Regulator sourcing discussion

[Chris Brown Tech]

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A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

This discussion was split from this thread:

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/regulators/436429-bp2-reviews-specs.html

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Get a higher quality reg would be my advice. Scubapro, Aprks, Aqua Lung, Halcyon, Poseidon or Atomic.

Hogs are made in China. If you are happy with that, then fine, but you will find people that claim they are better quality than those top brands I just mentioned, which is complete nonsense of course. I will caveat however that they perform just fine. Most regs do these days.

 

[Aqua-Andy]

Get a higher quality reg would be my advice. Scubapro, Aprks, Aqua Lung, Halcyon, Poseidon or Atomic.

Hogs are made in China. If you are happy with that, then fine, but you will find people that claim they are better quality than those top brands I just mentioned, which is complete nonsense of course. I will caveat however that they perform just fine. Most regs do these days.

Pao, don't listen to this clown. It seams the only people talking bad about HOG regs are the ones selling higher priced/profit margin products. You mentioned you purchased the materials for the HOG reg repair class, Chris at Silent World made no mention that you will not be able to purchase parts for those higher priced regs he sells although I'm sure he will be more than happy to charge you to rebuild them with parts only a dealer can purchase. FYI HOG regs are made in Taiwan not mainland China, every scuba company outsources to some extent so don't let that be a deterrent. I have swapped all my regs over to HOG so I can service them my self (yes I did take the class), I guess the way I see it is if the "more expensive brands" don't want to sell me parts who am I to argue. I now let them play there pricing and parts games and just shake my head as I would rather spend my money with an honest business man anyway.

 

[cbm32]

Must be another guy that believes "you get what you pay for". Well, in a way he is right. With some stuff you get a familiar name and pay through the nose for it. If you want to by a "name" stay away from HOG. But, if you want to only pay for the reg you get, and not pay a premium for the name recognition,....step up and join us HOG/EDGE owners.

 

[HowardE]

every scuba company outsources to some extent so don't let that be a deterrent

Really? Care to back that one up?

 

[cbm32]

Any chance we can forgo the pissing contest on this one?

I am also quite interested in some qualified answers to the original questions.

Probably not.....at least as long as people that have a vested interest in pushing more expensive merchandise keep alluding to HOG as being substandard in some way without providing any real proof of same.

 

[Chris Brown Tech]

Pao, don't listen to this clown. It seams the only people talking bad about HOG regs are the ones selling higher priced/profit margin products. You mentioned you purchased the materials for the HOG reg repair class, Chris at Silent World made no mention that you will not be able to purchase parts for those higher priced regs he sells although I'm sure he will be more than happy to charge you to rebuild them with parts only a dealer can purchase. FYI HOG regs are made in Taiwan not mainland China, every scuba company outsources to some extent so don't let that be a deterrent. I have swapped all my regs over to HOG so I can service them my self (yes I did take the class), I guess the way I see it is if the "more expensive brands" don't want to sell me parts who am I to argue. I now let them play there pricing and parts games and just shake my head as I would rather spend my money with an honest business man anyway.

Pao, I wouldnt listen to me either. I have absolutely no idea what Im talking about. Im all about making loads of money from unsuspecting divers by charging them top dollar for overpriced imports from France, England and Sweden. All of them are rubbish and you would be far better served buying your regs from Taiwan, China or anywhere else where the workers are eight years old and work 6 days a week.

Me and Coco spend a lot of time servicing rebreathers, although I must admit, I cant see any reason why the manufacturers use Apeks and Poseidon regulators on many of the brands. Im sure the manufacturers will switch to a cheaper but more superior product when they realize they are being ripped off.

I have a Ford F-150 and Jeep Grand Cherokee in my drive. Guess I should chop them in for a Hyundai Accent so I can be a proper hypocrite!

In all seriousness though, I did say Hogs perform perfectly fine. However, you would have to be a total moron to truly believe that the amount of thought gone into a Chinese copy reg is anywhere near comparable to the R&D, design, form and function put into beautiful regulators such as the new Aqua Lung legend, or any of the Atomics or those gorgeous Poseidons. Its like saying a Kia pride is built to the same standards as a Maclaren F1. Its totally laughable. The Kia is an excellent car for what it does, but its not high end.

I get the Hog market, I really do. Its a viable option for anyone that wants to get a full set of tech regs for the price of one or two high end regs. It meets the needs of those divers that want to service their own regs and who get bent out of shape about spare parts and servicing costs (personally I would just run any reg for 2 - 3 years then sell it rather than get it serviced) and they meet the needs of those that cant afford a $600+ reg. They are also popular with shops and private instructors that CANNOT aquire a dealership with Scubapro, Aqualung etc because they dont do the volume of sales to justify a $10 - $30k opening order. I get that.

Just dont try and tell me they are equal, or more laughable, better quality than Apeks, Scubapro, Atomic, Poseidon, Halcyon etc. It just aint even remotely close

 

[cerich]

They are made in Taiwan

Get a higher quality reg would be my advice. Scubapro, Aprks, Aqua Lung, Halcyon, Poseidon or Atomic.

Hogs are made in China. If you are happy with that, then fine, but you will find people that claim they are better quality than those top brands I just mentioned, which is complete nonsense of course. I will caveat however that they perform just fine. Most regs do these days.

---------- Post Merged at 06:39 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 06:36 PM ----------

strangely enough, so was the poster who was complaining.

I love how the first complaint about HOG is they are made overseas, while your Honda is sitting in the drive way.

---------- Post Merged at 06:41 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 06:36 PM ----------

Yes Howard, I will happily.

Care to call me on that?

Really? Care to back that one up?

 

[HowardE]

Yes Howard, I will happily.

Care to call me on that?

I'm not talking about masks or wetsuits.

 

[cerich]

hey, I am open to unbiased testing. Have a third party BUY the regs from a shop, not telling the shop what they are for. After I will gladly replace the shops reg for them. That excludes what we used to do when I worked at a couple major brands (namely handpicking and tuning a reg for testing by "experts" like scubalab) If the other brands are done the same I wold be happy it's a fair test.

Of course the apples to apples on features, performance and durability(I would be more than happy to put build quality on the test, nobody does that now because some brands truly are crap) would be easy, not quite sure how they would factor in comparison by price however..... EDGE and HOG will win that aspect hands down.

The truth is that if my regs were crap you would have the reps from the major brands running around with charts proving they are crap, they aren't and they aren't.

Also, nice try to marginalize my brand and my dealers, in fact MANY of my dealers are also dealers for Scubapro, Aqualung, and virtually every other brand out there. In fact my average dealer with EDGE/HOG does more annually in $ than my average dealer did when I was a rep for a major brand.

Pao, I wouldnt listen to me either. I have absolutely no idea what Im talking about. Im all about making loads of money from unsuspecting divers by charging them top dollar for overpriced imports from France, England and Sweden. All of them are rubbish and you would be far better served buying your regs from Taiwan, China or anywhere else where the workers are eight years old and work 6 days a week.

Me and Coco spend a lot of time servicing rebreathers, although I must admit, I cant see any reason why the manufacturers use Apeks and Poseidon regulators on many of the brands. Im sure the manufacturers will switch to a cheaper but more superior product when they realize they are being ripped off.

I have a Ford F-150 and Jeep Grand Cherokee in my drive. Guess I should chop them in for a Hyundai Accent so I can be a proper hypocrite!

In all seriousness though, I did say Hogs perform perfectly fine. However, you would have to be a total moron to truly believe that the amount of thought gone into a Chinese copy reg is anywhere near comparable to the R&D, design, form and function put into beautiful regulators such as the new Aqua Lung legend, or any of the Atomics or those gorgeous Poseidons. Its like saying a Kia pride is built to the same standards as a Maclaren F1. Its totally laughable. The Kia is an excellent car for what it does, but its not high end.

I get the Hog market, I really do. Its a viable option for anyone that wants to get a full set of tech regs for the price of one or two high end regs. It meets the needs of those divers that want to service their own regs and who get bent out of shape about spare parts and servicing costs (personally I would just run any reg for 2 - 3 years then sell it rather than get it serviced) and they meet the needs of those that cant afford a $600+ reg. They are also popular with shops and private instructors that CANNOT aquire a dealership with Scubapro, Aqualung etc because they dont do the volume of sales to justify a $10 - $30k opening order. I get that.

Just dont try and tell me they are equal, or more laughable, better quality than Apeks, Scubapro, Atomic, Poseidon, Halcyon etc. It just aint even remotely close

---------- Post Merged at 07:01 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 06:59 PM ----------

yeah, I will replace the knob, in honesty I think it traps sea water there and that is why you are seeing a issue. I've seen it before. I need to get away from using the decal I think.

I don't believe in punishing consumers for where they got the product. I am kinda surprised there may be a "unauthorized" dealer over there..

Thanks! So the piston is SS! BTW will that warranty cover my adjustment knob? I bought the reg from a shop here in the Philippines over a year ago but only used it recently for my sidemount class. The shop has changed ownership since then and they told me that warranty was for 1 year only and I don't think they are an authorized dealer.

 

[Chris Brown Tech]

I love how the first complaint about HOG is they are made overseas, while your Honda is sitting in the drive way.

Interestingly, 89 percent of Hondas sold in the USA are made in North American plants. I didnt know that one, just looked it up.