I see Zak's checked my profile since I posted this thread, but as yet he's not commented. Not that I expect there's much he'd be able to do. The BCD that broke after 11 dives was replaced without any issue at all by the dealer. As for the weight pouch that fell out at the end of the dive (that was a head scratcher for my wife & I... it was 'click' secured and re-checked prior to splash), since we wanted to continue diving after it occurred we were kind of stuck. I was a little disappointed that I couldn't purchase a single pouch, but (and REALLY, I'm not flaming Mares here) I figure if it happens again, we have a replacement on hand.
Mares seems to be a respected name out there, and although MY diving equipment choices haven't included their products, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt that our experience has been outside the norm. My wife loves the fit & feel of her BCD and overall her experience has been positive. However, after the weight pouch thing on a brand new REPLACEMENT Aliikai, I'd be lying if I said she wasn't looking over the Zeagle Stiletto when we were buying new weight pouches.
Again: 2 new weight pouches = a two-tank (nitrox) dive. Do the math.
The purpose of posting this thread was to solicit other diver's opinions about their Mare's Aliikai BCD and the MRS+ weight system; If other divers have experienced failures. The lack of traffic tells me 1) my experience is an aberrancy, 2) not many folks have purchased an Aliikai, or 3) SB members who check the Mares forum either missed this thread or simply didn't care to comment.