Hypothetical: which brand is best?

[BoltSnap]

Quality and reliability are above everything else.

 

[Wibble]

Have bought some completely crap kit for diving in the past. Far Eastern utter rubbish that barely works and fails at a moment’s notice. Concluded that you buy in haste or cheaply then you repent at leisure.

Paying good money for torches and electronics is far better in the long run. What’s strange is that you find with nearly all of the quality brands that a) the kit works, b) it is reliable and c) their customer service is excellent.

Examples; Shearwater, Halcyon, Revo, Paralenz, X-Scooters. All superb customer service. And many other similar brands.

Crappy customer service: crappy no-name Far Eastern shite, especially of the eBay tat bazaar.

The worst customer service award goes to …. Light-for-Me — why won’t you answer your emails you useless bastards?

You absolutely get what you pay for — with the exception of Light-for-Me.

 

[MichaelMc]

Good gear is low effort in my gear locker and works well on the dive.
Good customer service still requires extra time and effort to take to the shop or send stuff off, so does not just magically get fixed free of effort on my end.

 

[johndiver999]

Quality and reliability are above everything else.

We are talking about life support equipment. If you get a failure, customer service might not mean too much, hell they might not even find your body or determine what equipment failed.

It ain't a bad headlight bulb on the minivan.