Importance of diving equipment brand country

[michael-fisch]

I believe DUI is wholly USA made, but I might be wrong.

That can't be a reccomendation for "Made in the USA"!
It's kind of like buying Huish Outdoors products because of the quality of service.
As far as drysuits go, after my experiences with a company in San Diego, if I can't drive to the manufacturer, complain and camp out on his doorstep untill he makes it right, I won't buy.

Right now I'm waiting for my 5th and 6th bespoke MTM Drysuits from Kallweit, a company that has been making drysuits for me since 1991. Every 8 or 9 years I have 2 new ones made for me, and so far I haven't ever had a reason to be pissed. If I was pissed they are only 60 miles from where I live which is really practical when you are trying to get things made right.
Michael

 

[Diving Dubai]

I have a couple of demands

In country dealer and repair no overseas shipping nonsense. I avoided shearwater for this very reason until they appointed a reputable in country dealer and repair

In addition for regs and bcd. A brand that has local support and spares in most dive destinations


Russian and Ukraine stuff tends to be over engineered. - if I could make it work I’d look at it\

 

[formernuke]

Not a recommendation (I have no like or dislike for DUI) simply a statement. It was asked if any manufacturers products were made in the US, DUI is made in the US.

 

[runsongas]

usia is still up in oregon. you can still get a custom wetsuit made at a few places in the US including otter bay.

atomic probably still does at least their first stages in the US.

and if you hate yourself, you could get a cochran dive computer.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Not a recommendation (I have no like or dislike for DUI) simply a statement. It was asked if any manufacturers products were made in the US, DUI is made in the US.

What about the materials though?
They might be assembled in the USA out of imported parts.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

usia is still up in oregon. you can still get a custom wetsuit made at a few places in the US including otter bay.

atomic probably still does at least their first stages in the US.

and if you hate yourself, you could get a cochran dive computer.

Where does the neoprene come from? As far as I know Rubatex was the last US neoprene manufacturer, made in Los Angeles, California. It was amazing stuff. Got on the phone once with Don at M&B wetsuits in Long Beach and he filled me in on everything to do with neoprene. He also went directly to the Rubatex plant when he heard they were going out and bought stacks if sheets.
Now it’s all China, Japan, South Korea, and maybe a few other Asian countries.
Some of the South Korean stuff is not bad for high density commercial and Japanese Yamamoto is legendary.

 

[vovanx]

your opinion on Russian/Ukrainian gear is heavily biased.
in Russia we have high quality titanium gear manufacturers:
avlnn.ru
tde-rus.com
helium-dive.com
(Russia is a top exporter of Titanium btw)
high quality lights: amg-ue.com
[unknown quality, never heard any reviews] dive computers: av-uwt.com/?lang=en

in Ukraine I know a high quality BCD/drysuit manufacturer: custommaster.com.ua
and there are some lights and computers manufacturers too (I recall only Seawooch brand)

concerning fins/masks/regs... choose some other country

 

[happy-diver]

Far smarter than waist or cam pouches

Разработка и производство снаряжения для дайвинга - AVL, Н. Новгород

 

[Rechno]

Do you choose better equipment from country, that usually can't make anything good, or you choose worse equipment from country with good reputation, such as European contries or USA?

For me, more important then the reputation of the country is the reputation of the brand.
If a brand is well established and the gear has what I´m looking for, I will buy it (almost) no matter where it is from (I´d even buy US goods ;-) )
This is of course always considering the service level in my country / where I plan to dive and how likely it is that the gear will need service (snorkel vs. CCR).
The more sophisticated the gear is, the more I focus on having good service partners nearby, but still the origin wont be the most important factor of my consideration.

Just imagine, that you see diving equipment with incredible features from country, that never did it before.

It depends on the type of "features" if I´m only told about some great / fancy feature and that said equipment from country X is "the best", I´d rather trust some established gear until the features are really proven to work and make sense.

But I think without concrete examples the discussion will not be fruitful.

 

[JasmineNeedsGills]

I have a lot of respect for engineering from the former Soviet republics (their metallurgy and optics are both rightfully legendary), but no matter how well made the gear is made, at the end of the day you just won't be able to easily get support and service kits for any given product in most of the world, which makes it a non-starter. As someone with a Russian film camera, and who tried for a long time to obtain a particular model, I can attest to how hard it is to get even simple fixes carried out in Europe. You just can't get the parts needed.