Mares Regulators

[irishstout]

My wife and I are new recreational divers and would like to purchase our own equipment. We are looking for a good regulator at a reasonable price. We are looking at the follwing regulators and would appreciate any comments/feedback or any other suggested regs:

Mares MR-12 EPOS

Mares MR-12 Proton

Mares V-16 Proton

 

[Fishkiller]

My current Regulator is the V-16 EPOS, and on my over 65 times underwater have found no reason to change. The Proton is new this year and well it is smaller that is about all I can say about that..


I will say that when my son is a certified diver I will be wanting to give him my current regulator and buying the V-22 Abyss

the APEKS line of Regulators along with the Mares are very good choices

 

[irishstout]

Thanks for the info Fishkiller... BTW I noticed that you are in AZ too! Do you have any recommendation on a LDS?

 

[Welshman]

I've just bought my wife the V16 but with the Proton second stage for its light weight. The V16 was described to me by a local dive shop as an "excellent" reg. If you dive in cold water you should think (depending on how cold) about fitting the cold water kit which is just a diaphragm to keep in an amount of silicon oil.

 

[irishstout]

Thank you Welshman...

We did end up buying the V-16 with the Proton second stage from DiveInn. We can't wait to try it out in May when we are in St. John.

 

[Welshman]

Well thank you too Irishstout. Hope you and your wife have a great holiday in St John. Where is that - are we talking Newfoundland or somewhere warm?

 

[irishstout]

Thank you... It will be warm (St John USVI). We are renting a house in Cruz Bay (actual Bay rather than the city). The water temp is supposed to be around 79-85 f (26-29c).

We are looking forward to our trip!

BTW... How do you like your regulator and have you had any issues with it? It was a little tough to get any information on Mares as most of the people seem to have Apeks regs.

 

[Welshman]

I suspected it was somewhere warm!

As for the Mares reg my wife hasn't tried it yet, but as noted earlier it got a thumps up from a LDS, and it is highly recommended by Rodales - see 2001 Testers Choice.

Apeks is meant to produce excellent regs - just see the volume of favourable comments on this site. It's a UK company which appears to have been taken over by Aqualung.

As for me I have an Oceanic Alpha 7 CDX which is very good.

Have a great trip.