Frustrations with Aqualung/Apeks – anyone else seeing this?

[JasonA]

Hi all,

I wanted to see if others are running into the same problems we’ve been having with Aqualung/Apeks.

I don’t work in the dive industry full-time, but I teach a class or two each month through a local shop that’s been an Aqualung dealer for over 35 years. I also help service customer and rental gear, most of it Aqualung. About 90% of my personal gear is Aqualung/Apeks. We’re based in the US, so I’m curious whether what I’m seeing is regional (NAM/LAM) or more widespread.

Here’s what I’ve been noticing:

• Even before the Aqualung/Head merger, inventory and production were shaky. BC production moved to Mexico, many parts came out of China but were assembled elsewhere, and warehouses shifted from California to Texas and Florida. Inside sales often didn’t know what was in stock.
• Since 2019, COVID and supply chain disruptions have been the explanation, but after six years not much has improved. Some BC models are simply unavailable and replacement parts are hard to come by, partly due to recent tariffs and how the company has handled them.
• Regulator service kits are often unavailable. I still service regulators using non-Aqualung/Apeks kits, though I expect at some point they’ll say this voids the warranty. I’d rather return a safe, working regulator than let it sit waiting for an official kit with no ship date. And just to be clear, I’m not pulling random o-rings from a hardware/auto-parts store. I’m using parts designed for scuba use.
• A few recent RMA requests for BCs, computers, and regulators came back denied without any record of the shop’s history with Aqualung. It feels like when they migrated to Head’s systems (assuming they migrated), the sales records never came over.
• Several areas in the US no longer have territory reps, and from what I’ve been told there are no plans to replace them. Unless you’re a high-volume dealer, it doesn’t feel like they want to work with you.

I’m just tired of the excuses, and I’m afraid the next two years will be blamed on the merger. It’s disappointing, because Aqualung has always been such a big name in the industry. They’ve offered low, mid, and high-end product lines, and that mid-tier is rare these days. But maybe it’s time to accept that things have changed and move on.

This is mainly a vent, but I’d like to know if others are seeing the same thing. Are these problems just regional, or more widespread? And if you’ve had better luck with other manufacturers, who’s been working well for you?

Thanks for any insight.

 

[BoltSnap]

Go to Scubapro and/or Huish. Aqualung/Apeks will be going through what DACOR went through with HEAD/Mares in the late 90s.

 

[lowwall]

I think it's much too early to tell what's going to happen to AL. The Head purchase was approved at the beginning of July and you can write off August for a firm with a French HQ. If you've been willing to stick with them as they went through PE hell over the last few years, why not give them a chance now that they are owned by a legit sporting goods manufacturer?

 

[BoltSnap]

I think it's much too early to tell what's going to happen to AL. The Head purchase was approved at the beginning of July and you can write off August for a firm with a French HQ. If you've been willing to stick with them as they went through PE hell over the last few years, why not give them a chance now that they are owned by a legit sporting goods manufacturer?

It isn't going to change; it is DACOR all over. They bought it for the dealer and market share worldwide.

 

[lowwall]

It isn't going to change; it is DACOR all over. They bought it for the dealer and market share worldwide.

I doubt that. Head's current ownership/management is pretty savvy. Why would they repeat something that didn't work all that well the first time? Also, the deal that was approved by the French bankruptcy court required them to put in 50 million euros to pay off suppliers and keep AL running. That's far more than they paid for the remaining assets of Dacor and that acquisition had no strings attached as far as keeping jobs in place.

Of course, AL's and Mares' existing product lines are going to be remade over time as a result of this, but I don't expect that AL will disappear or solely consist of rebadged Mares products like happened with post-acquisition Dacor.

 

[lizardland]

Aqualung killed Apeks long ago. Product development on the regulators was basically putting a new face plate on every year and hiking the price through the roof. The rest of their catalogue was just padded out with overpriced junk that I cannot believe anyone actually went out their way to buy other than the dealers it was pushed on to. Apeks regs stopped being appealing when they went from being a cheap workhorse to a high end brand with absolutely nothing changing inside. In the UK they are the same price (sometimes more) than Scubapro and they just do not compare. Plus the customer service over here was **** for years. I think I have about ten Apeks regs, I loved them. But there's no way I'd buy one these days. I doubt they'll survive.

 

[Still Kicking]

Aqualung killed Apeks long ago. Product development on the regulators was basically putting a new face plate on every year and hiking the price through the roof. The rest of their catalogue was just padded out with overpriced junk that I cannot believe anyone actually went out their way to buy other than the dealers it was pushed on to. Apeks regs stopped being appealing when they went from being a cheap workhorse to a high end brand with absolutely nothing changing inside. In the UK they are the same price (sometimes more) than Scubapro and they just do not compare. Plus the customer service over here was **** for years. I think I have about ten Apeks regs, I loved them. But there's no way I'd buy one these days. I doubt they'll survive.

Can't argue with the price increases but Apeks did introduce a second stage with a fundamentally new design last year. Havent tried it so it may not not offer better performance but it is completely new.

Thread '(Genuinely) new Apeks regulator - EVX/Tungsten'

Nov 20, 2024

Starting a thread for anyone interested in Apeks' new 1st/2nd, the EVX 200/EVX Tungsten. Description and images that I scraped are in this post, but to summarize:

• Looks quite a lot like an XL4 second stage with a redesigned purge cover. Double-swivel hose will anger the DIR crowd but maybe make an alternative to Atomics?
• Hose routing for the 1st stage looks pretty good for single-tank long-hose, not sure about doubles
• ACD device looks like a fairly logical carry-over from the Apeks Legend range
• Looks like a lot of focus on freeze resistance, between the massive...

• ChrisMBC
• Replies: 22
• Forum: Regulators

 

[lizardland]

Can't argue with the price increases but Apeks did introduce a second stage with a fundamentally new design last year. Havent tried it so it may not not offer better performance but it is completely new.

Thread '(Genuinely) new Apeks regulator - EVX/Tungsten'

Nov 20, 2024

Starting a thread for anyone interested in Apeks' new 1st/2nd, the EVX 200/EVX Tungsten. Description and images that I scraped are in this post, but to summarize:

• Looks quite a lot like an XL4 second stage with a redesigned purge cover. Double-swivel hose will anger the DIR crowd but maybe make an alternative to Atomics?
• Hose routing for the 1st stage looks pretty good for single-tank long-hose, not sure about doubles
• ACD device looks like a fairly logical carry-over from the Apeks Legend range
• Looks like a lot of focus on freeze resistance, between the massive...

• ChrisMBC
• Replies: 22
• Forum: Regulators

Not bad, 30+ years from being given the design they built everything off of to developing something new on their own. Don't want to go rushing into these things. They haven't exactly been innovators in anything other than price gouging.

 

[Nemrod]

I have not been able to get much in the way of AL for years now. Several stores and sources I get parts from were unable to get anything.

 

[landphil]

Aqualung killed Apeks long ago. Product development on the regulators was basically putting a new face plate on every year and hiking the price through the roof. The rest of their catalogue was just padded out with overpriced junk that I cannot believe anyone actually went out their way to buy other than the dealers it was pushed on to. Apeks regs stopped being appealing when they went from being a cheap workhorse to a high end brand with absolutely nothing changing inside. In the UK they are the same price (sometimes more) than Scubapro and they just do not compare. Plus the customer service over here was **** for years. I think I have about ten Apeks regs, I loved them. But there's no way I'd buy one these days. I doubt they'll survive.

Hold on- my Apeks drysuit hood is one of my favorite pieces of dive gear. It wraps my head in a toasty, fuzzy neoprene cocoon. Granted, it and my drysuit valves are the only Apeks gear I own. And the Apeks hood is really just the same as the Aqualung, but with trim around the edges. But I still love it.