pauldw
Contributor
I certified two or three decades ago, and haven't been diving lately, and am getting back into it. Seems there are new and different things going on, like people swimming while holding their hands in front of them, and not overweighting themselves, and using electronic gadgets rather than their SPG to tell them when their dive is over. That's all nice. But regarding gear, back when I first started there were some well known companies that made kludgy, industrial looking gear that was pretty solid, just ugly (US Divers, ScubaPro, Aqua Lung, maybe Sherwood) and some companies that had some sort of design aesthetic in addition to making functioning gear.(Sea Quest, TUSA, Mares). Over time, a company's name can hang on while quality declines (Schwinn bicycles comes to mind, as it's just a licensed name now). And there are some brands I've never heard of that appear to be priced lower than other gear for a reason. What's making me wonder is that I've seen some criticism of both Oceanic and Mares. Are those companies really slipping into the bottom tier? Because I like the look and descriptions of some of their gear, and I might be in the market for gear this Christmas.