How much does scuba diving gear cost?
I am looking to get into scuba diving, since I live near Puget Sound (Washington). I would probably only do shallow dives, just walking in from the shore. I would also rent my tank. Please do not include the course cost, my parents are paying for that. I would also get used gear as much as possible, but I’d get my drysuit custom-made. Yes, I want a drysuit, I’m pretty skinny and get cold fairly easily, and the puget sound is cold.
Thanks in advance, I’m a total newbie to all this!
I live across the straight in Victoria.
I have a wetsuit and drysuit. I have my BCD, Octo, weights, Mask snorkel and fins. I also have 3 steel 120 cf tanks. I do have an underwater camera, knife, and dive light. I do have a computer as well.
I have spent about $5000 for everything. It is all new, but by no means not the top of the line. I have bought many things during sales. EG: got the drysuit and the underwear for it when it was buy the drysuit and get the underwear free.
I have the gear for me to go for 2 dives.
January 31st, 2013 at 4:03 am
I live across the straight in Victoria.
I have a wetsuit and drysuit. I have my BCD, Octo, weights, Mask snorkel and fins. I also have 3 steel 120 cf tanks. I do have an underwater camera, knife, and dive light. I do have a computer as well.
I have spent about $5000 for everything. It is all new, but by no means not the top of the line. I have bought many things during sales. EG: got the drysuit and the underwear for it when it was buy the drysuit and get the underwear free.
I have the gear for me to go for 2 dives.
References :
January 31st, 2013 at 4:48 am
Can’t argue with Micheal’s answer — sounds reasonable to me.
Some caveats though, if you’re intending to buy second-hand gear — both as a newbie, and especially if you’re hoping to get the life-support stuff (BC and reg) secondhand:
(1) Don’t pay for anything you can’t inspect/test first (or at least, return to the seller for a refund, if you buy online). If possible, get a more experienced diver (who you trust) to help you check over the gear before handing over your cash.
(2) Ideally, only buy gear which has a documented service history (service receipts, valid test stamps, etc., not more than one year old). That way, you can be reasonably sure it’s in good working order (or at least, has been examined recently by a qualified technician), and hasn’t just been gathering dust in someone’s garage for the past X years.
Some of the best places to buy used gear are dive shops — they often sell off their rental gear cheaply after 1-2 years. Since it’s been in near-constant use over that period, any potential problems should have been noticed and fixed already. And especially with regulators, 2 years old is still near-new (I occasionally still use the first reg I bought, nearly 20 years ago now — it’s done around 2500 dives and works fine).
References :
Former full-time scuba instructor