Looking For Advice: ScubaPro Mk15

[HurricanDan]

Hello everyone,

I'm fairly new to the scuba scene and picked up my first reg set from a local dive shop about a month ago. The first stage is a ScubaPro Mk15. Now when I bought this from the shop I knew it was going to be an older piece and asked the guy if there was going to be any issues finding parts for it in the future. He insisted that it was all universal bits and I shouldn't worry about it. I've come to find out recently that nobody's made a service kit for this thing for a couple years now and that the seat is specific to this reg. I've got another shop looking it over now to verify its condition (I don't really trust the first shop anymore, new shop thinks the filter is original to the reg) and they have 2 service kits available if it does need service. They quoted me $200 for the whole reg set if it does need a service.

My question is this: knowing that the days are numbered with this reg due to lack of support/parts, should I bother pursuing getting a full service for it if it comes down to it or should I cut my losses? Did I buy an expensive paperweight or am I over thinking it?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Angelo Farina]

MK15 was not one the best regs from Scubapro.
I did buy one on Ebay as it was matched with two second stages I wanted (109 and 156).
The MK15 was in bad shape, leaking from piston O-rings and needing a new seat.
I searched for parts with bad luck or excessive prices.
In the end I swapped it with an excellent MK10 already fully serviced and tuned by @Couv, possibly one of the best bargains in my life.
Here on Scubaboard there are some people who love the MK15, they have parts and are capable of servicing them.
So I suggest that you repeat what I did: offer it on sale here on Scubaboard, and purchase one of those MK10 coming from Couv's collection, which were recently posted here.
The service kit for MK10 is still on catalogue and these regs will remain serviceable for decades, as my 6 trusted MK5, which I did purchase in years 1976-1980 and which will also remain serviceable for more years than my remaining life.

 

[Tanks A Lot]

For what it's worth, the MK15 seat is still purchasable from ScubaPro.
The service kit itself is not , but one could always source the O-Rings from somewhere else.

 

[tridacna]

How much did they charge you for a MK15? What second stage came with that from the shop?

 

[lexvil]

Whenever I would buy a mk15 I would keep the DIN if it had one pull the port plugs and toss the rest

 

[HurricanDan]

MK15 was not one the best regs from Scubapro.
I did buy one on Ebay as it was matched with two second stages I wanted (109 and 156).
The MK15 was in bad shape, leaking from piston O-rings and needing a new seat.
I searched for parts with bad luck or excessive prices.
In the end I swapped it with an excellent MK10 already fully serviced and tuned by @Couv, possibly one of the best bargains in my life.
Here on Scubaboard there are some people who love the MK15, they have parts and are capable of servicing them.
So I suggest that you repeat what I did: offer it on sale here on Scubaboard, and purchase one of those MK10 coming from Couv's collection, which were recently posted here.
The service kit for MK10 is still on catalogue and these regs will remain serviceable for decades, as my 6 trusted MK5, which I did purchase in years 1976-1980 and which will also remain serviceable for more years than my remaining life.

I'll definitely look into that. For the price of those MK10s it seems like good insurance regardless of what my new dive shop has to say about my MK15. At the very least having another usable reg would be good for when I get my brother diving with me.

For what it's worth, the MK15 seat is still purchasable from ScubaPro.
The service kit itself is not , but one could always source the O-Rings from somewhere else.

My new shop is a ScubaPro Dealer and said they weren't capable of getting new seats. They had 2 left in stock though. I had reached out personally to ScubaPro customer service and had recieved a similar answer. Do you have any more info on this? I'd love to be wrong about this matter.

How much did they charge you for a MK15? What second stage came with that from the shop?

I'm under the impression that I overpaid (I'm pretty sure the shop I bought it from won't accept the return as well, but I'm waiting to find out the results of the inspection before I go that far.) It was a full reg set for $400-ish. The second was a G250 (new dive shop said it was the original for the set, they had matching serial numbers). Octo was a generic Oceanic unit and also a generic console.

Whenever I would buy a mk15 I would keep the DIN if it had one pull the port plugs and toss the rest

They're that bad, huh? No DIN on mine. I guess this is what I get for buying used and trusting somebody without having done the research.

 

[tridacna]

I know it’s sounds trite now, but you should have come here for advice BEFORE buying the reg. I would have happily given you a free MK15 instead of tossing them like I usually do. That shop should be named for suckering a new diver. They musta been high-fiving each other after you walked out.

 

[L13]

At least the G250 is a solid reg! If it had been 2 G250's and a MK10 it would have been a good deal.

 

[Tanks A Lot]

My new shop is a ScubaPro Dealer and said they weren't capable of getting new seats. They had 2 left in stock though. I had reached out personally to ScubaPro customer service and had recieved a similar answer. Do you have any more info on this? I'd love to be wrong about this matter.

I'm a ScubaPro dealer and the MK15 Seat is still in stock via the ScubaPro dealer portal.

That being said, you made a bad deal. The MK15 is not something that should have been sold to you anymore. It is a great regulator for collectors and enthusiasts. For a new diver looking for gear that he won't be personally working on, the MK15 is not the right choice.

Other parts for this regulator are not in stock anymore: Spring, piston, etc.

Technically your regulator is still serviceable, via sourcing O-Rings from other places and buying the original MK15 seat via ScubaPro. I however have to whole heartily agree with every person above in that this is less than ideal especially for a first time regulator.

Try to get a refund, you have been lied to. The parts are not all universal and interchangeable with other ScubaPro regulators. The MK15 spring, piston, body and swivel cap are unique to the MK15 to just name a few parts that I could possibly see needing a replacement at some stage. None of these are sold via official channels anymore.

The last iteration the MK15 got was in 1997 and while this is certainly not a measure if a regulator is still serviceable, see the Mk10 with the last iteration in 1993, it may convey the time-frame you are looking at. The MK15 was never as popular as some other first stages and hence has been abandoned a bit earlier than other designs.

Should you still wish to stick with it, which I can't recommend, you may find the attached useful. If I was in your shoes, I'd try to get the refund, if that for whatever reason should not work, sell the MK15 and buy something else.
For first time buyers I always recommend the MK2 from ScubaPro, now called MK2 EVO. The MK2 design has been around since forever, the MK2 specifically since 1974. For the type of diving that 95% of divers will ever do, it is more than enough. The MK2 and it's "copies/siblings" from other brands like the Aqualung Calypso, Cressi XS2 or Mares 2S are the workhorses for most of the dive centres worldwide.
Buying one of these workhorses likely means it's the last regulator you will ever buy. With proper care it will last you forever.

People here will come along pretty quickly and suggest high end regulators, something which I have never seen the point of. If it really comes down to it, I reckon that maybe 1 out of 10 people can actually tell the difference between regulators when breathing on it. I certainly can't for most scenarios...
Ask yourself if you really need the "Ferrari", like an Atomic TFX, or if the affordable "Ford Fiesta", like an MK2 EVO does not also get you from A to B.
What looks good on paper and in sales brochures, doesn't always make sense or a difference in the real world for most people.

 

[BoltSnap]

the "Ferrari", like an Atomic TFX

The TFX is more like top end Rolls Royce not a Ferrari

With the current pricing for the MK2, in the EMEA region, it really doesn't make sense to buy the MK2 when the other better SP first stages with better seconds (balanced firsts and seconds) are available for less than 30 euros more than the least expensive MK2 combo. It just doesn't make sense to buy the MK2 considering the price difference. It is a great first stage for certain but better combos available from SP with very little price difference.