I will be doing my final open water dives at the end of May, and have already found myself a diving buddy, and will probably be doing quite a few dives in the St Lawrence river and other places in the area this summer.

He apparently has a few spare parts like tanks and a few others things I forgot. But since I will probably be diving quite a bit, is it worth renting the equipment or getting my own? I am a college student so money is a little tight. I was thinking of getting my own basic stuff like a good mask, fins and a wetsuit but not sure about the rest.


Suggestions?

Hi aliikai,

I've done almost 50 dives and only own my own dive computer, snorkel, mask, fins and smb.

It's always a good idea to have the absolute basics so if nothing else, you can snorkel for free It's also nice having a mask that fits 100% of the time and fins you're comfortable with. These things shouldn't cost too much either.

It does get more expensive when you look at buying regs and bcds and wetsuits.

To start, I'd recommend getting mask, snorkel, fins, wetsuit, smb and a few spare straps / o-rings and most importantly - your own dive computer.

Sounds a maybe illogical - but I personally think a dive watch/computer is probably one of the best things to own yourself, as it's always good to have your dive profile logged and be used to reading your depth / dive time etc.

It will be cheaper in the long-run to own everying - but start with the basics (mask, fins, snorkel, wetsuit) + dive watch and go from there.

It'll depend on how much diving you intend to do. If you are going diving every week then it may be cheaper to buy your own, especially if you buy 2nd hand.

In the UK it costs £25-35 a day to rent full equipment but you can buy a good 2nd hand BCD for that, a reg will costs twice as much. If you have your own equipment you don't have to worry about getting the rental equipment back to the shop on time during opening hours. Locally there are few shops even though we are surrounded by sea, renting equipment restricts your movements. The nearest dive shop could be an hours drive away from where you want to dive, so that's 2 hours travelling just to get the equipment and get it back.

Borrow what you can, buy 2nd hand when you can afford. Always service and regs you buy 2nd hand unless you know who is selling them and they can show you a service certificate. Don't try servicing your own regs.

BCD's are easy to service, just inflate and leave for 4 hours, if it is still fully inflated then check all dump valves and the inflate button and make sure they all work and none stick. Check all clips are strong and there's no wear/tear on the straps. That's all we do every year.

I'm with AlanticScuba on this, if you are diving a lot you may end up saving money if you buy all your kit. May be a bigger intial out lay, but I think it is worth it if you are diving a lot. I also think it makes things easier when you are starting off. Diving in the same kit over and over makes it easier to know weighting, trim, etc.

I think it also depends where you are going to dive as well, I have seen some ropey dive center kit in my short time diving and been quite pleased to have my own to trust and a wetsuit that hasn't be worn by 100s of people before me.

Normally folks will need to judge for themselves the needs...

Keep in mind buying gear means maintaining gear as well. So the $300 - $600 regulator will require $100 - $200 worth of Maintenance each year.

How careful are you with gear? How often do you rinse and how much of your personal time will you spend taking care of gear? Storage - wet and dry will play a factor.

I can remember this as an issue in an apartment I used to rent. The other thing, know what you like... I would say that you should acquire gear a little at a time. Packaging out saves a great deal of $$.

My first set of gear came from a dive shop rental sale. They were clearing out gear and I obtained my regular rental.

As much as possible and if you can find the money, purchase your own equipment. Take a look at my bad experience with rented equipment.

www.thescubasite.com/Scuba-Forum/Scuba-Diving-Stories/2050-This-is-a-bad-experience-I-had-when-I-took-my-PADI

Having your own mask, snorkel, fins and booties are a must! And in your case having a wetsuit would be nice, since you are diving in the St. Lawrence. If you can afford a BC and regs it could spare you the time and foresight of having to run to the shop to rent if your friend calls you spur of the moment. I would assume he has a dive computer and as a new diver i'd be sticking close to him. You can probably put off buying a computer for now. Then again it all depends how much diving (or skipping school) you plan to be doing.

Check out Leisure Pro for used equipment and closeout deals. If you call us directly we can help in putting together a package deal.

If I can be of help let me know.

Adam

Double Post

You need your own equipment. If you will be diving regularly, consider purchasing used. Have this checked out by a Local Dive Store (LDS) that you trust. A computer is nice, but I feel it is better to get everything you can first and add that on as you can afford it. Analog gauges will be just fine starting out. This will leave you more money to get a good BCD, which in my opinion is more important than the computer. The computer will not save your life as readily as a good BCD will. Don't get me wrong, a computer is nice to have, and as you gain more experience and have the cash available then get it. Talk to those at your LDS, I am sure they would be happy to assist you.

get your own wetsuit soon you dont now who peed in a rental and i think every one has peed in one. he he. well sometimes your only real buddy is that warn feeling.especially at 4%

I would for sure say that you need to buy your own gear, i would even recommend that you buy durable gear that is going to last you a long time so you don't have to buy gear twice. -Jordan

jhaldeman wrote:

'tis almost true. I bought my BCD new in 2002, it has done ove 2000 days and is as good as new. My current reg I bought 2nd hand in 2001 and that is also still in good working order although the label has fallen off I bought my fins in '99 and they are still in use. My mask is relatively new (2004) and is still perfect.

The only gear problem is, is that drysuits are another matter. I wear them out in around 700 dives, whatever make they are.

I'd definitely buy my own gear. I started with just a BCD (out of necessity at the time), fins, mask/snorkel, and booties/gloves.

The BCD I got (2nd hand), a Zeagle Ranger, has been wonderful and I've had it since I started training in 2004. Aside from a problem with the power inflator sticking on a dive, I've never had a problem with it. Personally, I like the peace of mind I get from being familiar with my gear (something you don't get from rental gear) and from knowing that it's been well-maintained. It's for this very reason (and the fact that I plan on doing a lot more diving in the future) that I just laid out a nice sum to purchase another BCD, primary and secondary regs, a computer and a compass.

If you own nothing else, definitely own your own BCD, regs, and snorkeling equipment. Gauges are good, but you can rent them (at least at my LDS you can). A computer is better, but you're better off waiting until you have everything else before you get the computer. It's a nice luxury, but analogue gauges work just fine (and are cheaper!) and are less likely to fail.

Also, if you *are* going to purchase your equipment, definitely go with the best *that you can afford*. Trust me when I say that it'll save you a lot of money in the long run if you get *good* gear to begin with, rather than getting *cheap* gear. One way to think of that is, if you had to put a price tag on your life, what would the price be? That's essentially what you're doing here. Now that's not to say that you should buy the most expensive thing either (and not everything that's expensive is good). Do the research, get the *best* gear for *you*, and don't cut corners on it.

And when you get your gear, make sure to maintain it! A course on maintaining your equipment might be a good idea.