What would you say is the most important to buy new?

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Americana_Mama

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Can scuba gear be safely purchased used? Makes me nervous, but hubby thinks it should be ok. If you had a limited budget to buy new scuba gear, what would you say should be the first and foremost to buy new? What items would you have no prob at all buying off of Craigslist or Ebay?
 
Can scuba gear be safely purchased used? Makes me nervous, but hubby thinks it should be ok. If you had a limited budget to buy new scuba gear, what would you say should be the first and foremost to buy new? What items would you have no prob at all buying off of Craigslist or Ebay?

Most gear that I see online falls into one of two categories:

- well used, as in worn out.
- hardly used, as in someone bought stuff and then for one reason or another never dived much.

Your LDS won't like me for saying this but you *can* get good used gear online and you'll be able to kit yourself out for about 1/2 of what it costs to buy it new.

You can also get a lot of crap online that will turn out to be a useless waste of money. If you don't know what you're looking at, then you need to get a friend who is familiar with it to advise you.

One thing I personally wouldn't buy online is a used suit. If it doesn't fit right then you won't get your money back and you'll end up buying a new one anyway.

R..
 
Welcome to diving and SB! Knowing what you're looking at is the key. Being a newbie is a big disadvantage. You need to find someone you trust that knows what they're looking at and isn't trying to sell you their gear. There are AL tanks out there you don't want to own because to find a LDS to fill them can be hard and they are proven to be dangerous. They are however priced very attractively. There are regulators that LDS well not service or they can't get parts for. There are also regulators that are decades old and are as good as the day they were made, parts are easy to get and sometimes the seller doesn't know what they have and price it based on being 30-40 years old. Good deal!

Join a diving club if, there is one in your area and make some friends, not only will you get some advise but you'll also have dive buddies!
 
Mask and wetsuit. Everything else IF YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING AND LOOKING AT can be bought used.

Just realize that you may need to spend more money to have it serviced before you can use it. In the case of regs anyway.
 
Wetsuit. Remember one of the rules of Scuba Diving: The guy before you peed in your rental wetsuit. :D

Same goes for used.
 
Wetsuit, but not because of the usual "somebody else peed in it". You can have a good looking wet suit that has lost it's insulating properties. Insulation is why you buy them in the first place.

I buy masks new because of fit and the fact that they last a long time if you care of them. Also I haven't found a used one that would fit right.



Bob
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I swear its not hoarding dear, I'm just keeping an adequate stock of equipment and parts. It's life support, you know.
 
Americana_mama: I would look into renting gear for 10 or more dives. You get a little more familiarity, and are then better able to decide what you want to buy - used or not. Don't forget the shop stands to make a lot of money if they sell you guys two full setups. Not that they don't have the best intentions, but it's possible. There is certainly a conflict of interest involved. Asking the LDS if you need to buy scuba gear is like asking a car salesman if you need a new car.

If you buy used gear, particularly regulators - take it in for service somewhere before you dive it.

I think the only thing you really wouldn't want to rent is the mask, because mask fit is so personal.
 
If you are looking at regulators, make sure to stick with brands your LDS will service, and that still have parts available. I've gotten 5 Conshelf 14s off of ebay, and have spent less than the price of buying two new. Even though Aqualung has discontinued the Conshelf series, the rebuild kits are the same as other models still in production.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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