Dive Kit: To buy or not to buy

In this Guest Post, Gerrard Dennis, CEO of The Simply Group, ponders the question: Should you hire dive gear or buy your own?

This is one of the most common questions for many infrequent divers as many only dive once or twice a year, logging only a handful of dives annually. There are pros and cons to both buying and renting your dive gear, which I will discuss below.

Benefits of Hiring dive kit

If you have to fly to your dive destination, then saving weight by not having to transport your own dive gear in your luggage is an obvious benefit. However many airlines nowadays do allow you extra baggage weight allowance if you produce your certification card at the airport or by prior arrangement so this issue can be negated.

By renting your dive gear you can also avoid regular servicing costs, however in some less reputable resorts it can appear that the dive centre has too saved on not having their rental kit serviced! My simple advice when hiring dive gear is, that if it looks worn out it probably is. Insist on better gear otherwise go elsewhere - don't be embarrassed to insist on good quality and condition.

The quality of the rental kit is the most cited concern for divers renting. Will the dive resort have your size? Will it be comfortable? Will it be reliable? Will it work? In fact, more importantly, will it suddenly stop working? All of these concerns can be addressed by diving with high quality dive centres and this can certainly be easily researched via many online review websites.

Benefits of buying dive kit

In recent years the advancement of lightweight travel gear has greatly reduced the weight of dive kit. From lightweight BCDs, regulators and bags you can trim kilos off your luggage weight by purchasing these. When travelling you may decide not to take your entire dive kit if you are very concerned about weight. Certainly I would always take my own mask and regulators as a minimum. These two items are the most personal and probably the most critical to an enjoyable and safe dive.

Manufacturers have been working hard to reduce the cost and frequency of servicing. Here in the UK, Oceanic offer a lifetime service parts programme for the first owner of their products. This can over halve the cost of servicing, well below what you could spend on hiring kit. Other manufacturers are working on bi-annual servicing schedules to help reduce the cost of ownership.

Certainly, it is rare to be able to hire gender specific kit such as ladies BCDs. The benefits of the extra comfort and safety offered by a perfectly fitting BCD are hard to ignore. Diving is a fun sport and remaining comfortable throughout your dives will increase your enjoyment of the whole experience.

Conclusion

The answer to the question of whether to buy or rent really depends on your priorities. Having spent many years diving, I know that owned dive gear is almost certainly in a better condition than hired gear. Purely by the regularity of use hire gear experiences, it becomes more worn and generally makes for an entry level quality. Rarely will someone buying their own kit opt for the entry level kit, as to upgrade to mid-level is not a massive jump and offers better performance and comfort. Others believe that when buying life support kit, they are wise purchasing the absolute best they can afford. High performance regulators are easy to breathe from, have lower air consumption and will allow you to extend your dive times and enjoyment.

Do you agree that buying offers better kit? What would your advice be?

About the Author

Gerrard founded Simply Scuba Ltd in 1995 and now is the CEO of The Simply Group based in Faversham, Kent comprising of multiple specialist ecommerce websites. Gerrard began diving in 1992 whilst on holiday, he is a PADI Master Instructor, BSAC Advanced Instructor and a qualified scuba technician. Join him over at Google Plus.