I'll have to second Georoc01's comments on the Mares Alikai: My wife loved her's in the store, but the 1st one we purchased required replacement after 4 dives because the integrated weight system (not just the pouch) fell apart. She's had a few other small failures on the replacement (she'll tell you Mares succeeded in designing the 1st disposable BCD!) and is ready to put it up for sale on ebay and start using the Zeagle Ranger I mothballed when I went to a BP/W.
My back-up mask is an X-vision that's ok, and my sister in-law loves her Proton Ice reg and M1 wrist computer (although I found it to be very user unfriendly, even with the user manual right in front of me).
I noticed last month while in Florida that a rather large dive retail chain (hint: they have a store on Northlakes in WPB) had discontinued offering a lot of the Mares products they used to have. The sales associate I spoke to cited quality concerns.
My best advice is first, figure out what kind of diving you plan to do and then look around and then research which gear will best get you there. Remember too that your gear selection choices may well be a work-in-progress as you continue diving.
See you down there!