Service older Regs or purchase new?

[rocketjacket]

I have a MARES V16 SCS Titan 1st Stage, Proton primary & Axis Occy.
Not sure if its a good idea to service this or buy a newer reg set.
I am a recreational diver, usually 8 - 20 degree water.
Any advice would be helpful.

 

[tbone1004]

service, hands down. no reason not to

 

[rocketjacket]

Thanks for your reply, I was given the Mares set and was curious if it was to old.

 

[Hickdive]

Provided service parts are readily available then service.

I'd only replace with new if the manufacturer was no longer supporting the model with maintenance kits OR it was obsolete in terms of performance.

 

[kwinter]

I disagree with tbone unless you're going to do it yourself. Shops tend to charge ridiculous amounts for service and parts, especially for older regs. I've had friends tell me it cost them $175 to get a reg serviced. That's just plain nuts. If you spend a little more and get a new one that you can service yourself in the future, the investment will pay off.


iPhone. iTypo. iApologize.

 

[rocketjacket]

What regs would you recommend getting in order to service myself?
Is it safe to do this?

 

[halocline]

You already have a regulator that you can service yourself. There's no safety issue involved because you always dive in such a way that regulator failure is not life threatening, correct? If not, time to re-think how you dive. Any regulator can fail unexpectedly, whether it's 50 years old and cost $10 or brand new and cost $1000. If you are reasonably mechanically inclined and reasonably careful, you can easily learn to work on your own regulator, and often the older regs are simpler to work on and require far fewer specialized tools and unique parts.

That said, I have never tried to get Mares parts, and I'm sure the official story, like virtually all other brands, is that they are not for sale to customers. However, as with many oppressive official policies, there are back-door channels to get what you need. I have enough scubapro parts to keep my stable of regulators rebuilt for many years, and I suspect that common models of Mares regs are similarly easy to find parts for.

 

[tbone1004]

Ken, my thinking was based on replacing with the same regs.

OP, there is no limitation on how old regs are. Think about it, they are just machined chunks of metal and bits of plastic. As long as they are taken care of, all of the consumables can be replaced assuming the MFG still supports them. If you don't want to service them yourself, then I'd still recommend paying to get them serviced. It's about $25/stage+parts which are usually about the same. As far as servicing them yourself, it's not for everybody, but if you want to do it, I highly recommend doing it. In that case the Hogs are about as good of a deal as it gets as you can take a course to train you how to repair them.

 

[buddhasummer]

Ken, my thinking was based on replacing with the same regs.

OP, there is no limitation on how old regs are. Think about it, they are just machined chunks of metal and bits of plastic. As long as they are taken care of, all of the consumables can be replaced assuming the MFG still supports them. If you don't want to service them yourself, then I'd still recommend paying to get them serviced. It's about $25/stage+parts which are usually about the same. As far as servicing them yourself, it's not for everybody, but if you want to do it, I highly recommend doing it. In that case the Hogs are about as good of a deal as it gets as you can take a course to train you how to repair them.

Don't you need a Tec certification to be eligible to take the course? Or has it been opened up?

 

[tbone1004]

you do but TDI nitrox counts.