Service or Purchase?

[ocean9]

I have an Mares Akros Octo/Regulator/2nd stage purchased around 1999. I used it for 10 years and then stopped diving for about 14 years. The equipment is about 25 years old.

Since I am in California and local to Scuba.com, servicing the regulator with them is $225. I am wondering if I should spend the money to service, or just purchase a new Mares Prestige 15 Octopus package from them for $385? Is Mares Akros better than the Prestige 15? Has the regulator technology improved a lot in the last 20 years? Is it worth it to service?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

[happy-diver]

What do you think

 

[ocean9]

I am thinking buying new equipment since it's primary gear, but my husband is with a similar situation, and he plans to service his Scubapro MK20, also about 15-20 years old.

 

[lowwall]

What first stage do you have? If it's an MR12, I'd probably upgrade. If it's an MR22, I'd have it serviced. There's not much of a functional difference between the Akros and Prestige second stages.

FWIW, I bought my son that Prestige 15 package when he got certified and he's very happy with it.

 

[GF99/99]

I have an Mares Akros Octo/Regulator/2nd stage purchased around 1999. I used it for 10 years and then stopped diving for about 14 years. The equipment is about 25 years old.

Since I am in California and local to Scuba.com, servicing the regulator with them is $225. I am wondering if I should spend the money to service, or just purchase a new Mares Prestige 15 Octopus package from them for $385? Is Mares Akros better than the Prestige 15? Has the regulator technology improved a lot in the last 20 years? Is it worth it to service?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Reg technology really has not advanced that much in the last years so I'm sure servicing it would still give you a nice performing reg but if it was me for $160 more I would just go with new. But I guess it is all relative to what $160 is to you.

However the reason why I say go new is because of parts availability and serviceability. It seems the local shop by you can service your 25year old reg but there is a chance that later on they might not be able to. Or what about if your on a dive trip traveling. Especially overseas traveling. You will have much better luck finding a shop that stocks parts for a newer modern reg than something that is 25 years old. Especially when your talking about Mares. I think you will find world wide you can always find SP or Apeks parts no mater how remote of an area your in.

But that is just my take on it, my view is purely from a serviceably stand point since 99% of my diving is dive travel and I use and abuse my gear. Additionally my perspective value of $160 in the grand scheme of diving cost is just pocket change. So $160 upgrade to new regs is a no brainer to me.

 

[lowwall]

I am thinking buying new equipment since it's primary gear, but my husband is with a similar situation, and he plans to service his Scubapro MK20, also about 15-20 years old.

Make sure the reg tech has at least a few grey hairs. The MK20 is an excellent reg (assuming you are not going to be diving in near-freezing water), but there was a recall on it around the time you last used it. You can look at it to see if the recall was done, see Scubapro® Recalls MK 20 Scuba Regulators for Service

ScubaPro eventually changed the model name to MK25 after making dinner parts changes. These changes can also be done to his MK20 if desired. This is discussed here: Scubapro MK20 upgrade to MK25

 

[fred32176]

I would ask your LDS for their opinion. Are the parts available? Will you be able to keep it serviced? You haven't used it in a long time, so a new reg would be just as familiar as your old reg.

My LDS has a chrome beauty of an old scuba pro reg on display. The story of the reg is - a customer came in to get service on his 25 year old reg that he had been using since he bought it new. They had to order parts and the shop gave him a loaner reg to use while his reg was in the shop. When his reg was ready he came back and bought the reg he was loaned.

 

[ocean9]

Thank you everyone for the great perspectives and for @lowwall for mentioning the scuba pro recall. My husband is now bringing his MK20 in for the recall update and service and I have decided to purchase the new Mares setup. It doesn't cost much for me to go from the old Mares to the new, but it will cost him much more to go from MK20 to MK25...and also the MK20 seems to be a more serviceable model than the Mares Akros. Thank you guys! Happy diving.

 

[lowwall]

I think you'll be happy with the new regset. If nothing else, it's nice to have a warranty.

I do want to note (for future readers anyway) that the Akros is still easily serviced. Service kits are still available and even if they run out, these second stages use the same internal parts as their current regs. For example, the service kit for your soon to be new Prestige has all the parts a tech would need to service an Akros except for 2 standard size o-rings which they should have on hand. The only potential parts issues would be something like a cracked faceplate, but that's true of nearly all discontinued regs.

 

[ocean9]

I think you'll be happy with the new regset. If nothing else, it's nice to have a warranty.

I do want to note (for future readers anyway) that the Akros is still easily serviced. Service kits are still available and even if they run out, these second stages use the same internal parts as their current regs. For example, the service kit for your soon to be new Prestige has all the parts a tech would need to service an Akros except for 2 standard size o-rings which they should have on hand. The only potential parts issues would be something like a cracked faceplate, but that's true of nearly all discontinued regs.

Thank you so much for the insightful comments. I really appreciate it.