scuba diving questions regarding new gear

[mangoconchile]

i plan on learning to scuba dive and will be doing my first dive next month for open water cert. the shop will offer all equipment for rental included in the price except for mask/snorkel/fins/boots/gloves. i plan on purchasing this stuff at the shop and will spend as much time as needed making sure everything is a perfect fit. with that being said, assuming i have a good experiance i have several questions regarding purchasing additional gear:

1)are pricing negitionable on anything in shops? also will the shop give you any kind of discount if you buy everything from them(regulator, octo, computer, bcd, gauges etc...) in bulk?

2)if i purchased this same stuff online, i would save a good 200-300 in sales tax. is it worth it? does any kind of tweaking or setup need to be done out of the box to the equipment by a shop tech? for example, guitars out of the box are never 'set up'. you either set them up or have a tech do it. is scuba gear the same way?

3)is anything worth buying used? ive read buying used regulators isn't a great idea(unless you know what you're doing). but for something like a computer, well a computer is a computer and a guage is a guage. it either works or it doesnt.

4)whats the definition of a 'cold water' dive? ive read some of these regulators(aqua lung legend supreme lx for example) being 'cold water resistant'. i plan on diving in socal(san diego all the way up to ventura county). if i travel anywhere else in the country or world and dived i would rent everything.

5)for rental equipment, do most shops have a choice between 'low end' gear ranging all the way up to 'high end' or is the gear ussally all cheap stuff? id love to have the luxary of renting a 300 regulator then renting a 600-700 regulator the next time out to see if the price difference is worth the cost.'

6)how easy is it to meet diving buddies? my friends are all either broke or have no interest in diving. id love to go every weekend if possible. are there any meetups here?

thanks


thanks


thank you everyone

 

[Carlos Danger]

i plan on learning to scuba dive and will be doing my first dive next month for open water cert. the shop will offer all equipment for rental included in the price except for mask/snorkel/fins/boots/gloves. i plan on purchasing this stuff at the shop and will spend as much time as needed making sure everything is a perfect fit. with that being said, assuming i have a good experiance i have several questions regarding purchasing additional gear:

1)are pricing negitionable on anything in shops? also will the shop give you any kind of discount if you buy everything from them(regulator, octo, computer, bcd, gauges etc...) in bulk?

2)if i purchased this same stuff online, i would save a good 200-300 in sales tax. is it worth it? does any kind of tweaking or setup need to be done out of the box to the equipment by a shop tech? for example, guitars out of the box are never 'set up'. you either set them up or have a tech do it. is scuba gear the same way?

3)is anything worth buying used? ive read buying used regulators isn't a great idea(unless you know what you're doing). but for something like a computer, well a computer is a computer and a guage is a guage. it either works or it doesnt.

4)whats the definition of a 'cold water' dive? ive read some of these regulators(aqua lung legend supreme lx for example) being 'cold water resistant'. i plan on diving in socal(san diego all the way up to ventura county). if i travel anywhere else in the country or world and dived i would rent everything.

5)for rental equipment, do most shops have a choice between 'low end' gear ranging all the way up to 'high end' or is the gear ussally all cheap stuff? id love to have the luxary of renting a 300 regulator then renting a 600-700 regulator the next time out to see if the price difference is worth the cost.'

6)how easy is it to meet diving buddies? my friends are all either broke or have no interest in diving. id love to go every weekend if possible. are there any meetups here?

thanks


thanks


thank you everyone

1) Are pricing negitionable on anything in shops? also will the shop give you any kind of discount if you buy everything from them(regulator, octo, computer, bcd, gauges etc...) in bulk? In some cases, yes. It may be dependent on the manufacturers policies. Some shops like Scubatoys.com may give a discount for Scubaboard members.

2) If i purchased this same stuff online, i would save a good 200-300 in sales tax. is it worth it? does any kind of tweaking or setup need to be done out of the box to the equipment by a shop tech? for example, guitars out of the box are never 'set up'. you either set them up or have a tech do it. is scuba gear the same way? Buying online can indeed save you money. Some items you might want to purchase in person, like masks, wetsuits, full-foot fins, etc, or anything that would require fitting; unless you are already familiar with it. Some types of equipment requires assembly and/or fitting/adjustment out of the box, other things do not.

3) Is anything worth buying used? ive read buying used regulators isn't a great idea(unless you know what you're doing). but for something like a computer, well a computer is a computer and a guage is a guage. it either works or it doesnt. Buying used equipment can be a good way to save money. Personally I prefer to buy new stuff whenever possible.

4) Whats the definition of a 'cold water' dive? ive read some of these regulators(aqua lung legend supreme lx for example) being 'cold water resistant'. i plan on diving in socal(san diego all the way up to ventura county). if i travel anywhere else in the country or world and dived i would rent everything. For me, anything below 80 degrees is cold! (lol) The issue with regs is that ice can form and cause problems if they are not build to handle colder conditions. I will defer to those more familiar with conditions in your area about appropriate equipment choices.

5) For rental equipment, do most shops have a choice between 'low end' gear ranging all the way up to 'high end' or is the gear ussally all cheap stuff? id love to have the luxary of renting a 300 regulator then renting a 600-700 regulator the next time out to see if the price difference is worth the cost.' Most shops are probably going to tend to offer more budget price equipment for rent, but it really just depends on who you are renting from. Some shops may have better equipment than others.

6) How easy is it to meet diving buddies? my friends are all either broke or have no interest in diving. id love to go every weekend if possible. are there any meetups here? May be dependent on where you live, but you shouldn't have any problems if diving is accessible near by. I would like to think that SoCal would be a pretty easy place to make some dive friends or even join a club or dive group. Check with your local shops or here on Scubaboard.

 

[lindenbruce]

I believe anything colder than 50f is considered cold to differentiate regs for warm or cold water. But yes, as CD said anything under could be cold to the diver. I know I don't do nearly as much Monterey diving as I used to because I just hate the cold now that I'm older. If you are worried about it just buy regs for cold water. They will work just as well in warm water. And no need to rent regs when traveling either as your cold regs will dive anywhere you want to.

Also, when looking for a mask make sure you stick a snorkel or a reg into your mouth when checking the mask fit. It can make a difference. B.

 

[TSandM]

Here is my opinion, for what it is worth: Things that have to fit to work need to be bought in a shop, and it is ethically dubious to go try things on in a shop and buy them elsewhere. Therefore, I think you are better off buying your mask, gloves and boots at a shop, and possibly your fins as well, given that they have to fit over your boots. Snorkels are snorkels; I'm in favor of the simplest ones, because the ones with all the contraptions on the end to keep them dry tend to fall over and twist mask straps and make masks leak. (This is my observation from teaching a lot of OW classes.)

Shops can and do negotiate prices, especially if you are buying multiple items at once. It should not be offensive if you ask, "Is there any discount available for buying all these things at once?"

Some of the things you need can, indeed, be purchased used. A snorkel is a snorkel; a mask is a mask, although the skirts may yellow with time. Fins last a long time, as well. If you buy used, though, you will not have the opportunity to try a lot of things on in one place, so you may have to answer a whole bunch of ads before you find things that fit you. Once you have been diving for a while, and have an idea of what things you need, it's much easier to buy used.

In SoCal, you will never need cold water regs. It is "cold water diving", but you will rarely see temperatures below 50 degrees, and essentially NEVER see freezing air temperatures. This is different from the Pacific Northwest, where we dive in air temps in the 20s and water temps in the mid 40's.

There are LOTS of strategies for finding dive buddies. There's a pretty good-sized contingent of LA divers on ScubaBoard, for example. Most shops have dive clubs or shop dives, and I'm sure there are true dive clubs in your area. If all else fails, PM me, and I'll try to scare up some dive buddies for you. I have a few friends in Southern California.

 

[diversteve]

Check our SoCal forum - SoCal Power Scuba does meetups in your area all the time as well. Power Scuba (aka Scuba Diving in San Diego County) - Meetup And DiveBums in the San Diego area - clubs, events, shops, dive sites etc. Divebums - A San Diego Dive Website

In SoCal, you really want to concentrate on fit since poor fitting exposure gear will make you miserable both during/after certification. So personal gear should probably be mostly tried on/purchased locally. I'll never forget the look on my buddy's face when he turned wrong and 50^o water went down his spine in the canyon off LaJolla Shores - he had a poorly fitting rental suit at the time.

If you buy regulators from online sources like Scubatoys.com everything they sell has a full mfr's warranty. Your local dealer will honor that - it's in their dealer agreements. If you buy a name brand, you may find that due to said agreements, your local shop can also sell it for the same price. Scubatoys will setup/test regs/octo/computer etc. if purchased together. Other online sources do also. Smarter local dealers are matching online prices to keep from losing business to competitors.

I suggest you rent thru certification. You may be exposed to something more optimal for local diving thru the shop or thru local divers you meet. Anything you purchase for cold(er) water diving will also work in warm water.

Most shops rent gear specifically designed as rental gear. It's lower-end, workhorse, easily serviceable, universal fit gear from major mfr's. Some also turn their gear regularly so are a good source of used gear as well. Most shops service everything prior to the sale.

The hidden cost of buying a used regulator is that it will need service up-front. Since you're the 2nd owner there is no warranty extension. So paying $100 per annual service above the price makes used not such a smart investment in that case over time. Also I see a lot of older junk on craigslist and ebay. It may be fine, it may be corroded beyond repair. Salt water is very corrosive to brass if you don't keep after it. Given the large numbers of divers/ex-divers in your area it might be a good source for used gear compared to other areas. I'm sure you'll meet local divers selling their gear when they upgrade. The likelihood of them misrepresenting it is lower if they're in your club or will run into you at the shop etc.

Atomic Aquatics regulators might be a good option in your area also, they sell some excellent breathing models - in fact they all breathe the same just are priced higher due to the various metals used. Made in Huntington Beach. And can be sent to the factory for service.

Some older computers do not have user-serviceable batteries - specifically older Uwatec and some Mares models. So if you buy one at the end of the battery life, that can be a large investment in service charges. I had one, paid $400 new for it. When the battery died 4-5 years later, they wanted $150. I just bought a new Suunto for $300 instead. So "computers" aren't all "computers". Although most newer models have user-replaceable batteries.

 

[OkByMe]

Buy your personal gear (mask, fins, snorkel) at the shop, negotiate the price. Use their gear for the training. If you can dive, and at this point you don't know that you can, decide what you want, and at his point, you don't know that ether. But when you do, shop, shop shop. Don't get in a hurry. I was notified yesterday that the regulator I have been wanting for months is on sale.

Scubapro MK25/S600 Regulator, DIN | LeisurePro

I wanted a Bare tri-laminate dry suit and there was some crazy high prices out there, from over $2000 to $1200. I ended up getting what I wanted, new for $540.


They are out of stock... I guess I bought the last one...

 

[mangoconchile]

thank you guys for the help. one last question, does this forum have any kind of online vendor sales thread? like a thread to keep track of sales amongst all the online vendors? it would suck trying to keep up with all of the sales.

 

[silentstorm78]

Buy your personal gear (mask, fins, snorkel) at the shop, negotiate the price. Use their gear for the training. If you can dive, and at this point you don't know that you can, decide what you want, and at his point, you don't know that ether. But when you do, shop, shop shop. Don't get in a hurry. I was notified yesterday that the regulator I have been wanting for months is on sale.

Scubapro MK25/S600 Regulator, DIN | LeisurePro

I wanted a Bare tri-laminate dry suit and there was some crazy high prices out there, from over $2000 to $1200. I ended up getting what I wanted, new for $540.


They are out of stock... I guess I bought the last one...

I put an order for the regulator, it still says out of stock, great price imo, now I just need to hunt a BCD, I got an aqualong solafx.

 

[mangoconchile]

thank you guys for the help.

 

[beaverdivers]

thank you guys for the help. one last question, does this forum have any kind of online vendor sales thread? like a thread to keep track of sales amongst all the online vendors? it would suck trying to keep up with all of the sales.

The Hot Deals threads on Scubaboard are an excellent source for great deals. ( Plus you are supporting Scubaboard Business Sponsors! )