1st off I am a long time reader, with no posts, so please no flames here. I am a troll and proud of it!
I have to disagree with these guys......IMHO Dacor doesn't suck. It may be over priced, but it definately doesn't suck. My whole set up is Dacor, and I really like it. I have had it for 6 years now, and it has performed flawlessly. I have never had anything fail or break on me and it has been very consistent. I am a purely recreational diver. I don't do caves, wrecks, cold water or any other forms of extreme diving, so I don't need an "extreme" set up like ALOT of the people who post here do.
I absolutely love my Dacor RIG BC. I have the original one from back in 1995-96, and I still love it to this day. It may be a bit smaller on me than back then
, but it is still my favorite BC I have ever worn. IMO Back in flation is the ONLY way to go, no matter who the manufacturer is. ANY kind of back inflate beats a normal BC hands down. From there you just have to decide what YOU need in a BC, what you can afford, and what kind of diving you are going to do. If its extreme with a dry suit, go with the Halcyon system, if recreational only.....then there are alot of good recreational back inflate BC's out there to choose form.
If I was to do it today, I probably wouldn't go 100% Dacor, but for different reason than "it's crap/junk". Unlike back in 1996, there is alot more afordable very high quality stuff out on the market now. With online retailers, equipment has goten even cheaper, so you can put together a really high quality set of gear for a fraction of the cost f 5-7 years ago.
If I was going to go out and by a new set up today, I would look into the following manufacturers for a purely recreational set up:
Regulator/1st Stage: Apeks or Scubapro...can't go wrong either way with these 2....The scubapro D-400 is still my all time fav regulator.
BC: Back inflate is a must, vest BC's make me feel like I am wearing a straight jacket.
I would buy a Zeagle Ranger or Concept Sport, or a Scubapro Knighthawk. I would also seriously look at the Dacor RIG, but the new III version looks a little goofy with 25 D rings on it now, but its still a good back inflate BC. Possibly an IDI back inflate BC, but I don't know much about them. One of the things that is a muct for me in a BC is REMOVEABLE weight system. I dive in the tropics (Cozumel) and on the small fast boats they use there, you hand your weights in or toss them over the side before you take off your BC and hand it up. For me, I dive with 15-20 pounds of weight, so that coupled with an XL back inflate BC makes for one heavy BC if your weights don't come out, and is probably going to give the poor boat driver a hernia trying to lift a 50+# bc into the boat. With my Dacor RIG, the weights pull out and i can toss them over the side of the boat before I hand my BC off.
Guages: Suunto. From all that I have been reading the past year or so, Suunto seems to be at the top of just about everyones list for dive computers, plus they are pretty affodable now a days. I also think Oceanic makes good stuff, but I think they may be Suunto's made.
Anyways, I say all of that to say this: IMHO Dacor isn't junk. I have dove with mine for 6 years now and it has held up for me. Now over the last 6 years (since I bought mine and Mares bought Dacor) things may have changed there. I know the market has for sure, and I can imagine with being bought by another scuba company like Mares that things probably aren't what they were at Dacor, but I don't think they are selling junk.
Just try to get the best bang for your buck, decide what kind of diving you are going to do, and DON'T limit yourself to just one brand for all your gear. Mix and match if you like, it can be done! (Something I wish I had known way back when!
) If you go with Apeks, Scubapro, Suunto, Zeagle, you will NOT be disappointed.
Hope this helps,
Justin
