Looking at buying my gear

[mystweaver]

Hi there,

I have been diving for 6 months now and am currently working on my advanced cert. I am looking at buying my own gear and would welcome some opinions on the options that I have found.

option 1
Apollo
incursion BCD
reg BIO A-320
Occy BIO
Twin combo dive computer



Option 2
Mares
prestige or dragon BCD
Reg abyss 22 + mr22
rover occy
mission puck 2


Both sems like they will be fine for the light rec use that I will be doing. Both are about the same price point. Just apollo does not seem to have the same market presence as the mares. Is servicing either of these brands equipment a problem? Or reliability?
Or am I over thinking the issue

many thanks

 

[fjpatrum]

Servicing is going to be very location specific, though I don't know of any reason it would be hard to service either of those brands. I have no experience with the Apollos but I like the way the Mares brand regs I have work. Ask your preferred local shop what brands they can and will service. If they cover both then you're golden. If they don't and you want to do your service locally, you'll have your answer.

Especially if you're just doing recreational diving either combination would be fine.

 

[DivemasterDennis]

Agree both are fine. And at the advanced AOL level be sure to include a compass, please.
DivemasterDennis

 

[mystweaver]

I ironically got a compass this last week!
I can get both gear serviced locally, just at various stores get kinda stuck to particular brands gear. Impartial advice about performance is a bit harder to come by. Mares gear comes in at about $300 less than the Apollo. How has anyone found the ease of use of this gear or the longevity. I don't really want to have to rebuy something that I could have prevented.

 

[fjpatrum]

I have a predecessor of the Mares MR22 I bought used about a year or two ago. I believe it was manufactured in the early-mids 70s. It works great. The longevity of any modern reg (or pretty much any reg ever) will be as long as you want it to last. Just service it regularly and maintain it properly and it will last as long as you do.

 

[Quero]

If you are planning on extensive dive travel and think you may need service elsewhere, buy the brand with a broader reach. For example, if you were planning to do a bunch of diving where I am, I would say go with Mares, because Apollo is just too hard to get parts for in many places in the world. In general, though, I tend not to like Mares regs much, other than the Abyss. So I'd say that if you go for the Mares brand, upgrade the reg to the Abyss 57.