Mares ? Yes or No?

[YJSONLY]

This is not a package off the net or LDS...... This is thru my gf dad who works for a company who sees thousands of people a year and Mares sells them the gear at next to cost pricing.... Cost of what Mares has in making it... I do want a Halcyon but that 875ish for a BC is the problem....

 

[lowviz]

This is not a package off the net or LDS...... This is thru my gf dad who works for a company who sees thousands of people a year and Mares sells them the gear at next to cost pricing.... Cost of what Mares has in making it... I do want a Halcyon but that 875ish for a BC is the problem....

You are in North Florida? Spend your money on a cavern cert before you buy any gear. This experience will take you right to the "fork in the road" and possibly save you re-buying a lot of expensive gear.

 

[YJSONLY]

<---- This guy has not lost anything in a cave.....

 

[Diverjohn101]

Most of my gear is Mares and dacor. I've been really happy with all my gear.

I bought my gear in 2001 and its still in excellent like new condition my gear easily has 100 + dives (1 dive= 1 trip two tank dive) on it and they work flawlessly.

Equipment:

BC- Mares Vector Platinum series BC w/ intergrated quick release weight pockets.
Regs- Dacor Viper America Regs and Viper octo w/ dDacor first stage.
Fins- Mares Avanti Plana Fins (Open Heel)
Comp- Mares M1 Dive Computer Wrist Mount

I have been really happy with my gear. As long as you service and maintain them they will last a very long andenjoyable dive life.

HTH,

John

 

[DMDavid]

If you are buying it at cost then I see no reason why you shouldn't gear up from head to toe in Mares.

If you don't like what you get then sell it on Ebay for what you paid and get something else.


Posted from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Deefstes]

I know they are not a fly by night but they are not the "Scubapro" either....

Did I miss something? When did Scubapro become the benchmark? No beef with Scubapro here, I'm sure they make great equipment but I reckon Mares is right on par, as is Cressi, TUSA, Atomic, IST etc.

 

[k ellis]

Mares is like any other equipment. One person will tell you its junk while another person will tell you its the finest gear on the market. Personally I have not heard any bad comments about the performance of the gear though I have heard many a shop complain how evil they are for allowing their products to be sold at a reasonable cost. (I heard one actually use words I would not dare repeat on here about mares for "Selling out" to the internet.)

Mares is one of those brands that can make diving more affordable for the common diver too so I would say if you want to purchase gear and you like what you see and its a good price then go for it!

 

[Thalassamania]

Reading between the lines I'm going to suspect that you know someone who can do you a keyman deal on a full set of MARES gear. If that is the case, I would definitely go ahead and do it, in fact I have done it, several time in years gone by and I never regretted it.

 

[scubafanatic]

The only experience I have with Mares gear is their regs, I've got a few of their older regs (Voltrex and Ruby) among my spare gear 'reserves', and I was open water certified on base model Mares regs, so that's what I bought as a new diver. I've been pleased with Mares regs, reliable, no problems. My main 2 'issues' with Mares regs are 1) distant supply chain (Italy) so sometimes parts can be harder to get or on backorder for a while...2) non-diver-adjustable 2nd-stages, overall, I prefer to have an adjustment knob on my 2nd stages (more diver control in the field) so my 'main' regs these days are Atomics/Apeks/Aqualung.

...based on what I've seen other divers with Mares BCD's experience, I'd avoid Mares BCD's though......I've witnessed some pretty horrible weight system designs/flaws in other diver's Mares BCD's...flimsy/unreliable weight pockets/inserts. Unfortunately, Mares isn't the only gear manufacturer with crappy weight systems...on my trip to Belize/Sun Dancer I witnessed my dive buddy lose a weight pocket on a brand new Aqualung Seaquest (I think it was a Seaquest). What's even funnier though, the boat crew had spare weight pockets to fit my buddies BCD which they're recovered off the ocean floor from all the other prior Aqualung Seaquest divers who'd previously lost weight pockets on earlier trips...a sad commentary on the Aqualung design!

I'm using a Halcyon weight system on my custom built harness/wing.....Halcyon stuff isn't the cheapest, but sometimes the tech boys DO know what they're doing (and how to properly design a weight system) whereas the recreational gear manufacturers often don't have a clue!

 

[DevonDiver]

Mares Masks - top rate, esp the X-vision range.
Mares Fins - Good Middle-of-the-range, Quattro is good for beginners
Mares BCD - Ok/Acceptable, can get better
Mares Regs - Ok/Acceptable, can get better