Posted by divindude on June 24, 2002 at 21:39:30:
In Reply to: Mares Regulator Feedback posted by Eagle Ray on June 24, 2002 at 09:49:43:
Eagle Ray,
I own a Mares reg/octo I bought from Sports Chalet and a Mission 3D I bought off the Internet. I am just short of 50 dives and I can tell you that Mares stands up well under many types of conditions. ScubaPro is just another name in my book. They are too costly and perform as well as any other regulator. In fact, I know someone that even switched FROM ScubaPro because it was always having problems.
I tried many different brands and wasn't impressed with most of them. The price was not an issue, but reliability and operational stats interest me most. I found that the lower end regs work just as well as the high end, bank breaking regs do in the same working conditions. Now what you need to do is see if the dive shop owner will let you play test different regs. If they won't let you do that, go somewhere else, you don't need to shop there. If they want your business, they will earn it, but this is another story altogether. Find all the models of each brand that compare in cost, model, operational ranges, etc then use each one to see what you like most. Also need to take into account what you plan on doing most in your diving whether it be wrecks/Deep diving or simple off the boat 50'-60' day dives. But you most likely already know this, so I will step down off my soapbox.
All regulators breakdown. Keep in mind the simpler the better. Titanium faceplates do not do anything other than drive up the price and do nothing for the reg so that is a cost cutter. Mares has been good for me. Give it a try. You can always return it for store credit if you don't like it.