Scuba Pro vs Aqua Lung Equipment

[Zman96]

I went to a lcd ready to buy a full set of aqua lung gear (Legend reg, Pro qd bc and a standard octopus. After talking with the guy he brought up Scuba Pro and said they were a little better. Any opinions on the two companies, similar outfits were almost the same price with the Scuba Pro being about $50 total more. Any feed back would be great.

Thanks
Brian

 

[Teamcasa]

They both make quality gear. It’s like the old question between Ford vs Chevrolet.

For me, where can you get it serviced is more important. If the majority of LDS sell and service ScubaPro, buy their gear. If the majority sell and service AquaLung, well then, that would be my choice.

 

[Jay_SMART_Diver]

Casa makes a great point, convenience and availability of service is very important. If you are lucky enough to find a LDS that has more than one brand of gear available consider yourself lucky. Sometimes you'll find a shop that pushes only one brand. In my opinion although some manufacturers do OK on just about everything some do stand out on a particular item. For instance Scubapro and their regulators are fantastic and I swear by them (other readers can hold your flaming of me on that statement it's my opinion plain and simple), but I however am not a fan of their BC's. Some people are brand loyal, and make for excellent poster children for a brand, but I'd rather spend my money on great gear across the board than just good gear from one manufacturer. I have Scubapro regs, an Oceanic BC (cause it fits me great), Akona wetsuit (cause I got a great deal on it), Tusa X-pert Zoom fins (cause they rock), Tilos Mask (cause it fits me great), etc. It's YOUR gear make sure YOU like it.

 

[fireflock]

I'd encourage you to look around a bit; there are a lot of other quality brands out there besides the big 2. Most divers end up going with one brand of reg, a different brand of fins, a third brand of BC or backplate, and so on. There's no rule against mixing brands, and it doesn't make sense that one brand will excel in all categories.

The only people you see wearing all Scubapro or all Aqualung are people who DM or sell stuff at a shop and the new divers who just bought their stuff from one of the single brand sales guys.

Good luck with it-

 

[deco_martini]

Aqua Lung owns so many brands now, you could buy a complete set of Aqua Lung gear and have different names on everything. The quality between these brands and scuba pro will differ per item.

The guy were talking to probably wanted to sell you Scuba Pro and so he told you that. He is a salesman. That's life.

 

[Kevin Carlisle]

I'd encourage you to look around a bit; there are a lot of other quality brands out there besides the big 2. Most divers end up going with one brand of reg, a different brand of fins, a third brand of BC or backplate, and so on. There's no rule against mixing brands, and it doesn't make sense that one brand will excel in all categories.

The only people you see wearing all Scubapro or all Aqualung are people who DM or sell stuff at a shop and the new divers who just bought their stuff from one of the single brand sales guys.

Good luck with it-

I know a heap of tech divers and cave divers who are not shop employees or DM's who use Legend and Scubapro. I am one of them. The reason is you will not find a better breathing reg on the market. Other posters on here said it best, buy for the area in which you can get it serviced the easiest. Here in our part of the world you can get either serviced just about everywhere you go. Legends are about 100 bucks cheaper. Scubapro offers you a choice where you can buy the first stage you want and the second stage you want.

 

[peterbj7]

I sell Scubapro and I don't agree that they make the best breathing regulator. I've used Mk25s since they came out, and for a deep dive I'd rather have a Poseidon or Apeks any day. For recreational diving I'm very impressed by the AquaLung Titan, which is slightly over-balanced but less so than the Poseidons.

My big problem with Scubapro is that their quality has plummeted in recent years. Both in the materials used and the quality of construction and assembly. They now contain many plastic parts which used to be brass.

Overall I'd go for AquaLung every time, especially that they now own Apeks (one of the most highly regarded regs in the world).

 

[mig_diver]

I had the same dilemma when choosing my gear. It was the Aqualung Legend, Seaquest Pro QD, and Suunto Cobra on one side and the Scubapro MK25/S600, T-Black, and Aladdin Prime console computer.

I weighed up the BCD, regs, and computer separately and ended up going with the Aqualung package. My deciding reasons for each are as follows.

Regs: The MK25 has 25 moving parts. The Legend has a lot less (I think it was 4 by memory).
BCDs: The Pro QD felt a lot more comfortable when I tried it on.
Computers: Suunto was a brand that I had heard good things about. The Cobra is AI whereas the Aladdin Prime is not.

And the final deciding factor was SERVICE. My Aqualung LDS offers free parts for servicing for the first 5 years.

 

[herman]

Both make good regs but if I had to choose I think it would be Aqualung. I hate companies that keep making things "bigger and better", usually they are more complex or cheaper. Scubapro is bad for that. The guts of most Aqualungs are the same ones used in the mid 60's, maybe a few material refinements but the same design. They got it right the first time, know it and leave it alone. The guts out of a new Titan will drop right in a Royal Aquamaster double hose from 1965. Parts are likely to be around for many many years and are pretty easy to find. I am a big believer in "if it ain't broke don't fix it" and so far they have not "fixed it".

 

[Zman96]

I went with the aqua lung gear. Legend Reg, quad pro qd with i3 bcd and a sunnto gekko computer. The only thing I may change after trying it is the BC and possibly go with one of Scubapro's, they were both very comfortable so it was really a toss up for me. Thanks for all the responses and advice.

Brian