Scuba listed as one of the 5 most expensive hobbies

[driftwood]

Investopedia listed scuba as number 5 in the five most expensive hobbies.

5 Expensive Hobbies - Slideshow | Investopedia

I think they under estimated how much equipment costs.

 

[Laurie S.]

Wow, they sure did. My BCD alone was more than $500.

 

[Token]

I guess you have to consider average expenses over the whole population of practitioners, but yeah, a reg set and computer alone can easily cost twice the $500 they mention. I'm surprised that sport shooting didn't work its way into the list. A few guns, practice ammo and club/range fees can run pretty steep too. Golf? Equipment costs may not be huge, but greens fees and annual club memberships can be.

 

[TMHeimer]

Yeah, I was gunna say Golf green fees are very costly. But it's just another statistic to question. If you go my route--- buy mostly used stuff and take care of it, go to one tropical dive week vacation in 8 years, live right on the ocean (not near a quarry, as the study says)--although it's the cold N. Atlantic, dive in the South U.S. since you snowbird there anyway---well, it's not all that costly. There is the air coats, visuals, hydros, etc. and of course the course costs if you take a lot of them. Diving can be extremely costly if you have to constantly upgrade your stuff to the newest bells & whistles out there. Not me.

 

[driftwood]

I think gambling should be on the list of most expensive hobbies.

 

[doctormike]

[h=3][FONT=SlingLight, Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif]SCRABBLE
[/FONT]
The cost of equipment is a modest $20, and certification is unnecessary. For those who are serious about their scrabble, only the most picturesque, exotic locations will do. If you're able to avoid the $1,500 or more plane ticket to get you to such sites like the International Scrabble Finals in Sydney, your Scrabble hobby may not be as budget-busting as it could, but how long will the local game circuit be enough?[/h]

---------- Post added May 1st, 2013 at 12:26 AM ----------

although it's the cold N. Atlantic

Diving in the North Atlantic? Clearly you are not a "serious" scuba diver, according to this article...

 

[Doc]

That reminded me of most SCUBA magazines and their Ten Must-Do Dives, etcetera.

They were just pulling out some goofy stuff.

I shoot sporting clays, aka: golf with a shotgun. That's a $250 Saturday plus the price of a double barrel shotgun. Mine was $1200, but my buddies need $13k guns to know it is their fault when they miss. My club costs $1000 a year.

My brother in law does amateur sports car racing. A lot of people have come back to this sport after a huge decline.

You can't argue with general aviation. My doctor just threw down for a windshield: used for $23,000.

The single most expensive hobby is one that I have given up: READ HEADS :gorgeous:

 

[Wingy]

They underestimated the cost of everything....id love a $1500 airfare to hmm...Mozambique. Might take up underwater ballroom dancing.

 

[tamas970]

If I'll ever dive the GBR, the 1.5k$ airfare will be my least concern... The 3-5k, what a liveaboard costs cuts the wallet much deeper.
Anyway, there aren't many equipment intensive sports around, that cost less than 1k a year. What about ski/snowboard? About the same gear, clothing and daypass costs...

I have other hobbies, and scuba is not the most expensive equipment-wise:

#1: photography: I have 2 cameras and a few lenses. Worth: 2+k$. Travel costs adds up exactly like diving.

#2: scuba: I have a full gear except main tank and weights, costed around 1k$

#3: biking: my bike was ~500$, which is quite a cheap one...

I agree, you can throw an infinite amount of money in the Ocean, but normal, recreational scuba is not luxury. Special things, like TEC diving, expensive liveaboards, pro underwater photography are expensive. But so is a photo-safari in Africa/south America.

 

[Cosimo_Zaretti]

What meaningless, poorly thought out, poorly researched waffle. It was like a primary school project where some kid has found out a few fun facts and cut out some pictures, with no though line or proper conclusion. I hope no one got paid for the article. To be fair one of the related articles on Investopedia was "could Zynga exist without facebook" so I shouldn't have been expecting much in the way of journalism.