lerpy - 6/08/2013 12:20 PM
I agree with buying means you will dive more, I considered the costs of renting to buying, and the biggest factor for me was if I buy I will dive more because I will do shore dives more often. I am probbly not going to spend 40$ to rent gear for a shore dive, or rarely. I dive 2-3, sometimes more, times a week and I would not be doing that if I rented.
The shop I work with here is 65$ a day for a full set of gear. It costs me 75$ to get my full reg set serviced every year. I have scuba pro regs and have the parts of life so that helps with the cost of annual maintenance. A vis costs 20$ for me here. This is Canadian pricing.
I find spending a little more on gear means longer life. I have a dive rite soft harnes and it was given to me by a friend that used it for probably 5-6 years, and now I have been using it for 3 years and it is still in good shape. I did replace the bladder at a cost of 80$
I also find having my own gear good for travelling as well, first because then I don’t need to rent everyday, and second especially when it comes to regs I am confident in the servicing and maintenance of the equipment.