testing brand new regulators prior to use?

[novasquid]

I'm starting to extrapolate a few things, perhaps erroneously, perhaps not. Where did op get his info to determine which regs to buy for himself and his wife in the first place? What other details have been left out?

I'm extrapolating that there's still ever so much more of the story to be told and probably even some misunderstandings between/amongst everyone at the actual event in time, no less those of us participating here after the fact.

And this thread takes yet another weird spin down the crapper hole. Extrapolate all you want to create as much drama as you need to make you happy, but know that all I was really interested in was testing a brand new regulator and secondarily if the price quoted was reasonable.

 

[chillyinCanada]

You seem a little sensitive there, novasquid.

 

[redacted]

You seem a little sensitive there, novasquid.

And you seem like you work in one of "those" dive shops. I think he may just have his guard up.

 

[OkByMe]

Because I'm a complete scuba noob, and as a noob I'm inclined to ask silly questions until I learn the limits of what I can and should DIY at home. couv's sticky post looks like a good checklist to get me started.

One of the things you will need to learn is how to assemble and configure your equipment. Not to short you on your apprehension, but adding and removing accessories from your regulator, wing/harness or jacket is pretty run of the mill. About as easy as changing the oil and filter in your garden tractor. Dissembly, cleaning and inspection is also easy once you get the schematics.

On some regulators, some proprietary tools may be required and some tools are cost effective, such as an intermediate pressure gauge for the first and an inline gauge/tool to set the cracking pressure of the second. The intermediate gauge is about 10 bucks and the inline about 55 bucks. Most all hand tools will do except for a socket to remove the yoke (covert to DIN, not needed to rebuild) and maybe a piston tool.

I have those regulators mk25/s600 and mk17/g250V, and they are easy to rebuild and adjust. I rigged up a -2-0+2 inches of water Magnahelic gauge so I can set it up out of the water. Check the intermediate pressure first and adjust. It should not creep. The second, You can do the same thing by just submerging the mouthpiece opening - pointing UP, with the lever in "Dive" and the thumb wheel backed out. it should start to (just at submersion) free flow until you turn the thumb wheel about halfway in. If you take it out of "dive", it should not free flow until it gets under about an inch or so. That is the most sensitive adjustment, but you can set it where you want it. If if will work in the sink, it will work on a dive.

 

[PeterNBiddle]

One of the things you will need to learn is how to assemble and configure your equipment.

This is where the LDS the OP talked to blew it.

Every time someone walks up to you with a problem they need solved, you have a chance to provide them with a good or service that either earns you revenue, loyalty or preferably both.

As an LDS you are competing with the Internet. That sucks if you are trying to compete based on the lowest price for globally distributed hard goods. Price has been commoditized. So you need to find a way to charge for things that the Internet can't provide competitively (at least not yet).

What do you have, as an LDS, that the Internet doesn't have? One thing is in-person service from qualified people. That translates to time, peace of mind, expertise, human interaction and community. You need to get as many people into your shop as you possibly can and give them great personal service that you can charge high margins for.

In this specific case, why not do the following?

"Hey, we could just set this up for you, and that normally costs <foo>. Of course you took OW with us, so that means you automatically qualify for a 10% discount on all gear service, even if you bought it somewhere else. But if you go that route you're not going to know how to do things yourself, and then if you need to do anything with your regs when you're off somewhere, you're at the mercy of some pot-smoking teenager.

So how about we sign you up for our next "regulator theory and set up" class? It's Saturday from1-3 and it's only <bar - which should be a lot more than foo>. Bring your buddy and then the two of you can test each others setups in the pool. If you need it faster we can do the class any evening you like as a tutorial for you and your buddy. That's a great solution because you get your own instructor and we can make sure you really understand everything completely - that's <foobar - At least twice what bar costs>.

And the next time you're shopping for gear come by, we will try to match published prices from established retailers and no matter what we'll always do the setup and testing for free on the same day you buy it. Then you'll always know you're leaving our shop ready to dive when you shop with us."

And of course if you don't have an AOW instructor and travel agent who happen to be at all your gear setup classes, and you don't happen to let them offer a couple of killer deals, and you can't find a way to encourage some really experienced local divers to show up to help with the class and talk about the awesome local dives they took with you last week and the trip they are doing with you to <somewhere awesome in the future> then you're just not doing it right.

 

[chillyinCanada]

And you seem like you work in one of "those" dive shops. I think he may just have his guard up.

Nope, sure don't, and never have. What I have been is a customer of a shop that cheated and gouged its clientelle but now ever so happily a customer of a shop that doesn't do that. I would never abuse their treatment of me. Whenever I need/want new gear, I get great advice and service. They also give me a discount on all of my larger purchases and go extra lengths in every way that may be necessary. Anything I want to try out in the pool is not only no problem but encouraged.

Of course OP is feeling defensive. But OP knows what happened, doesn't he?

 

[novasquid]

One of the things you will need to learn is how to assemble and configure your equipment. Not to short you on your apprehension, but adding and removing accessories from your regulator, wing/harness or jacket is pretty run of the mill. About as easy as changing the oil and filter in your garden tractor. Dissembly, cleaning and inspection is also easy once you get the schematics.

You get an up vote for being one of the helpful posts in this thread rather than trying to "extrapolate" drama.

 

[ams511]

There is one dive shop in Miami where the owner told me if people buy equipment online, "he makes them pay". I only use him for hydros and VIPs, because at the time he was the only shop that would service my early 90s Luxfer tanks. The guy turned me off when he told me my TX-100s were old. Perhaps the OP's dive shop owner subscribes to the same philosophy.

---------- Post added May 25th, 2013 at 10:51 PM ----------

The linkage of sales and training is a clear conflict of interest.

I agree. Some shops treat training as a loss leader in order to get people inside the door (check out the groupon threads), to try to sell them gear. If they feel you are tough sale then their attitude changes. This hurts the whole industry because customers of these dive shops feel ripped-off are wary of dive shops in general. So they just send more people to shop online.

 

[oly5050user]

The linkage of sales and training is a clear conflict of interest. Absolutely retarded.

sorry but have to disagree on this...Proper instruction during a simple ow course is not just to teach the student how to dive but to inform them on what type of gear could be appropriate for their use. What is so wrong with being able to sell and supply this gear?
Educate them on what is available and explain benefits and features so that they purchase gear that fits their needs and fits right the first time. Without sales for the facility an instructor will not have many classes to teach and the facility will close down. If there are no sales of gear, just classes, everyone purchases elsewhere but the LDS, the price for a ow class can easily double or triple and become a big barrier to many just to enter the activity.
Just look at how expensive it is to take a tech type class or get a rebreather certification. Is it because of the time it takes to actually do a class? No its not.. Its because a big part of it is there are actually so few in the activity.
Less people in the activity the cost for those still in it will rise..Gear will cost more because less of it will a have to be produced, many manufacturers will go out of business as they cannot sell enough of product to survive, less divers on a boat so costs per person for a boat ride to sites goes up.
Look at it from a store owners perspective. There are 3 instructors that teach for a LDS. Two of them constantly are able to get their students to purchase at a minimum a wet suit and usually out of a class of 4 students at least 1 of them purchase a gear package of regulator/bcd/computer.Same 2 instructors arrange island trips and local dives. The other instructor almost never get any students into a wetsuit, let alone any gear sales. All 3 instructors extremely experienced and capable. WHO do you think will get the most classes assigned? Owning a LDS is a business and needs to be run as such to survive . Teaching and sales definitely belong together in this activity.

 

[idive2]

Some auto repair shops used to have a minimum charge for anything they got involved in. Many times something could
be corrected in the matter of minutes but they had to adhere to the minimum charge. I would hope the shop did not
have a minumum charge of one hundred dollars that would be outrageous. But I can understand some minimum charge for
miscellaneous sevices. I would look at screwing in two or three hoses, a quick IP check and leak check to fall in line with a minumum
service charge of much lower than one hundred. I breathe on and listen for leaks at each reg before EVERY dive and do an occasional IP
check on the first stage. Just a few days back I actually was asked to check another divers first stage and hoses for leaks prior to
our dive and I thought that was a good idea as well.