Tanks?? New/Used or Rent???? Which is better?

[REII]

Another reason to buy your own versus renting is that since you will be buying a boat you may want to take some boat trips. Some of the places I have gone on boat trips will not rent tanks to you to take on your own boat during busy times. They keep the tanks for their own boats. Having your own will give you the freedom to go where you want when you want without depending on availability.

TOM

 

[ZzzKing]

Now, own v. rent. If you rent 2 tanks twice a month, it will cost you anywhere from $7-10 each. At $7 a tank, you're looking at $336 for a year. If you own, you pay for fills - $4-5 each. At $5 a tank, that's $240. About a $100 difference. You also have to pay for VIPs every year - about $15 each. So $81 less per year means you start making money on your investment in just under 4 years. Looking at the 5 year cost, you're better off financially owning your own tanks, including the hydro cost. Not to mention that you do have the convenience of always having tanks sitting at home ready to go.

And if you rent two tanks a day (now THAT's a lot of diving!) you'll recoup your investment very quickly and start turning a profit. You can prolly pay off your mortgage after about 5 years or so with the savings you'll realize.

If only it really worked that way...

I did the math once and determined that the break-even point for the initial five years was somewhere around 40 dives per year. Ensuing five year periods broke even at about 25 dives per year. Don't remember my assumptions, though. There's not really a compelling financial arguement to purchasing your tanks but the convienience and spontenaity it allows are well worth it.

 

[jarhed]

If you find good deals on a used AL 80, It's generally not a big risk to buy used. I got mine (5) on craigs list for about $30 each. when you add in hydro and VIP, it comes to ~$75 per tank. AL80 are very durable, and while there are a few bad apples out there, you will likely find it is pretty hard to hurt a AL tank.

Watch out for the old pre 1988 tanks made from the 6351 alloy, there have been a few (12 out of ~25million) tanks explode. because of this, some dive shops won't fill them.

Take care,
John

 

[Mad Scientist]

You can get an AL80 from ScubaToys for $135 plus shipping - $16 to me in AZ. A new tank won't need a hydro for 5 years. It also shouldn't need a VIP but some shops will make you do it anyway.

Ok so a new tank is $151 from ScubaToys, a tank rental is about $2 (both need to be filled with air so we dont need to include that price in this argument. So to break even on a tank you need to make 75 dives. So once you make 75 dives you break even. Sounds great but that is not the whole equation, every year you need to get a VIP so add $15 a year thats another 7 to 8 dives a year after you get throught the first 75 dives. Now add a hydro test into the equation ($35) that is 17 to 18 more dives every five years. That is 129 dives in five years. Renting one tank every other week you will break even in five years. If you buy 2 tanks double that. It is not easy to break even on a tank. The biggest kicker to all of this is if the tank fails at anytime along the way you are stuck with a useless piece of metal and not much else.

All that being said. The convience of being able to go straight to a dive site or go diving on a whim is huge. When I lived near the Ocean I owned 4 tanks (my Father has them now). Now that I live in the desert and all diving requires travel and planning I cant meet those kind of numbers so rental is the only option.

 

[Tigerman]

I bought my own evertything.. Why? Because Ill be able to bring it along whenever I go near the water and have the opportunity to dive, without relying on the possibility of renting anything.
Theres also the benefit of knowing your own gear and just as important, how much its used, how well its maintained and when it was serviced..
The initial cost of buying your own is of course higher than if you renting, but in the long run, owning is cheaper than renting..

 

[dhampton82]

When I first started diving, I said that I would never buy a tank. I did the math like everyone else, and just figured it would be better off to rent. And not have to worry about hydro's and VIP's.

Two months later, I missed a perfect day of diving because I would of had to wait till 10am for the shop to open, then drive 2 hours away to dive. Which would of gotten me in the water at about 1pm instead of 10 am. (My diving is usually very spontainious, decided the night before, kinda thing).

Of course then I decided that it was worth the extra few bucks a year to be able too sqeeze an extra 3 hours of diving into those days I would of had to wait for the shop to open to rent a tank.

Also, I know that alot of people has mentioned eBay, what I did was search on ebay for a tank that was selling locally, and found a few and ask the guy if local pick-up was available and he said yea. I ended up with a tank that had just been hydro'ed that month for about $60.

Anyways, good luck with your tank adventures.

 

[Dive-aholic]

Ok so a new tank is $151 from ScubaToys, a tank rental is about $2 (both need to be filled with air so we dont need to include that price in this argument. So to break even on a tank you need to make 75 dives. So once you make 75 dives you break even. Sounds great but that is not the whole equation, every year you need to get a VIP so add $15 a year thats another 7 to 8 dives a year after you get throught the first 75 dives. Now add a hydro test into the equation ($35) that is 17 to 18 more dives every five years. That is 129 dives in five years. Renting one tank every other week you will break even in five years. If you buy 2 tanks double that. It is not easy to break even on a tank. The biggest kicker to all of this is if the tank fails at anytime along the way you are stuck with a useless piece of metal and not much else.

All that being said. The convience of being able to go straight to a dive site or go diving on a whim is huge. When I lived near the Ocean I owned 4 tanks (my Father has them now). Now that I live in the desert and all diving requires travel and planning I cant meet those kind of numbers so rental is the only option.

Didn't I say that?

Now, own v. rent. If you rent 2 tanks twice a month, it will cost you anywhere from $7-10 each. At $7 a tank, you're looking at $336 for a year. If you own, you pay for fills - $4-5 each. At $5 a tank, that's $240. About a $100 difference. You also have to pay for VIPs every year - about $15 each. So $81 less per year means you start making money on your investment in just under 4 years. Looking at the 5 year cost, you're better off financially owning your own tanks, including the hydro cost. Not to mention that you do have the convenience of always having tanks sitting at home ready to go.

 

[HarveyO]

Buy our own, I did and it has worked out great.

 

[Matt S.]

$2 to rent a tank?! Wow. It's $5 here, or $10 to rent a HP tank. (Add $5 to each for fills.)

At $15 per filled HP tank I am thinking it makes sense to buy sooner than I hoped.

 

[Mad Scientist]

Didn't I say that?

You said buy them, I say dont buy them, based on the dollar and cents.

Based on convience we both say buy them. So yeah in a way you did....