Scuba:
But, what are Mares intentions? How many more years, minutes or seconds, parts production and supplies can we count on after a regulator goes out of production, for Dacor, and Mares?
Thats a good point. For example, I have a Scubapro Adjustable second stage purchased in the early 70's and bought used by me in the early 80's when I started diving and that I still use on a deco bottle. That second stage went out of production in the late 80's but despite nearly 20 years of non-production annual service and replacemetn parts are still available. Thanks to this excellent parts support it has not only remained in service but has also been upgraded (improved, not replaced) to use the current balance chamber and s-wing poppet used in the G250 and S600 and offers performance essentially identical to either of those regulators.
In contrast, I see 5 year old Dacor regs come through the shop that are totally obsolete since we cannot get parts for them. I have also been staring at a recently produced Mares reg on the bench for over a month while we wait for a part for it to be shipped from Mares. And when we recently ordered some Mares service kits, they shipped them without seats and indicated that we need to order those separately.
So guess what regs I recommend to divers wanting to buy a new regulator. Why would I recommend that a customer buy a regulator from Mares when it will be obsolete as soon as they decide to stop production of that model and production of parts for existing regs of that model and force everyone to "upgrade" by spending money to buy a new Mares reg at a slightly reduced price?
It's certainly true that Mares had no legal obligation to Dacor customers even if they bought the company, but they did have an ethical obligation once they acquired Dacor's assets and those former Dacor customers do have a right to be upset with Mares for
choosing not to produce parts for older Dacor regs. No doubt continued parts support would have involved substantial expense to tool up or contract with a third party for parts production, but by not doing so, and choosing increased profit over service to those customers, Mares sent a clear message to them - one that is also being heard by potential Mares customers.
It's just my opinion, but Mares is making a major mistake doing business this way and while short term profits may be preserved, it will prove to be very expensive in the end in terms of lost customers, sales and brand loyalty.