Mares quality

[Dustinh]

I owned mares for a while and was very very underwhelmed. The performance of their "top of the line" MR22 left MUCH to be desired, not matter how many times I had it tweaked, tuned and serviced by people who had been servicing Mares for 20+ years. Also, finding parts for it was brutal. Local and internet authorized dealers all told me the same thing, I'd need to wait months, yes MONTHS for parts. And this wasn't just one shop telling me this. Apparently Mares changes around the parts they use a lot in regs from year to year, making parts very hard to come by.

The BC I found to be uncomfortable, and the air in it moved around too much. It was unstable and ungainly.

Again, this is just ME. Everyone is different. I ended up feeling most comfortable in a Seaquest Balance, and the regulator I was using today is an Aqualung Legend. I personally feel that it outperforms the MR22 in every way. I ended up selling my mares equipment off to someone who uses is in the pool.

As far as built quality, I can't find any fault with the regulator. It is made with good materials, and they do tend to last many years, I just wasn't happy in the end with how it all felt underwater.

 

[jpstevens]

thank you for your comments

 

[Ze_Abron]

The regs are very good quality, esp metal ones. The BCD's are great and v comfortable if you go for the high end. Absolute diving luxury.

Fins are extremely popular (and expensive), I reckon about 50% of divers I know have Mares fins.

 

[SangP]

Mares is very popular among the recreational diving crowd but less so among the tech guys.

From good to bad

Masks very good (some of the best fitting with great view)
Fins good
Suits ok
Bcds ok but generally too bulky
Computers ok but nothing special
Regs No

The problem with mares is that they want to be more fashionable than practical. Basically their regs have middle of the road performance with parts n servicing an issue, bcds are interesting looking but bulky.

My 2 cents.

SangP

 

[Straegen]

Masks and Fins: Yes please!

BCs: Bulky and too busy for me. They used to have a couple premier travel ones, but now even those look bulky compared to the competition.

Regs: I only have pool experience with them but their rep is pretty good and in the few head to
head tests out there they have done pretty well. Priced fairly well to boot. I have never really seen a clear stand out from their line though like many of the other companies.

Computers: I love my Puck (OK my wife loves hers so I am in love by association). It isn't fancy but for rec diving it doesn't get much better IMO. Easy to read, ridiculously easy to use, comes with a screen guard, can be converted to bungee without buying something else, one big button rather than four tiny ones and it is priced decently. The Icon could have been something special had it better battery life, came out with a better band, few more technical features and for that price should have shipped with a transmitter. It is still one of the "prettiest" computers out there though. The rest, meh nothing special.

 

[Ontwreckdiver]

Mares makes high quality gear.
I have dove a Mares MR22 Abyss and Proton metal (octo) for 9 or 10 years without any problems and would recomend them to anyone. Depending on the model they have some very good BC's and a couple not so much. With the exception of the Volo's, their fins are very good. I am not a fan of their computers, because I don't think they are very user friendly. I have a couple of their Liquid Skin X Vision masks. They were the only ones I could get a proper seal with.

 

[Diver0001]

I have two of their liquid skin masks and I love them.

As for their BCD's, I think the HUB is an abomination and call me old-fashioned but I'm not a fan of the airtrim, YYMV. People I know who have Mares BCD's seem to be satisfied with them, though.

The shop where I work uses Avanti Quattro fins in their rental stock and they're ok. The buckles look prone to breaking but they hold up pretty well even under heavy usage.

I've heard a mixed bag of feedback about their regulators. A friend of mine who is a regulator tech said that he once opened up Mares reg and found metal shavings inside the 1st stage. When he called Mares to ask them what to do about it they told him to ignore it and put it back together. The impression that he got from his conversation is that they knew about the problem but weren't taking it seriously. Nevertheless, they don't seem to fail often and people are generally satisfied with them.

I don't know much about their computers although in my mind the RGBM algorithm used in at least one of their computers raises certain questions because it's essentially still being field tested with divers being used as guinea pigs. I don't know how that's working for them but as far as I know they're the only company making "pure" RGBM computers (or they were the last time I checked).... which I don't necessarily see as a good thing given that the algorithm was never subjected to controlled scientific testing and there have been "rumors" of software errors over the years which in one case at least even escalated into the developer of the algorithm blaming programmers and even divers(!) when things went wrong. I don't know the current status, though, but trust "comes by foot and leaves by horse" and I'm still skeptical.

R..

 

[SangP]

I have nothing against Mares but this is from personal experience n from a mate of mine who services regulators.

Their masks have great fit n vision but I had 3 break on me. The inner retainer for both the x-vision n pure vision all broke within 3 months. Local distributor refused to do a thing about it. The shop that I bought them from now refuses to sell mares masks cus he says they keep breaking. My girlfriend's x-vision is perfectly fine... touch wood.

Their regs although, reliable don't have the fine, easy breath of an apeks/aqualung or scubapro n my mate also doesn't think much of them from an engineering or servicing standpoint (can't mention what he said lol!)

If breathing an aqualung legend lx is like sipping a martini, breathing from a mares would be like drinking beer through a straw... you still get the buzz but it's more effort than it's worth.

Their fins are ok but cus of their construction, they do wear out faster than my jets or apollos but then again my jets will probably outlast me.

Other than than the hub which was a disaster, most of their bcds are pretty similar to what's offered by pretty much everyone else.

Other than the fantastic fit n vision of their masks there's nothing special bout mares stuff.

SangP

 

[hg frogman]

I owned mares for a while and was very very underwhelmed. The performance of their "top of the line" MR22 left MUCH to be desired, not matter how many times I had it tweaked, tuned and serviced by people who had been servicing Mares for 20+ years. Also, finding parts for it was brutal. Local and internet authorized dealers all told me the same thing, I'd need to wait months, yes MONTHS for parts. And this wasn't just one shop telling me this. Apparently Mares changes around the parts they use a lot in regs from year to year, making parts very hard to come by.

As far as built quality, I can't find any fault with the regulator. It is made with good materials, and they do tend to last many years, I just wasn't happy in the end with how it all felt underwater.

My experience with the Mares MR22 Abyss is just the opposite. After I began to dive with Abyss regs, I sold my Scubapro Mk17/G250Vs and I am glad I did it. Maybe the Abyss hasn't the lowest cracking pressure (it's also a matter of tuning) but it has the highest flow, it's been a proven design for many years, it breathes wonderfully at 50 meters+ (at least for me), it's easy to service (I do it myself) and it's tough and built to last forever (not like plastic seconds). Also the Abyss, being a metal second, makes my mouth much less dry. And the seats of my MR22 first stage last at least as long as the seats of the other regs I had.

Mares fins are very robust (Volo excepted) and rather stiff (Volo excepted).

For the BCDs I prefer Scubapro.

I have a Liquidskin mask and I like it.

 

[georoc01]

Well, my dive buddy has a Mares Alakai and its been a nightmare as far as the integrated weight pockets are concerned. She lost a couple at first and we blamed it on user error in that maybe they weren't locked in properly. Well now the entire weight pocket assembly fell out last weekend. Hopefully we will get some resolution from the dealer/company, and maybe this is an isolated incident, but given the good success I have had with both my Oceanic BC and my BP/Wing, I would have reservations about buying one again.