Mares Dragon or Aqualung Axiom without I3

[Tournesol2000]

my bad. was not the Dragon BCD.
it was this one

 

[Ankush Mittal]

This past weekend I went for my open water certification. I was using a rental Axiom and my dive partner the Dragon.
I liked the Axiom but lost a weight pocket! 10lbs in it. I swear I clicked it in place, but it went bye bye. Could not recover it.
The dragon was a problem as it was difficult to orally inflate and was dangerous in my opinion for neewbies to use.
I also found the inflate/deflate process uncomfortable in the dragon as compared to standard layout with hose.
Not a lit if empirical evidence based on 2 days of diving, but I hope this helps.

Just for the future, in my humble opinion, 3kg or 6 pounds should be the maximum in any weight pocket. You would be better off putting a bit on the trim pockets around the tank to give you a better center of gravity.

But still, its a rental and may not have been properly maintained, such as salt deposits or corrosion of the lock system. Possibly the click you heard could be something else. Always shake the weight pocket a bit to ensure its in place.

I had taken out my weight pockets before getting back on the boat after the dives to make it easier and handed it to the captain, I forgot to put it back before the next dive and I couldn't descent, so luckily the boat didn't venture far way and I got him to hand it to me and I locked it in on the water surface, and I checked it to ensure its locked.

I just hope they didn't get you to pay for the replacement .

If it was so fragile they would have discontinued it, its not worth a possible lawsuit that if it opens up that easily and someone shoots for the surface and gets seriously bent.

 

[Ankush Mittal]

View attachment 423732 my bad. was not the Dragon BCD.
it was this one

From what I have seen Mares is mostly entry level stuff and especially used extensively for rental equipment across the world. Its the usual go to rental gear due to the cost effectiveness compared to other brands like Scubapro and Aqualung.

 

[sameer.oundhakar]

Hi everyone,

This is my first post on this website.
I currently own a Mares dragon BCD which has never been used and I got it for a great price.

Ive heard that the weight pockets tend to fall out and I find the general pockets quite hard to access.
Im currently doing my dive master internship btw.

I thought about returning this BC and getting an Aqualung Axiom without the I3 and I've heard the weight pockets are better and the pockets on the jacket are lower therefor easier to get in and out of.

Can anyone comment on which they prefer and pros and cons of both? What they think I should do.

I haven't dived with the Mares but own the Axiom and have done around 100 dives with it. Great comfortable BCD outside and in water, good quality and durable materials and light enough to travel with. I've had no problems with the surelock II weight pockets. The pockets are also large enough to stow stuff like an SMB / finger reel, signal mirrors, etc.