Mares regulators

[drmobil2002]

Mares has a few regulators I might be interested in, but here in Houston at a dive shop that sells Mares said he doesn't recommend Mares. He said they were going to drop that line, because they have had a several regulators fail during dives. This of course turned me off the product, but I wanted to here from people who have used Mares for a while.

 

[Avalanche]

I currently dive a Mares Epos...its an older, less expensive reg. I love it. Never failed or come close to failing. Its simple and it breaths well. I've dove dacor and Yukon and wasn't impressed with either compared to my Mares. Of course, I could just be getting lucky so far.

 

[mossym]

dive a Mares V16 proton, never had a problem with it, although i've only had it a couple of months

 

[msandler]

I have owned a Mares Abyss (MR22) since its conception (around 1992ish?). I also have a SP MK15 w/ G250 (not the HP!) bought it at the same time. I recently bought Zeagles ZX Flathead IV (outstanding. are these apeks?). Obviouosly, am not biased (I have some others but not the same league - stages and O2). The Mares and the SP have both have served wonderfully, actually amazingly, well on 280+ ft. air dives (back when I was STUPID - no need to flame ) and 180ft "middle of winter" dives in the St. Lawrence R. I dove independant doubles then with Mares on one side and SP on the other. Both deliver excessive amounts of air under stress at these depths. The SP a little more forcefully (if I had to choose). The G250 2nd would freeze ocassionally. Adjusting the dial would remedy that. Anyway, I digress. My Mares has not been serviced in over a decade and still preforms perfectly (I had mine environmentally sealed). The Mares 2nd is absolutely fool proof. If you want a high perf. reg that runs like a Volvo but serves copious amounts of air at the extremes of diving, get the Abyss.

cheers,
Mike

 

[Paul Evans]

Nothing wrong with these regs...........

If your LDS is going to drop them, find another LDS, or even better try Scubatoys in Dallas

 

[Frogman48]

Although Mares has a good reputation for regulators - I have heard of failures at depth - and in fact have experienced one myself. I had a Mares Proton LX that occasionally made a "popping" sound while underwater during the inhale cycle. Didn't think much of it at first, but once (and that was enough) at 80 feet, the second stage "popped" and from that point - no air! I immediately switched to my alternate - a Mares Proton alternate - which breathed fine and made a normal ascent. Later, the LDS informed me that they had received at least two concerns of the LX model making that "popping" sound. They were nice enough to make an even exchange of my LX for a Mares Abyss. So far, no problems with the Abyss, but following that little incident, I now use my older Aqualung Legend LX Supreme as my primary regulator and use the Mares Abyss as a backup regulator.

 

[Xanthro]

I know many people who use the Abyss, and nobody has had even a hint of failure. It's also what I breath off of.

Xanthro

 

[Greg Barlow]

I would find a new shop, as any dealer that would make such a ridiculous statement is likely to give other poor advice.

I've serviced more regs since 1975 than I would care to count. Mares, along with the other major manufacturers, make fine regs. I own several Mares regs myself, along with Apeks, ScubaPro, and U.S. Divers.

If you have any further questions feel free to PM.

Greg Barlow
Former Science Editor of Rodale's Scuba Diving Magazine

 

[ScubaMan62]

I've had a Navy MkII and MR12 for over a decade....I keep it clean...get it checked out when I think about it...never had a problem with any of my Mares stuff...but that's not to say that some equipment won't fail...or that there are the odd bad products come off a line...I think Mares has a very stellar safety record world wide...make an informed choice using more than one source...and happy diving...j>

 

[mavjax]

We dive Abyss and love them. Best breathing at 100ft I've had.