Thanks for the back up ams511, but JohnN actually got the facts of my deal wrong. What I said was I got $2,000 worth of gear for much LESS thanks to Casey at Beaver Divers! Yes, it's all ScubaPro, which is expensive, but also reliable that comes with lifetime warranties! Which several brands usually offer about 24 months warranty! I only know of 2 companies after doing research that offer liftetime warranties, which are ScubaPro and Atomic. But there may be others that I didn't run across. But I go the phrase, of "You get what you pay for"!
I never understood why on SB people get so upset over what others buy. If someone buys a BMW people don't come up to them an say you could have bought a Honda at half the price. You say, hey nice car.
You purchased an A700 which is a metal regulator. With proper care they will literally last forever as long as you can get the soft parts. At one time most second stages were metal. Then the gear manufacturers decided that if you market plastic second stages correctly (lighter, less jaw fatigue, no corrosion problems, etc.), you could charge the same as a metal one and make more money because they are much cheaper to manufacture. There is a big following here on SB for the older model 108, 109, and 156 Scubapro regulators, all of which can be upgraded to modern standards. If the DIY bug bites you, I recommend buying one off eBay to play with. However now they are starting to get pricey as people realize how good they are.
As far as warranties are concerned, they are there more to sell products than to service them. Every once and a while a story will pop up about someone that purchased a Scuabpro MK-5 40 years ago that broke and they received a brand-new MK-25 as a replacement. But what is usually needed is an original receipt and an uninterrupted service history. The manufacturers know that only a very small percentage of people will do this, so they are safe. I would be surprised if Scubapro gives away more than 10 MK-25s a year through warranty claims on older regulators. Another thing to remember is that "lifetime" has been interpreted by the courts to mean the lifetime of the product, not the lifetime of the purchaser.
---------- Post added August 15th, 2015 at 01:41 AM ----------
I am not sure where you found that because I did do a search on their website to find it. This is one of my problems with Hog, since the company was sold they seem to be a bit secretive on the warranty policy. For example, I purchased one of their "Made in USA" wings (I understand they are foreign-made again) which is supposed to come with a 5 year no pitch flat warranty, plus a lifetime warranty of materials. If I remember you did not even need to be the original purchaser, although I was. Where do I find the warranty on my wing?
I am not sure how long you have been into diving but companies such as Dacor, Salvo, Abyss, Voit, OMS, Parkway, and others all went out of business. This is not mention companies such as Poseidon and Beuchat which while in business left the U.S. market and their customers high and dry. Now both are coming back. The serviceability of your regulator is only as good as the company that stands behind it. HOG is nothing but a marketer, they purchase products from other vendors and resell them through dealers. They could close up shop at any time and leave you high and dry, like the companies I mentioned above did. You will never have this with Scubapro because even if they disappear, they sold so many regulators that it makes sense for someone to make aftermarket parts for them.
I have nothing against Hog (except hiding the warranty info). Besides the wing, I own two of their "Switchback" second stages that I purchased on closeout for $59.00 each. At one time Hog products were an excellent value but since they were sold they increased prices, so their value went down.
