Should You Buy or Rent Your Own Scuba Gear?
Carolyn Bryan Sep 28, 2026
New divers usually ask this the wrong way: buy everything up front, or rent everything forever? Neither is really the right approach. Most divers end up with a mix, and where you land depends a lot on diving out of Denver specifically.
Altitude and Cold Water Change the Calculus
Local sites like Aurora Reservoir, Chatfield State Park, Carter Lake, and Turquoise Lake are cold, freshwater, and at altitude, all of which affect your dive planning and your comfort in ways sea-level diving doesn't. Water temps here can dip to 47°F, which means a proper 5mm wetsuit or a drysuit isn't optional, it's the difference between a good dive and a miserable one. Whatever rental happens to be on the shelf that day may or may not give you that protection.
The Gear Worth Owning First
If you're going to buy anything before renting the rest, start with your mask. Fit is everything here. A poor seal means constant flooding and a dive spent fighting your gear instead of enjoying it, and masks are one of the few pieces of equipment where fit is genuinely personal. Fins are a close second, the wrong size causes cramping and drags on every kick. Both are relatively inexpensive compared to the rest of a dive kit, and both make a bigger difference to your actual experience underwater than almost anything else you'll buy.
What's Fine to Rent, Especially When You Travel
Bulkier gear, your BCD, regulator, tank, and dive computer, is easier to rent, especially if you travel to dive. None of it packs light, all of it needs regular servicing, and renting means you're not hauling checked bags full of gear or paying an airline's oversize fees. If you're diving a handful of times a year, mostly on trips, renting this category makes financial sense for a while.
What Renting Actually Costs Here
Here's our current rental pricing, so you can compare it against what buying would cost over a season:
- Mask, snorkel & fin package: $20 for 1 day, $100 for 10 days
- Buoyancy compensator device (BCD): $25 for 1 day, $125 for 10 days
- Regulator, octo & pressure/depth gauges: $50 for 1 day, $250 for 10 days
- Dive computer: $25 for 1 day, $125 for 10 days
- 7mm wetsuit: $15 for 1 day, $75 for 10 days
- Aluminum 80 tank: $25 for 1 day, $125 for 10 days
- Weight & weight belt: $10 for 1 day, $50 for 10 days
All of it is serviced and checked by our staff before it goes out. See the full rental page for current availability.
A Simple Way to Decide
If you're diving a few times a year, mostly on trips, rent the bulky gear and own your mask and fins. If you're diving locally on a regular basis, especially through a Colorado winter, the calculation flips: owning your own wetsuit or drysuit and a dive computer starts paying for itself fast, and you stop being at the mercy of whatever's available to rent that weekend.
Not sure where your own diving falls? Stop by the shop and we'll help you figure out what's actually worth buying first.
