I was wondering if anyone knows if Dacor is still making equipment under their name. When I tried going to thier website, the most updated thing that I could find was a 2006 catalog. I've since read that Mares has bought Dacor. Does anyone have the scoop?
Is Dacor still around?
- Thread starter Syd7890
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Syd7890:
Hello Syd,
Sorry to say that Dacor was bought out by Mares. My first regulator was a Dacor Olympic and I just sold it a couple of years ago. I also used Dacor regulators when I was an independent instructor and always got good use out of them.
Unfortunately, Mares does not support or service the older Dacor regulators anymore. Conversely, Scuba Pro and Aqualung still support their old models. For this reason, there are a few of us who will not by a Mares product.
Do a search "Dacor Mares" in this forum for more info.
Good luck,
couv
It is dead and buried. Was supposed to be resurrected but have not heard anything so far.
Scuba.com
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Dacor is indeed still around. Technically they were bought out by Mares parent company, HTM Sports. (Head, Tyrolia, Mares) The catalog seems to get smaller and smaller every year, but the word we get from their offices is that they plan on maintaining the name for the foreseeable future. There are still products available under the Dacor name. You can contact them at (800) 874-3236.
Anyone remember AMF/Voit Swimmaster? They were purchased in the late 1970's by Mares and never heard from again.
mike_s
Contributor
Syd7890:
I think most of us have "moved on" and chosen another brand that is better supported.
Greg Barlow
Contributor
captndale:
This is totally incorrect. AMF purchased Mares in the late 1970s, a few years before that Mares started producing several items for the Swimaster and Voit lines. After AMF sold off the lines, Mares was the only survivor. Never did Mares as a corporation own the Voit or Swimaster name. In fact, much to Mares credit, they kept the MR12 much as it was. Take a look at the VAD system on the second stage. That was developed in part by both Italian and American engineers. It was first released on the AMF Swimaster MR12 II.
Furthermore, Dacor was a company that was in financial ruin prior to Mares purchasing its remaining "low value" stocks. After Sam Davison passed away, Dacor began a downward financial spiral. It was going BANKRUPT with no help in sight...
When Mares purchased the company, it was by name only. The tooling for the vast majority of Dacor parts was actually owned by independent contractors. Those contractors made the majority of small parts for the regs and other gear. Considering that the die for a rubber item (such as an exhaust valve) cost on the average more than five thousand dollars to produce, why would Mares invest all that capital in parts that they would be LUCKY to break even with? It makes no financial sense at all. Think about it....Would you make spare parts for a regulator that hadn't been sold for five years, and wasn't that great of a design in the first place? I have worked on the last models that Dacor actually produced here in the USA, and they weren't anything to brag about. Talk about a few O-rings in a first stage!
Yes, I wish that Dacor was still around in its original form. That great company died when Sam Davison passed onto the eternal coral reef. As far as I'm concerned, Mares never had a moral or financial reason to keep making parts for its old products.
Whether we like it or not, the diving industry is relatively small. This isn't the automobile industry where it makes financial logic to make parts for a 1969 Ford Mustang.
Rant over....
Greg Barlow
Former Science Editor for Rodale's Scuba Diving Magazine
Greg,
Thank you for setting the historical record straight on the Mares/AMF/Dacor purchases. I always look forward to reading your post; however, I have to disagree about Mares' obligation to support the Dacor line. They bought the name and reputation of Dacor. Big company, small company, you buy the name and along with it goes loyalty to the customers. If they were not going to support the line, then then they had no right to the name.
Whatever tooling arrangements Dacor had, I'm reasonably certain that the new parent company could have extended to continue support.
couv
Thank you for setting the historical record straight on the Mares/AMF/Dacor purchases. I always look forward to reading your post; however, I have to disagree about Mares' obligation to support the Dacor line. They bought the name and reputation of Dacor. Big company, small company, you buy the name and along with it goes loyalty to the customers. If they were not going to support the line, then then they had no right to the name.
Whatever tooling arrangements Dacor had, I'm reasonably certain that the new parent company could have extended to continue support.
couv
halocline
Contributor
Well, Mares did offer a trade in policy for owners of older Dacor regs who could not find parts any more. While I never knew the details of that policy and whether or not it was a good deal, it was an act of good will that was not really required by the company.
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