1. Comfort - Proper fit usually means you will be more comfortable underwater
2. Safety - You control the maintenance of your gear, which means its more reliable along with performance of your equipment -You don't have to worry about who all has used your equipment
3. Safety - You know exactly where the controls and backup systems are on every dive for more consistency
4. Convenience - You eliminate the reliance on rental availability & sizing
5. Price - You really will save money in the long run and can go diving when you want to

6. Health - You know exactly who has used your equipment and when it was last serviced

7. Please don't loan your dive equipment to non certified divers, not only is this wrong, but if someone is not certified, YOU may be the one trying to defend yourself in court.

Why Should I Buy My Equipment During My Training Course

1. Value - You will get the most out of your training when you train in the equipment that you actually use while diving without wasting rental fees.
2. Experience - When you buy your equipment during the course, you will actually get to use it during your pool and Open Water training.
3. Assistance - You have the entire class and Open Water dives with your instructor to help you learn how to use your equipment properly as part of your diver training, rather than having to learn on you own after the course.
4. Value - Combining the skills and familiarity with your own equipment will get you the most for your training dollar, and you'll be a better diver too.
5. Safety - Obtained by the combination of familiarity with your equipment and comfort using the same equipment to perform the required skills during you training.

Why to Buy From A Professional Dive Center like Rick's Dive 'N Travel Center

1. Price - With our student savings packages for mask, fins, & snorkel, special package pricing on top quality equipment, and our lay away use plan, we can assure you that you are making a good investment.
2. Service - You are assured of a long term reliable service department and equipment loaners if necessary. We have serviced the dive community for many years.
3. Choices - We can supply you with a wide selection of quality equipment from most of the major manufacturers. More choices than anyone in Arkansas and most of the South.
4. Fun - We offer you a large selection of diver services, from dive travel, to advanced training, to our 3-D dive club, to career planning.  Diving is a "lifestyle at Rick's"!
5. Safety - You are training with one of the best dive operations in the country and as mentioned above we were also awarded also honored as one of the TOP Ten divers in the U.S.!) We have thousands of satisfied customers and we know that you will be one too.

Questions Questions Questions

There are many questions you should have answered prior to buying your dive system. For the last 30 years in the diving business, we have not only certified thousands of students but tried virtually every type of dive equipment available. Some was good, some very good and some needed a lot of improvement and unfortunately, it usually comes down to price. If you want to be into diving for many years to come and want to live the lifestyle that I guarantee you'll never regret......BUY ONCE and do it right the first time. Simply make an appoint with one of our staff members and they will let you try several items in the pool before deciding what you want...all of our equipment is professional dive gear. One of the first questions a new scuba student usually asks is "How do I know what equipment is right for me?

First of all, we should recognize a few basic facts. Scuba diving is an equipment intensive recreation and if you are to become a better diver and enjoy this incredible recreation, we must use the same equipment each time we dive. Otherwise, it would be like playing pool with a different pool cue or golf with a different set of clubs or skiing on a different set of skis each time we went skiing. You will never feel totally comfortable doing this. Another strong point folks......this is life support equipment. This isn't a recreation to be proud of buying the cheapest equipment you could find when you are at 60 feet with a problem.

Secondly, you must realize that the technology in the scuba diving industry changes rapidly and the only people who work in it on a daily basis can keep up with it constantly. I know we all have friends who scuba dive and we feel comfortable asking their advice but, Unfortunately, most of our friends have been using the same equipment for several years and are probably not that familiar with what is currently available. It doesn't make a lot of sense to buy 3-year old technology, today, because we have a friend who is happy with it. YOU WON'T STAY IN DIVING IF YOU AREN'T COMFORTABLE. period!

So, how and what do we do? Magazine articles are usually biased as they are paid several thousands of dollars for a full page ad. Virtually never do they talk bad about a product, after all they are paid to make the advertiser a happy camper. At Rick's, our staff is paid every time you come in happy and satisfied with your purchase from us. THAT'S IMPORTANT!

Our philosophy, at Rick's Dive 'N Travel Center, is that we are looking for a long term relationship that we have built the last 30 years. All you have to do is look at our staff and you will see that immediately. We want to be able to take care of all your diving needs, whether it's travel, service, training, or equipment. It is important to us that the equipment we help you select is the right equipment for you and your needs. Total satisfaction. If you aren't happy, neither are we!! Most of our staff have been here many years and constantly receive training in the latest equipment technology available, and they are aware of problems that might exist. We are the experts on diving equipment and our job is to keep you happy and diving with us, if we do our job right.

So, it usually comes down to about buying dive equipment, is finding a dive center that have people that are friendly, knowledgeable and have employees that you can trust and that you are comfortable with. Hopefully, that is Rick's Dive 'N Travel Center.

It is important to remember that this is life support equipment. You want to be well-informed when you make your purchase. You can't do that from a catalog or by mail. When you are dealing with a mail order house, often the person you are talking to is not even a diver. They are just selling boxes. You tell them which box you want. It does not even come assembled. Also remember that unless you are dealing with an authorized dealer, your warranty may not be valid. (the warranty you think your getting may be a European warranty, which is useless in the United States) None of the major manufacturers, i.e. Aqualung, Seaquest, Atomic, Oceanic and others allow their life support equipment to be sold by mail-order. Beware - you will find a mail-order house that advertises this type of equipment but will be "out-of-stock, but will gladly substitute a product for what you actually want.  This is not the way to buy equipment that your life depends on, and the worst part is when you compare apples to apples, it is not usually even much cheaper by the time you get freight and handling and all the other add-on's you're stuck with.

You will also want to make sure that the dive center that you are dealing with is authorized to sell you the piece of equipment that you want to buy. As we said before, you can only get a valid manufacture's warranty when you have purchased your equipment from an authorized dealer. Some stores will get equipment from another store in order to "make the sale". This can present a real problem for you since the store where you purchased the item may not be able to service it properly. They probably don't have the parts, the tech manuals, nor the personnel who are trained on that specific piece of equipment. You can be sure anytime that you buy a piece of equipment from Rick's Dive 'N Travel Center, it comes with a valid warranty and we are an authorized dealer for any items in our center.