $26.00!!

I wonder what they would think about the price of bottled water.

 

[scubasteve59]

My three sets of gear:

1977- $125 for a used 72 steel tank and USD reg with pressure gauge and a backpack. No BC back then to speak of.

1984- $900 for a new: Dacor Pacer reg with octopus, depth and pressure gauge, Dacor horsecollar BC, Dacor alum 80 tank, Dacor mask ($50), knock off jet fins, 2) mini C Ikelites, and parkways wet suit.

2009- $1200 for all new: Aeris Atmos reg, depth pressure gauge, Oxycheq BC, alternate octo/inflator, Al 80 tank, aeris fins, mask, 2) technisub lights, and a spare air (3CF).

Along the way I've owned, swapped or traded for around 10 tanks including two sets of doubles, old back up regs, a double hose ($20) USD "Jet Air", and various other pieces of gear. I built and still own a small scuba compressor with filtration as well and looking to build a new larger set up. The 1984 gear was in service and well taken care of until 2009 when someone broke into my car and stole it all. No doubt, would still be working. I enjoy trading and such but insist on top line NEW for my serious personal gear.

Cheers!
Steve

 

[scubasteve59]

PS-

AIR-

1977 - .75 cent for a fill
1984 - $2 a fill
2010 - $5 a fill
My own compressor- $1 a fill for electricity.

I have $300 in the compressor total so my payback will be sometime next year.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

PS-

AIR-

1977 - .75 cent for a fill
1984 - $2 a fill
2010 - $5 a fill
My own compressor- $1 a fill for electricity.

I have $300 in the compressor total so my payback will be sometime next year.

You also have to figure in the price of gas to go to the shop to spend your $5.00 for a fill.
In my case they are charging $7.00 for an LP fill and $8.00 for an HP fill.
I don't get it because I could take an HP80 in and it will cost me $8 but an LP 95 will cost me $7?

 

[VooDooGasMan]

The banks to fill hp is more for them to keep at higher pressure, or maybe they have a haskle pump.

 

[elmer fudd]

It takes a lot longer to get a good fill in an HP tank too. The banks are usually all filled to charge to 3000 or so, but to get a fill of 3500 or more often takes some time and time is money.

I imagine there's probably more wear and tear on the equipment too charging to higher pressures.