Try and Buy?

[ljwillia]

My husband and I bought our gear shortly after we were certified. Our choices were guided by our LDS' recommendations. It's been 7 - 8 years now and we've often thought "I wish we had considered...." I'd love to try a new reg, maybe a new BC but gear is so expensive. Is it unheard of for shops to offer a try and buy?

I'm intrigued by the Scubapro Ladyhawk but I'm not going to spend hundreds of dollars to find out it doesn't offer anything more than what I have in my Zeagle Zena. I'd also like to see if a more expensive reg is any better than my Zeagle Envoy II. Again, way too costly to just buy one.

Thanks!

 

[kelemvor]

My husband and I bought our gear shortly after we were certified. Our choices were guided by our LDS' recommendations. It's been 7 - 8 years now and we've often thought "I wish we had considered...." I'd love to try a new reg, maybe a new BC but gear is so expensive. Is it unheard of for shops to offer a try and buy?

I'm intrigued by the Scubapro Ladyhawk but I'm not going to spend hundreds of dollars to find out it doesn't offer anything more than what I have in my Zeagle Zena. I'd also like to see if a more expensive reg is any better than my Zeagle Envoy II. Again, way too costly to just buy one.

Thanks!

Not unheard of but not all shops do it. There are at least 5 dive shops in my area. Two of them allow you to try stuff, the others don't. The only way to know for sure is to ask your local shop people.

I think the crux of the conundrum is that for a shop to do this they must have the equipment in their "rental fleet." Otherwise if you try something and don't buy then what do they do with it? It's not new anymore... and I'm sure you wouldn't want to pay the "new" price on a bcd that someone else took for a dive to check it out...

Most DM's and instructors I've interacted with are also happy to let you try something they own.

 

[BlueTrin]

This shop allows you to try, you basically pay for a normal hire but you get your money back if you buy from them:

Try diving equipment - try Halcyon and DUI | Underwater Explorers

 

[DogDiver]

Look for a shop with a pool onsite. That will usually let you try and buy.

 

[JEEP PIRATE 08]

I used several different BCs in my training and didnt like any of them. A couple of my instructors were pretty forthcoming about what was good and not and why they liked the things they used. That helped a lot along with some independent research, and one of them let me try regs in the pool and I decided right then that was the set i wanted. smooth, nice great fit and finish and a good name in the market. The choices are so personal, try and buy is the best way to go if you can do it.

 

[ljwillia]

This shop allows you to try, you basically pay for a normal hire but you get your money back if you buy from them:

Try diving equipment - try Halcyon and DUI | Underwater Explorers

Thanks for the link. flying to London to try gear might defeat the purpose

 

[Diving Dubai]

Personally...

Is there anything about your gear you dislike? I know when I was shopping for a BCD for teaching I knew I wanted large pockets and no cumberbund - basically from experience

Regs - when I add extra regs, I know what I'm looking for based on my dive conditions. Warm water but high current so want smaller diameter reg

I do let students try my gear (I have a BPW and Plateless wing. I discuss pro's and con's of Back inflate, conventional BCD and hybrid. But basically gear is gear as long as it fit's and works the advantaged of new shiney stuff is very small

That said I am a magpie and am very attracted to New shiney gear. "I want" is all the justification I use - If I only purchased what I actually needed my LDS would be poorer

 

[ljwillia]

Personally...

Is there anything about your gear you dislike? I know when I was shopping for a BCD for teaching I knew I wanted large pockets and no cumberbund - basically from experience

Regs - when I add extra regs, I know what I'm looking for based on my dive conditions. Warm water but high current so want smaller diameter reg

I do let students try my gear (I have a BPW and Plateless wing. I discuss pro's and con's of Back inflate, conventional BCD and hybrid. But basically gear is gear as long as it fit's and works the advantaged of new shiney stuff is very small

That said I am a magpie and am very attracted to New shiney gear. "I want" is all the justification I use - If I only purchased what I actually needed my LDS would be poorer

There are things I would change. The Zena has a zipper front. I think I would prefer a cumberbund. I would love more pockets. BUT, I love how light it is and how easily it travels. Would I spend $500-$600 on a new BC for those items? Probably not. But, like you, I love the idea of shiney new gear

I do think it would be a good marketing tool for LDS' if they had a certain amount of gear for customers to try. It would certainly differentiate them from the on-line options. Of course, I'm sure there would be people who would try gear at a local shop and then buy it on-line

 

[JamesBon92007]

My husband and I bought our gear shortly after we were certified. Our choices were guided by our LDS' recommendations. It's been 7 - 8 years now and we've often thought "I wish we had considered...." I'd love to try a new reg, maybe a new BC but gear is so expensive. Is it unheard of for shops to offer a try and buy?

I'm intrigued by the Scubapro Ladyhawk but I'm not going to spend hundreds of dollars to find out it doesn't offer anything more than what I have in my Zeagle Zena. I'd also like to see if a more expensive reg is any better than my Zeagle Envoy II. Again, way too costly to just buy one.

Thanks!

Scuba.com says something along the lines of: if you return it and it used but in good condition, they give you back 75%. Not exactly "try and buy" if you consider that it'll cost $100 to try out a $400 piece of gear, but perhaps better than getting stuck with something you don't like. OTOH if you don't actually use it in water then they will refund your money. But then you could probably just visit your LDS and take a look, which would be simpler. I pay with PayPal and so far they have almost always refunded my return shipping costs

 

[Rose Sear]

Until 2 weeks ago, I had a Scuba Pro LadyHawk BCD with integrated weights, Mfg. Code 22.401.410 serial # 1316592179 bought in 2016. DON'T buy this. We were on a live aboard in Komodo and 3 of us had this BCD. All 3 of us had major problems. One person was upside down on her head during most of her dives. Another of us was lopsided with air, she sort of eventually fixed this by playing with the little straps tucked into the BC. My air would be on one side only, then during the same dive on the other side only, so the dive guide kept trying to even me out underwater. But the biggest, most dangerous problem was I would be neutrally bouyant for 5 to 7 minutes then, without adding air, I would rocket to the surface. This went on constantly and was VERY dangerous. I've been diving for 35 years and have never had issues with my old Scuba Pro BCD. Luckily the liveaboard had BCD's for rent. I rented a ScubaPro T-One and am back to being completely in control. I threw this LadyHawk BCD in the garbage as I wouldn't want anyone to use it and lose their life from the constant uninitiated depth changes. At depth I never felt in control with the LadyHawk BCD and was frequently wanting to abort dives. On the surface it is extremely uncomfortable as you would need to get your feet up in front of you and try to float backwards but it is VERY difficult to get the BCD to allow you to do this as it wants to push you forward, face down. If you like to be out of control and miserable on dives, this is the BCD for you.