What do you use your LDS for?

[shawrg]

My scuba bucks go to two dive shops. One is 90 miles away that I trust for repairs and maintenance items since they carry the brand of reg & BC I use. The other is 3 miles away that I go to for accessories, exposure suits, snorkel gear etc. I don’t own a tank so no refills from them. Besides, except for a few checkout dives decades ago, all of my dive destinations have been out of the country.

I will visit both from time to time just to browse the shiny new scuba stuff and I trust both for honest recommendations and other scuba related advice. I prefer to look, hold & try on most everything I buy (scuba and non-scuba). However, any major purchase will have to wait until congress gives me my bailout or at least a scuba rebate...a scubate?
And besides, I’m comfortable with my current setup. Getting additional certs does not appeal to me.

To date, I have arranged all of my own dive trips. The local shop offers limited group travel to destinations that do not interest me. The other goes to more interesting places and I usually consider going through them but, so far I have not joined in the fun times with them.

 

[TSandM]

Colliam, you clearly feel about your shop the way I feel about mine. It's not the prettiest shop, and sadly, doesn't have a lot of inventory that I can paw through, but they are SUCH good people, and they have gone out of their way for me enough times that I do whatever I can see my way clear to do to support them.

More shops should realize that being good people means your customers will try to help you when times are tough.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Ok, I am not sure how to title this thread or whether the issue has been really addressed. I really don't care to do a search and plus I doubt my question will be answered to my satisfaction anyway by doing said search. So here goes... What would you as a diver most like to see out of your LDS or what value does the LDS have to you? It seems many of you hardcore divers don't really need or use your LDS except for airfills and even then many of you own compressors or use your club's compressor. Many of you have learned to service your own gear so even the repair shop is unnecessary. So the question is what value or purpose does the LDS serve you? Me personally, I just get my air filled since I already have my gear and I have a friend that does most of my servicing in exchange for me buying the beer and steaks.

I get air fills, get my Scubapro stuff serviced, game bags and fish stringers, lobster guages, ab irons when I loan one out and someone looses it, float tubes, spear gun bands, LP or HP hoses if I need one, gloves and booties when they wear out, steel tanks- new, or used if they have anything good and with a good hydro date.

What I don't get:
BC's
wetsuits
computers
fins
masks
knives

 

[NudeDiver]

What would you as a diver most like to see out of your LDS or what value does the LDS have to you?

At this point, I already have my own gear. I almost have a complete set of gear for my wife. Any additional gear will likely be used, or inexpensive stuff from the internet - but we will not be buying too much for a while, except maybe a dive computer. We have all the training we plan to get (or will, after our next dive trip) any time soon. So, at this point, the LDS is a place to get air fills and make idle chitchat - or to get regs serviced.

 

[RAWalker]

I deal with a few local dive shops.
The one I took my OW through has free fills and advertizes they'll beat any price on equipment by 5%. I've purchased a few items there during sales.
Another has a bigger selection than the others in my area and I've also purchased a couple of small items.
The shop where I purchased my first BCD and reg set has a limited stock but has been helpful occasionally.
Still another has given me some excellent deals on equipment, training and I have even taken a trip with them but the fact that the owners have day jobs and most of the employees know little has frustrated me.
I do a lot of research for equipment before I start shopping and try to let the locals equip me. This doesn't always work out but I've been able to give them some business.
I don't believe in picking a single shop and supporting it. These are business' and the better ones will generally survive, while the others will fade away. It's hard to believe but living here in the Phoenix area in the middle of a desert there is a an abundance of dive shops from local to chain stores. There are 3 just in the city of Mesa where I live.

 

[suzyp]

I go to my LDS to smell the neoprene. That is to say I go to keep myself interested in the sport. I hang out and talk to the sales people, who often times tell me of there most recent dive trips.

 

[Sas]

Well I have a great LDS now after a few negative experiences at one store and also trying out a few others that are ok for fills but that is about it. I use them for:

-borrowing gear to try out to see if I like it
-buying gear, though I do also buy online and from other stores if they don't have what I want or price is better - I have enough gear for the diving I do now but I am gonna be needing a lot more equipment I think for future diving so I still prefer to have an LDS to check out as well as the net
-air + nitrox fills - they do airfills for $5, for example, and I have not seen it cheaper elsewhere even if one is a club member
-socialising - the club I am in now, although it is not shop based, tend to hang around there so I meet up with a lot of divers I know who hang out at the shop
-getting good, honest advice (i.e. will recommend other shops or the net if they think it will suit me better and they'll say if they think a bit of gear is unnecessary and I ask about buying it)
-getting dive site information - I'll often ask what they've heard about sites from customers during the day so I know where is good to dive
-equipment hire for friends who do not dive often enough to have their own gear
-servicing of equipment
-other help with equipment, i.e. one staff member helped me make a one-piece harness for my BP/W as I didn't know how.

They don't run any training through the shop so further training I will get elsewhere. Also trips I plan myself now though I would not rule out booking a trip through them at a later stage, they run pretty good ones.

Anyway, I consider myself pretty lucky to have an LDS I trust as I know they are not common.

 

[lmorin]

I go to the LDS for beer parties (tank fill station has a beer tap built in), new product advice, maintenance, trip advice, misc. purchases of various items needing replacement (e.g., silicone grease). I don't need any big items, presently, but would go to the LDS for them, too, because I can get a good deal plus long term support without a hassle.

 

[divemasternewell]

Your LDS is most of the time an authorized deal and if they service your equipment they are responsiable for it working correctly. You can not buy parts to service equipment unless you are a dealer or authorized shop. In other words they replace your computer if it floods if they change the batteries. If you can buy parts kits from a dive shop lt me know which one cause I don't know of a good one that will sell parts to the public. Its called liability.

 

[El Orans]

Fills, VIPs, reg service, purchase of small items that seem to need replacing periodically, like DIN caps and double-enders. I've bought several tanks through them.

Ditto.

They don't offer the kind of gear/training I'm interested in these days.