Below H2O - Naperville, Illinois

Brett S.

I received my open water certification many years ago and need to get re-certified for an upcoming vacation. I talked with Dave and I was able to join a group of new divers. Dave was a great instructor! He does a really nice job of explaining an exercise and is patient with new divers, all the while emphasizing safety. Very clean facility and having a pool on premises is super convenient too. I won't hesitate going back for instruction or equipment.

Ryan A.

Dishonest and aggressive sales tactics. Do your research before purchasing here, or find another more honest dive shop for gear and certification.

Dave will attempt to upsell you on everything, even items that you are very easily able to rent at your trip destination. Be careful and know what you need before you decide to come here.

During my certification, we were required to buy a $20 mouth piece (for covid reasons in 2024), but then had to share a single backup regulator mouthpiece across many of us when we were doing the lessons.

Shabbir A.

I walked in looking for a pair of swimming goggles. As soon as I walked in, I was greeted by Dave and he helped me out pick one pair of swimming goggles. I was in and out of the store in less than 2 minutes and he also gave me an additional 10% discount which was awesome. Thanks, Dave. I recommend this place 🥳

Kevin B.

Did our open water and peak buoyancy with them in prep for our honeymoon trip. Great instructors from our experience, we ended up buying all of our gear during the course and got a nice discount. They even gave us the nitrox course for free for buying and getting certified through the shop. Great experience up until taking the free course. Spent the day at the shop doing everything and months go by and never got our certification cards. Thought we lost them for the longest time, called a few times to ask since enough time went past and couldn't remember if we ever even got the cards. He'd take our info down and say he'd call back after looking into it. Never called back. Called multiple times getting that same story and same outcome. Finally checked Padi's website and we didn't even have the certification active. So it appears nothing was ever sent in. Thankfully it was a free course, but very frustrating that we felt dodged every time we would inquire. We understand things happen, but to get blown off with no response multiple times sucked. If you go for gear and open water, it's worthwhile. But if you buy gear and get a free course, don't hold your breath for it.

Tim L.

This guy is a total scam artist. We were overcharged, told we had to buy equipment that many other places would rent, and lied to about what days they were available. He will pick up the phone at any hour to run your credit card though. Go anywhere else.

Joseph O.

There are not enough stars to describe how awesome my experience was getting certified by Below H2O.
To start, Dave is awesome! Not only is he incredibly knowledgeable and patient, he was a great teacher for the pool dives. He made sure to do everything possible to accommodate my last minute scheduling difficulties (especially being close to the close of the quarry where the open water portion is) and also came in early on a Saturday to make sure I got my other pool dive complete even though it wasn't a scheduled class.
His instructors for the open water portion were incredible! Julia was amazing and so patient with us when we did the open water dive. She made sure we were well trained and made it so much fun. She loves to get us involved in the fun aspects once comfortable underwater (spinning headstands were so much fun). Ed was hilarious and extremely informative about details about different diving and techniques. Doug was also incredible during our last day of diving and was so helpful when most of us were doing the tour of the quarry. He also shared information on different equipment and styles of advanced diving.
Julia was quick to help us log our dives and get our qualifications to PADI. I'm proud to say I'm officially a certified diver and I am so blessed to have learned under such an amazing group of professionals. Thank you so much to everyone who helped me get certified. If anyone is looking to become certified, don't hesitate, Dave and the crew will make it worth the investment and get you sweet deals on equipment as well.

Kevin M.

We were so lucky to have chosen Below H2O to get open water certified. Dave, Julia, and Eric were amazing instructors. They were incredibly helpful with giving us clear answers to any and all questions we had about certification, equipment, and even diving in Maui where we plan to take our first certified dive. We appreciate how patient and accommodating they were with us when it came to hands on training as well as scheduling for each class. This is the place you want to go for all of your scuba needs.

Matthew H.

My review is in regards to the retail portion of the business (not dive courses). Good selection of gear. Nice interaction with the employee that helped me. But I’m giving 3 stars because they do not offer refunds on gear purchased with a card.
I bought goggles, walked out the door for less than 30 seconds, turned around and tried to return what I just bought (obviously unopened). They would not refund the purchase to my debit card and only offered store credit. That’s absurd. A part of owning ANY business is accepting returns. It’s a very scummy and cheap policy. If you want to survive as a small local business you have to offer exceptional customer service. Below H2O clearly doesn’t understand that concept.
At the very least, plaster signs everywhere that you only give store credit as returns and verbally warn customers.