best place for diving gear?
 

Time to buy my own wetsuit, mask and flippers (oh alright fins :mad: ) so need recommendations for best place to go.... I've already done google and seems to be loads all over the Birmingham area. Im north Birmingham but dont mind travelling as long as I end up somewhere that will give me decent advice and has sensible prices.

All ( sensible) recommendations gratefully recieved :thumb:

fleabay?

For normal diving gear these two are ok
www.diverswarehouse.co.uk
www.simplyscuba.co.uk

For better quality (more expensive) gear and excellent service
http://www.dirdirect.com/

Divers Warehouse have a place in Bradford I believe, so not too far away from you.

DirDirect is based in Portland (Castletown), it's a bit of a trek but the people there really know their stuff and don't sell anything that's rubbish. I used to drive 3 hours to go and see them when I needed stuff doing. :)

Kent Diving www.kentdiving.co.uk

Deep Dive is another good shop where most of my club go shopping too. Failing that, theres a die show soon at the nec, but thats towards the end of the season.

The good thing about DIR kit at Portland is that they usually have a certain amount of hire gear they'll let you take out with you to try before you buy..
Very useful if thinking of spending hundreds of quid on a torch or something.
Paid over £600 for my greenforce HID :rolleyes: :D
Get a weekends diving sorted with Breakwater diving (literally across the road from DIR) and 20 paces from where the boat picks you up. :thumb:

ebay is certainly not a sensible idea for wetsuits or masks, you need to try loads on to find one that fits just right.
Can't see a problem for fins though. :D


Andy

Decathlon has a good price/quality ratio for most sports gear.

yep booked to go to that but going diving in 9 days time :luxhello: :luxhello: :luxhello:

Cheers for all the recommendations umm.. when I said I dont mind travelling I meant in the West Midlands..:o

Never heard of Portland/Castletown *streetmap* Somerset? :eek:

Ok... any divers in the West Midlands want to recommend me their favourite local diving shops? :D

Best place to do deals in the West Mids is probably Cannock Scuba.
I use their shop in Solihull.
If you can wait a while though, make a trip to Dive 2006 at the NEC in October.
Massive savings can be had from the traders there, particularly Cannock Scuba & Kent Diving.
All the manufacturers are there so you can compare the gear before finding the best price.
It is also a good place to get info & deals on diving holidays as well.

HTH

Portland - as in Portland Bill (near Weymouth). Castletown is the actual port there, used to be all Royal Navy yards but now most of it is civvy. There's a very good dive centre/shop/hotel* there which is all in the same place. The dive boats leave from right outside the hotel, they have air/nitrox/trimix on site, and the dive shop "Underwater Explorers" (www.dirdirect.com is their online store) is right across the road from the hotel. Everything you need all within about a 20m radius.

http://www.underwaterexplorers.co.uk/ The DIR dive shop site.
www.dirdirect.com online shopping site for Underwater Explorers.
http://www.divedorset.com/ The main website.

Mostly everything at Portland is owned by the same company "Breakwater Diving Centre", including all the links/sites above. They're a very good place to go on the South Coast to be honest, they have loads of wreck dives to choose from ranging from 10m stuff to 50m stuff - depending on what you're into and what standard your training/kit is.

Not sure if they're still running it today but the main people there were Liisa (overall manager, Nina (instructor), Izzy (tech instructor - very good guy), Budgie (runs the hotel and boats).

Nice people, I did some of my training there and did many dives with them. When I first met Izzy he spent an entire day with me helping me get my kit set up right, and lent me his own £600 torch on a tech course since I didn't have one. :)

On this map, it's just to the right of where it says Portland castle
http://www.multimap.com/map/browse.c...ut.x=9&out.y=8

if you're not diving until after november, go to the dive show at the NEC. loads of great deals there.

lol, what DAZ34 said!

didn't read it properly <ebmarrassed>

dont be embarrassed, Daz didnt read my 2nd post - I'm diving in 9 days time :p