Reputable Dive Shops

[yomafacio]

I am a fairly new diver living in the San Diego region, and am currently looking at buying some gear during the holidays. I am planning to purchase gear from the major brands, such as Aqualung, Atomic, and Zeagle, to name a few. I am willing to travel up to Orange County for a day to browse dive shops, but do not know which dive shops offer competitive prices and a wide variety of scuba gear. Whether you bought your gear online or at a local dive shop, what was the name of the retailer and do you recommend them? Thanks.

 

[Marie13]

Online, Dive Right in Scuba (aka DRIS) in the Chicago area. Big online presence. I'm very biased, because they're also my local shop. They're so good, I drive 50 miles each way to get to them. Excellent customer service.

 

[diversteve]

Aqualung is only sold thru dealers. The few Aqualung items you see online are are being sold at their licensed dealers who also have an online presence.

My go to online is www.scubatoys.com in Dallas or www.leisurepro.com in NYC. The Aqualung sold at LP is cheaper since they're not an authorized dealer so offer their own warranty instead. Everything else is mfr. warranteed.

Scubatoys is both an Atomic and Zeagle dealer so buying from them is like buying from a local dealer minus the sales tax - warranty coverage is the same. But really the prices are also except they usually have some really good deals on Atomic on Black Friday weekend so might be worth the wait. At one time Atomic was built in Huntington Beach so handy for service but there's no sales there afaik.

Both Atomic and Zeagle are now own by Huish Outdoors - they also own Bare and Liquivision. If you see a really good deal on Apeks regs, they're distributed in the U.S. by Aqualung so can be serviced worldwide also.

None of the 3 brands you mentioned ever have much of a sale - I can buy Zeagle from Leisurepro, Scubatoys or locally for the exact same price. I have heard Zeagle allows 10% thru local dealers but mine acts like he's never heard of it. So I buy from Scubatoys...

One of the larger online retailers is in Irvine - Scuba.com. Have never been there and there's some inconsistent reviews here - mostly on the mail order side. I ordered some boots from them once pre-trip and canceled two months later when they were still sending backorder notices. Probably be OK if you picked up your stuff there.

Know about divebums.com? - it's almost all things San Diego diving - except sales of gear.

 

[diversteve]

There was until recently a deal on Apeks TX-50's at DRIS - some have mentioned getting first stage plus two seconds for $299 in posts here. Including hoses - 1 yellow for the octo. I saw it at $399 on their website recently but it's not there now. Might be something to watch.Would be a good reg for both warm and cold water applications if you plan to dive locally. So are most Aqualung models - Atomics require sealing if you go cold (below 50' or so) which happens off San Diego in late winter - been there done that. On the plus side the viz is better.

Apeks is distributed here by Aqualung. It's another good brand with worldwide service options if needed.

 

[bud bond]

Check out Ocean enterprises San Diego. they have a huge tent sale a few times a year.

 

[Roscoe B]

Beach City Scuba in Dana Point may be worth checking out. I've been buying all my gear from them for years.

 

[yomafacio]

@diversteve Is there any downside to ordering the TX-50 as opposed to the newer XTX-50? From what I've heard, the only plausible downside is the size of the regulator.

 

[diversteve]

@diversteve Is there any downside to ordering the TX-50 as opposed to the newer XTX-50? From what I've heard, the only plausible downside is the size of the regulator.

I don't really know as all my regs currently say Atomic on them. There are some threads here discussing that deal. I personally would not have a problem diving Apeks but I found Atomic - and Poseidon - first.