Gear Question?

Hi Folks:

I’m a new diver who is about to purchase his first Reg. setup (i.e. first stage, second stage, gages, octo) and had some questions about gear.

I am thinking about getting the following.
1st & 2nd stage: Mares V42 Proton Metal.
Gages: from Oceanic.
Octo: Sherwood Dual Octo.

My LDS sells and supports all these brands.

My Question is:

1. Is it OK to cherry-pick from each manufacture or should I purchase all of it form one firm? All these firms make fine products; I just want the best gear from each and spend the money rather than save a little by getting a package. Is this common to use different vendors?
2. Other than making sure the intermediate pressure of the Octo is the same used in the First Stage, is there any potential technical problems using multiple vendors?
3. Are there any potential problems with support that I should consider (i.e. like techs. don’t like working on a reg. set up like this, or having extra trouble getting in serviced at a dive resort)?

Any comments would be helpful.

Hi there. Welcome to the board.

About your questions:

1- it's ok 99% of the time. Make sure your LDS will stand behind the warranty for both manufacturers. You don't want to get in a situation if something isn't right (for example, a whistling noise that nobody can explain) that they're all pointing at each other and you're left with the non-functional reg that nobody wants to fix. If your LDS will guarantee that they'll fix/maintain it under condition of warranty *no matter what* then get that in writing and that should be good enough. Technically it should all work but there are rare cases.....

2- no. You've got the main thing on your radar. It's just a matter of tuning. In some esoteric cases you might not be able to mix a downstream 2nd with an upstream 2nd but in your case it's not an issue.

3- your LDS should be certified to service both types. The regs in question are easy to service so I wouldn't expect problems.

R..