Buying mid - high end regulator vs replacing it every few years

[lowwall]

The Mares Rover 15x is on sale on LeisurePro for $209.95. For 15-20 dives a year in warm water down to 90ft max it would make a great first regulator, no need to go more expensive in my opinion, at least for now.

Why would you limit it in any of those ways? Maybe you are thinking of the Mares 2S, which is a piston reg mainly meant for rental fleets?

The 15 is internally identical to the 22 which has been dived to 313m (yes meters). The current seat and poppet materials are shared with the 22x and 52x and are expected to last at least 2 years or 200 dives before needing replacement. Finally, although metal second stages would be preferable for true cold water diving, these should work great in anything above 10C/50F. There's a cold-water kit available for the 15x if you want to go much colder, but you'd probably want to switch to Abyss seconds at that point.

IMO, almost all Mares regs are great quality and really underappreciated. The exceptions are the gimmicks they've added on for marketing purposes like the adjustments on the Fusion and Epic Adjust seconds. The only real problem is their hostility to self-service. Thanks to the internet you can get service kits for everything, but other parts have to be ordered through dealers who aren't supposed to sell them to end users except as part of a service or repair.

Edit: After I posted, I re-read the original post in this thread and realized Sifossifoco was referring to the OP's needs, not any limitations on the reg. I'm leaving this up in hopes that the info is useful to someone.

 

[Sifossifoco]

Why would you limit it in any of those ways?

Not limiting it at all, in fact I like the 15x quite a lot, and I even bought one for my wife... I was just meaning that the Mares will be fine for most diving, until maybe he decides to get into ice diving, when I would recommend a Poseidon...

 

[Brian G]

Remember that a regulator set (for most people) includes 2 second stages. I think your backup should be as high-performing as your primary, so that increases the cost a bit. The Deep6 Signature series that Tbone recommends are the highest value new regulators out there (high-end performance at mid-range pricing, plus the service benefits). Another option that seems viable to me is to purchase a serviced used set from one of the regulars on here. The free-parts-for-life arrangements are a bit of a scam in my opinion, since it's possible for regulators to go several years in between services if you regularly check them using the checklist stickied at the top of this sub-forum. It's like paying to get your car's brakes serviced every year regardless of wear, but you get the brake pads for free.

A few more points that may or may not matter to you:
1. I don't think you can feel any differences in first stage performance. High-end first stages have features, like cold-water performance, that you probably won't use. Some people like swivel turrets with a hose port at the the end because they like the way the hoses route. These are usually on higher-end first stages.
2. Marketing and product placement plays a large role in regulator costs. A Scubapro Mk11/C370 ($519) is a pretty high-performing setup but is not very expensive because Scubapro has decided that the Mk25/A700 ($999) is going to be its high-end offering. (Leisurepro prices)
3. Competent service will make a basic regulator breathe very close to a high-end one. You might not be able to tell the difference, especially if you think the rental regulators are fine. Incompetent service can make any regulator breathe poorly.

What I did:
I bought a used Scubapro Mk17 first stage and a used G250V second stage and paired that with a used Dacor mini octo. I had the dive shop service them before I dove them and they put a big gouge in the G250V faceplate and tuned the Dacor too close to the edge so that it free-flowed on the first dive. Luckily the dive was with the shop so they quickly pulled it off and screwed in the orifice a quarter turn and it worked fine. That taught me that my dive shop sort of sucked (gouge and poor tune) but they would pull through in an emergency. More reading this forum turned me towards older Scubapro G250 versions as being readily available and easy to service. I have several of those now, as well as the even older 109 and Balanced Adjustable brass predecessor of the G250. I service my own stuff when it needs it.

As others have mentioned, Leisurepro's deal on the Mares is pretty good. $299 even gets you a set with an octo. I don't see a reason it would limit you to 90 feet or just a small number of dives a year.

All the best,
Brian

 

[Sifossifoco]

Remember that a regulator set (for most people) includes 2 second stages.

Actually, another good reason to consider the Mares setup is that you can buy the Loop octopus, which is non-directional with the hose coming straight in from below. It is 109.95 on LeisurePro again.

 

[Angelo Farina]

One of my colleagues asked me the very same question a few months ago.
I seggested him a medium-level Scubapro set: MK17, G260, R195 octopus and an SPG. It costed 480 eur.
He is very happy.
In a couple of hours I did show him how to dismount and remount it entirely and which parts need to be changed every two years (2nd stage seats, dynamic O-rings), how to chech the IP pressure using a cheap pressure gauge for tyres, and how to tune the IP and the cracking efforts.
Scubapro regs are built here in Italy, so there is no problems finding the parts for servicing.
It appears that shops all around the world can fix Scubapro regs, which is not so true for other brands. Furthermore these parts are available for decades: in fact I am yet using happily the 4 MK5+109 purchased in the seventies. Just rebuilt them entirely this spring during the lockdown..
So this is a long term investment, which pays in the long period. And which ensures that you have an high performance reg: usually you do not need such high performances, except in the case when you need...

 

[tbone1004]

@Angelo Farina one critical thing to remember in Italy is that your costs are significantly lower than they are in the US. 480e is $570 as of today. Just the Mk17 first with G260 second is $700 in the US. This applies to pretty much all of the Scubapro and Aqualung lines. On top of that the parts are locked down in this country which is why you see a lot of people hesitant to recommend them.

 

[Angelo Farina]

@Angelo Farina one critical thing to remember in Italy

Sorry.
I did understand the original poster was coming from NA (Naples)...
Possibly instead is Namibia (Africa). In both cases not America, so I think he should not be bothered by what happens in US...

 

[Jafo19D]

I would do option 1.1 something more along the line of the Atomic Z2 or 3 or scubapro Mk11 s560 or C370

They will go more than 2 years and are easily self serve if you want to learn but you’ll have to learn here.

I recently bought a mk11/c370. Happy with the purchase.

 

[lexvil]

I recently bought a mk11/c370. Happy with the purchase.

It’s and amazingly good set, I generally prefer the MK 17 but the 11 is smaller and lighter so I use them on pony’s and a titanium one for travel (I have started to forget the meaning of that word, travel) I’m very impressed with the C370 performance.

 

[Brett Hatch]

Whatever you do, don't buy 1 good reg and 1 crappy reg. A lot of people do that, and a lot of shops will push you in that direction, but it is a mistake. Sure you don't use your octo on every dive, but when you do need it, you really don't want it to be a POS. It's much better to get two mid-grade regs then a high-grade primary plus a low-grade octo.

Personally, I went with the Deep6 regs recommended here, and have been very happy with them. Regs are good, service is fast, price is cheap. I went with Deep6 regs for my pony bottle as well, and will likely go for the same when I get my doubles. This isn't just brand loyalty -- having all the same regs makes them interchangeable. They all breathe the same, and they all take the same parts, so I can just keep a single pair of rebuild kits (1st+2nd) in a my save-a-dive kit for trips.