Mailing List Archive Mailing List Archive
I said:
>Anybody have an opinion about what a "reasonable" price is for
>a new Scubapro Mk20 1st stage and G250 2nd stage?
Just wanted to send a quick note thanking everybody for their
responses, both here and on the list. A few people asked me
to let them know if I found a "good deal". :-) Unfortunately,
I can't say that I did. The prices I was quoted locally were
all within $25 or so of the prices other people told me about,
with the exception of a close-out on a previous model. One
shop in my area quoted $459, and another quoted $469. A third
shop that I really prefer to use couldn't directly sell me a
Scubapro reg without voiding the warranty, because they aren't
an authorized dealer -- they could, however, arrange with
another retail shop so that my local shop would invoice on
their behalf or something like that, but they wouldn't make
any money and it would just be a pain for me so there was no
point. One shop did mention a "contract" with Scubapro that
either forbade or restricted discounting from MSRP, but when
I asked another shop if they would give me a better deal if
I bought three of the regulators all at once, they said "we
could probably work something out if you were here and ready
to pay in cash".
Topic drift... I've been pricing more than just the reg -- a
full Hogarthian rig. Anyway, It's been my goal to support my
local shop as much as I can by buying through them. I found,
however, that since they don't do a large volume with Dive
Rite and other manufacturers/distributors of this type of
equipment (Dayton, Ohio isn't really a hotbed of "advanced"
diving) they can't compete on price with places in Florida
from whom I can mail-order -- about 20% higher even after a
20% discount from what they'd usually try to sell it for.
That's around $350 additional for the first batch of gear
I'm looking at. So, how much is it worth to support the local
shop? I'll still go to them for fins, masks, backup lights,
and any other useful stuff that happens to make it to the mass
market, but I'm don't see how I can justify spending so much
more on the less common gear. It's unfortunate, but it does
seem to be true that there's a significant barrier to entry
for the smaller shops. [This isn't a problem unique to diving.
Think of Wal-Mart vs. mom & pop.]
- Todd
p.s. Hands-down, the lowest quoted prices were from Lloyd
Bailey's. The only item they weren't the lowest on
was a Super Saberlight, and I think that might have
been a mistake. The guy I talked to was quoting from
memory -- I called after they were closed, and the
phone was forwarded to somebody's residence. I think
I caught him during dinner, but he was still quite
helpful and seemed to have a good grasp of the stuff
he's selling.
Navigate by Author:
[Previous]
[Next]
[Author Search Index]
Navigate by Subject:
[Previous]
[Next]
[Subject Search Index]
[Send Reply] [Send Message with New Topic]
[Search Selection] [Mailing List Home] [Home]