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Can anyone tell me about Dacor products? I have everything for diving but my reg and gauge. My father keeps pushing Dacor and US Diver products on me. The reg I want to get is an Atomic, but the gauge I am unsure of yet. Any info from you all would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance
Welcome to the board. Like most things, a lot is just personal preference however I would avoid both Dacor and Atomic...for different reasons. Dacor at one time was a great scuba company but these days they are barely alive and do not support their older gear. A real shame an old and respected company has gone down hill so far. Atomic on the other hand makes and supports fine regs but they are way overpriced IMO. For considerably less you can get a reg that will perform as good or better for less money. Unless you just have to have the "best"....read that most costly, not necessarily better preformance... another reg in the mid price range from one of the other major manufactures would be a better value with just as good performance. In the end, it's your money, get what you want.
What Herman said about Dacor I have to agree with. I have some older Dacor regs that i can't get parts for. I also have some very nice older US Diver regs that are still supported by the manufacturer and it is nice to be able to dive them for forty years. I definitely got a good investment out of them.
As far as Atomic's pricing goes, don't forget to factor in their 2-year recommended service interval, vs the every-year schedule that most of the others require in order to keep the "free" parts deal. Atomic's warranty doesn't require the service either, it's just their recommendation.
Yes, I would agree on Dacor, steer clear, especially if you intend travelling internationally, distributors are few and far between and usually only carry parts for the lines they stock, which may very well not be your reg, old parts are almost unobtainable.
Certainly, from an international travel view ATOMIC is nowhere near as strong as US DIVERS (AQUALUNG) which is well supported the world over, but if you are only looking domestically, I guess either are great.
As for gauges, well, none of the brand manufacturers make gauges, these are all made by various OEM companies and branded with the name,...................they are all much of a muchness, look for one that suits you and dont worry about branding.
Your dads advice was good 20 years ago. Not so much now. I wouldn't accept any Dacor product as a gift now. I would dive USD/aqualung. Nothing wrong with atomic.
Dacor was an independent company that closed, perhaps a dozen years ago. Mares bought the name Dacor for a "companion brand" to go along with Mares products. A new Dacor product is typically a Mares product with a different label on it. All the same on the inside.
You probably won't see many new Dacor products available. These have not been big sellers because folks associate the brand with the original company that no longer exists. When folks say you can't get parts for Dacor, they mean the "old company" stuff.
With that fear aside, go for the Aqualung gear. It offers good value and performance across a wide variety of products.
Best piece of advice I can give you is to contact the good folks over at ScubaToys. They will steer you straight and give you a Scubaboard discount too.
Lots of other good places to get gear, but for new divers I really trust Scubatoys.
Dave I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them. Thomas Jefferson
Everyone has pretty much addressed the issue. I also loved my old Dacor 960, but with the demise of the company -not an option. Aqualung (USD) still has a good rep and decent regs (pick and choose among them). I would also suggest that you consider ScubaPro in the mix. They are also available worldwide and are great regs. I understand the old school recommendations. Fortunately for me, I went with Sherwood and Scubapro many years ago. Sherwood is not what they once were as that company went through some changes, but parts are still out there and I've always loved their old school regs (Oasis, Oasis +, Oasis 2). Scubapro continues to be a market leader.
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