Don't want to derail a hose thread, but this is so wrong in so many ways! It sounds as though you had a bad experience with Deep6! Heck, I've had more than one bad experience with Scubapro. But that doesn't mean their regs are garbage!Deep 6 could be considered knock-off. The regs are made in Taiwan, and with the exception of cosmetic differences only, come with many brand names, some widely known, some obscure.
Deep6, like many companies, uses one of a very few OEM's (including in Taiwan) that have the CNC machinery necessary to create reg bodies with precision. But holy cow! The only similarity between a Deep6 Signature and an Apeks, or HOG, or, or...is that they're all cylindrical!
VERY FEW have a balancing system like the Deep 6 Signature. Not HOG, not Apeks. Scubapro's and Apeks environmental seals on their diaphragm regs are demonstrably inferior to Deep6's product.
Who else has a Teflon impregnated HP oring to improve performance? Who else has NO IP RISE with falling tank pressures? Few to zero.
There are very few things you can do with a high pressure pipe and a seat to seal it. So calling Deep6 a knockoff over superficial similarities to other regs is just, well...ignorant.
Hate to jump on you, but this is a bad belief to promulgate. Show me ANY customer service from Huish, Aqualung or Scubapro that matches Deep6. Have they had rollout glitches? Show me a new company that hasn't! But they respond! Add to that their unique regulator design features, and I just wish they had a bigger advertising budget.
Rant over.