Where to buy Scuba Diving equipment?
Hello,
I was thinking of starting up scuba diving for a hobby seeing as I have so much spare time these days. I heard it can be very expensive to start up, equipment,lessons and exams etc. Can someone tell me if theres anywhere in the south east thats sells the equipment for good prices? Also is it best to go online or find an actual dive store?
I’ve had a quick look on google to find a few companies that sell equipment, but didn’t want to commit incase theres a cheaper option.
Thanks
Most professional instructors (as opposed to salesmen who are only after your cash) would recommend that a beginner diver does NOT buy all the gear straight off, especially if they’ve never been diving before. A full set of SCUBA gear (including cylinder and accessories) can easily cost US$1500-2500 new, depending on brand — and you won’t get more than half of that back selling it secondhand, if it turns out that diving is not for you.
My advice would be, first sign up for a basic dive course. That will tell you straight off if you think you might want to get into diving in a big way (i.e. whether it’s worth investing in all your own gear). If you buy anything prior to the course, don’t get more than basic snorkelling gear (mask, fins, snorkel, maybe gloves and booties = US$100-150). It’s not unusual for dive centres to ask students to purchase personal gear (mask, snorkel, boots = US$70-100) prior to a course, for both comfort and hygienic reasons, but avoid like the plague any dive centre which requires you to purchase full gear (see first paragraph).
Do your basic course with rental gear. Then do some diving, using different rental gear. Then do some more diving/training in a different place(s), under different conditions, using different rental gear. Talk to your instructor(s), diveguide(s) and other divers — find out what what they use, and why they chose it. After 10-20 post-course dives, you should be getting a reasonably good idea of what underwater activites interest you, what brand(s) of gear you prefer using, and hence what you might want to purchase in the long term. Subscribing to a dive magazine(s) will also give you a better idea of good prices, and help you judge whether a particular item/ feature would be useful to you.
If you have any specific questions, feel free to email me through Y!A
I love scuba diving.
Try http://www.google.com/search?q=dive+shop&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
Remember these are small business people & cater to a small clientèle.
They will work with you if yo;re a local or need to know you;re not just wasting their time and business is TIGHT.
References :
Most professional instructors (as opposed to salesmen who are only after your cash) would recommend that a beginner diver does NOT buy all the gear straight off, especially if they’ve never been diving before. A full set of SCUBA gear (including cylinder and accessories) can easily cost US$1500-2500 new, depending on brand — and you won’t get more than half of that back selling it secondhand, if it turns out that diving is not for you.
My advice would be, first sign up for a basic dive course. That will tell you straight off if you think you might want to get into diving in a big way (i.e. whether it’s worth investing in all your own gear). If you buy anything prior to the course, don’t get more than basic snorkelling gear (mask, fins, snorkel, maybe gloves and booties = US$100-150). It’s not unusual for dive centres to ask students to purchase personal gear (mask, snorkel, boots = US$70-100) prior to a course, for both comfort and hygienic reasons, but avoid like the plague any dive centre which requires you to purchase full gear (see first paragraph).
Do your basic course with rental gear. Then do some diving, using different rental gear. Then do some more diving/training in a different place(s), under different conditions, using different rental gear. Talk to your instructor(s), diveguide(s) and other divers — find out what what they use, and why they chose it. After 10-20 post-course dives, you should be getting a reasonably good idea of what underwater activites interest you, what brand(s) of gear you prefer using, and hence what you might want to purchase in the long term. Subscribing to a dive magazine(s) will also give you a better idea of good prices, and help you judge whether a particular item/ feature would be useful to you.
If you have any specific questions, feel free to email me through Y!A
References :
Former full-time SCUBA instructor (PADI # 609394)