Buying Your Scuba Diving Gear

An Important Decision In So Many Ways

Advice on Buying Scuba Gear

When it comes to buying your scuba diving gear, it can be challenging to know when you should buy and what you should buy. Here are some guidelines as well as pros, cons and suggestions for both new divers and experienced divers to help you navigate your way around the dive store!

Is it necessary for me to buy scuba diving gear?

Usually, it is not necessary to own any of your scuba gear to start diving. It is certainly possible to rent your dive gear.

So why buy scuba diving gear if I can rent it?

There are numerous positives to owning your gear; here are the main ones:

• Comfort and Fit: When you buy your dive gear, you’ll take some time trying on different sizes and styles to get the item that is most comfortable for you. This is important – a badly fitting rental BCD or leaking mask can take away from your diving enjoyment.
   
• Safety through Familiarity: When you have your gear, you get familiar with it. You know exactly where everything is, which increases safety—your SMB is in the same pocket as it always is; you know where your alternate air source is, and it’s easy to locate other accessories.
   
• Long-Term Saving: Rental prices for diving equipment can vary considerably depending on where you rent it. If you do a lot of diving, you can make considerable savings over time to the point where, in some cases, your gear can pay for itself.
   
• Dive Computers: Each dive computer has different settings, buttons, menus, functions and algorithms. Trying to figure out a different model of the rental computer each time you dive can sometimes be time-consuming and frustrating. Having your computer means you will get to know how it works and many computers record your dives and will link up to your laptop so you can transfer your logged dives instantly.
   

Get the best advice.

There are many armchair experts around, so it’s essential to get advice from someone who knows. Go to a dive centre, one that trains divers and talks to an experienced instructor, not a salesman. Ask about the qualifications and experience of the person you are talking to, and insist that they are experienced scuba diving instructors. Getting the right dive gear is an important decision, so put the effort into making it the right one.

One of the best things you can do before buying your own dive gear is to undertake a PADI Equipment Speciality Course.