My friend says Mares regulators aren't good - is this true?

[thegreywizard]

I have a friend who worked in a dive shop for a while and she told me to stay away from Mares regulators because of the parts, or they are an issue to work on, I forget exactly.

But can anyone else confirm this and also advise me to stay away from them?

 

[olphart]

I know nothing about Mares regs, but my guess is that your LDS doesn't sell or service them, ergo, they'll say they're a bad reg.

 

[ScubaMarc]

I stopped using my mares abyss and went to scuba pro because the yearly service of the mares was twice the price of the scuba pros. 2 different shops I trust had the similar price differences.

any one want to buy a mares abyss?

 

[chrisch]

Mares was bought out by sports giant Head a while back. It is possible that the new parent company is less bothered about the sport dive market than before. I have an old Dacor (Viper) and Dacor were bought by Mares. The new Mares version looks much the same to me. I think a blanket statement all Mares regs are good/bad is a bit wide of the mark therefore. I can see a number of the service kits are no longer available online, but the cost was about the same as the ScubaPro stuff. It may be therefore there is a parts issue but again I think you need to do some more research about the specific model(s).

 

[dumpsterDiver]

I would avoid the entire company due to their past actions which resulted in the total screwing of loyal customers who purchased the Dacor Brand.

There are a lot of other companies out there that sell quality gear - so why support this brand? My person opinion..

 

[tbone1004]

are they bad regulators? no
are they a bad decision to purchase? yeah....

They're very expensive, do have a history of discontinuing parts availability *the Dacor mentioned above is probably the largest uproar on that*, and they really just don't offer that good of a value. If you're in Italy, and that is what all of your buddies are diving, then they may make sense due to those extenuating circumstances, but if you're in the US especially, they are one of the last regulators I would recommend, and here's why.

Their "premium" reg, the Abyss 22, starts at $600 and goes up to almost $700 for some versions, and their cheap one is $200 give or take. That is just for a first and second stage, no pressure gauge, no inflator hose, no secondary. Their cheap reg, Prestige/Instinct/Rover with the 12s first stage all come with a really cheap first stage.... Will it work? yeah, is it quality built? probably, does that make it worth buying? no. These are all prices from Leisurepro so are going to be as cheap as you can get.

Now, what else can I buy for $200? Not a whole lot, but you can get the D1/Classic from Hog or the DC1/212 from Hollis which upgrade you to an environmentally sealed swivel turret with 5 ports that makes hose routing better. So that's out, but if you're buying super cheap regs of that design, just grab an old Sherwood, it's better anyway.
Let's look at the high end Abyss 22 which goes from $600 up to $675, what else can I buy with that? I can buy a full streamlined OW set from Dive Rite with matching second stages, an inflator hose and an SPG on the swivel turret and both the second stages are reversible at $600, at just under $700 I can get an extra first stage to carry in case of a failure so you don't have to get it rebuilt while travelling or as an option for if/when you step up to a pony bottle, doubles, or sidemount. If I'm feeling really spendy, I can go up to $800 and while you're spending $200 more than you would for just the Mares Abyss 22, you can get a Poseidon Xstream singles set with matching second stages, the MK3 first stage, and SPG. One of the best regulators ever made period. That price range also opens up Scubapro, Apeks, Atomic etc etc, all much better regs than the Mares...

 

[rhwestfall]

simply stated, there are way too many better choices....

 

[TN Traveler]

Sorry to disagree with all the previous opinions but there is nothing wrong with Mares Regs. ScubaToys services Mares Regs for the same price as any other Reg they carry except ScubaPro, which is higher.
Parts are easily available - the Mares parts are interchangeable between anything from the R12 to the 52. They are as reliable as any regs out there. And for cold water, they offer a line of all metal 2nds that are superior - unless you want/need an "adjustable" 2nd.

DD - The Dacor problems have been well hashed out - Dacor was in bankruptcy when Mares bought them - Dacor's suppliers had already discarded all the Dacor molds because they were worn out (Dacor had not paid for replacements). All Mares was left with was the parts on hand and no way to get new ones. Obviously a bad corporate purchase but if you put yourself in their position, do you spend money to retool for a brand that was old technology or spend your $$$ on tooling for your improving your premium brand (no brainer - duh!!). They did offer a trade-in program for owners of old Dacor equipment. But this is a 10 year old issue - GET OVER IT!!!

 

[tbone1004]

you're telling me that a Mares Abyss is superior in cold water to Poseidon and Apeks? Yeah, right...

The cost of service is the cost of parts not the cost of labor. Their parts are quite expensive, again, the issue comes back not to if they're a quality regulator, they are. They're just not a good purchasing decision because they don't represent a good value when for the same money you can get regulators that are truly better, with much better global support, i.e. Apeks XTX50/DST, Scubapro G260 or S600 with MK25, or Atomic.

 

[kelemvor]

The cost of service is the cost of parts not the cost of labor.

I need to go over to your LDS! My shop charges for both.