This is a poor attitude to have. This was posted in the DIY->Repairing your own gear section of the forum Most of us are doing our own service and repairs. A lot of us can't get authorized Apeks service kits because we have to buy them from gray market areas or beg a dive shop to sell them to us, often at ridiculous markup. It may be easier in other parts of the world to obtain official service kits but it can be very difficult in the United States.
O-rings are not some sort of magical voodoo rocket science. Telling someone to simply "get the authorized service kit" is simply FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt). Consumers have a right to know what parts their regulators use. I shouldnt have to buy a $40 service kit when I need an o-ring that costs 5 cents. Manufacturers shouldnt purposely obfuscate what size o-rings they are using by using non-standard part numbers.
Sure..If you're servicing customer-owned regulators then by all means use official Apeks / Aqualung service kits. I would never use a third-party kit if I were servicing customer-owned regulators.
Not all of us are dive shops and have relationships with authorized Apeks dealers. I own something like 30 Apeks regulators. Various singles regulators, stage/deco regs, doubles regulators, sidemount regulators, rebreather first stages. I'm not unique in this regard. If you have a signifcant other than also does technical diving you end up with a lot regulators.
I make my own Apeks kits by bulk sourcing these o-rings, HP seats and other various parts. This saves me a lot of money. For me its very helpful to know these o-ring sizes.
My regulators, my wife's regulators, and friend's regulators are not suddenly failing or blowing up so we must be doing something right using these highly dangerous third-party sourced kits and locally sourced o-rings
