Let's put it another way.
After having heard the problems that people have had with rental gear, what possible reason would you have for willingly renting your life support system from people you don't know, particularly when the reason is not expense, but convenience.
Its not convenient to die from faulty rental gear. Screws up the whole vacation.
I own every piece of gear that I use. If I don't own it, the chances are rather good that it isn't available for rental either. So that option is out, even if I wanted to do it.
That said, I would recommend renting or check diving some equipment to try it out before you make a final decision.
I started out with a Zeagle POS BC, a Beuchat regulator and a Mares wetsuit that I purchased shortly after OW started. I lucked out with the reg and the wetsuit; however, as I learned how to dive I decided that the best use for the Zeagle was to use it to demonstrate to students how many screw-ups you can design into a single $700.00 BC. If I'd waited, I would not have bought junk.
Now I've got a drysuit and a complete set of singles gear, including tanks, a complete set of doubles gear, including stages, deco regs and argon reg, several sets of fins, masks, and accessories. I'm thinking of buing another set of doubles so that can either do (1) two deco dives in one day; or (2) a complete weekend of NDL dives without needing to get a fill.
I will not even consider using rental gear, excepting tanks and weights when I'm on vacation. If I don't have a piece of my own gear, for whatever reason, then I borrow from a trusted buddy (we all have substantially identical gear) or don't dive.