Mares reg

[dachsie]

Hi all,

my 1st post on this board, so would appreciate any tips and advice!

I've been looking around to purchase my own scubagear, and am considering the Mares v32 proton xl reg and proton oct

the dive shop i've gone to quoted me $462 for the set, but it's still negotiable. I am in Singapore right now.

any comments on the price and recommendations on other brands. I usually rent, and haven't been on hte lookout for gears, so am not familiar with current technology, models. any advice appreciated!

TIA

 

[scubatoys]

The Proton is a pretty good little 2nd stage... And the V32 is a nice 1st stage in that it uses the spherical core seat design. We don't sell a bunch of them, because we got a great deal from Mares on the V16 Proton regs. Those run much cheaper - and they are exactly the same internally. So most people opt not to spend $150 or so more for a diffent outside appearance.

But either way, the spherical core seat design is great and very trouble free.

 

[Paul Evans]

Larrys right, I've got the Proton XL / 32 with proton Octo, but as the man says your paying for looks.

The proton regs are IMHO very good.

 

[fungi3001]

i use the v16 and proton (its nitrox but i got sent the wrong one) as well as teh proton octo. they seem great

guy

 

[murphdivers286]

Nothing against Mares, but if price isn't too much of an issue - check out Atomic. I have the Atomic B2 and love it. It's breathing as easy at 100' as it is at 10'. I know a lot of people will say it is a lot of money, but to me it was worth the money. I had to put it on layaway and pay on it. It's great. Just my opinion though. Good Luck!

 

[miketsp]

Doesn't this line include Titanium parts?
Since I dive Nitrox now and again I wouldn't have Titanium in my 1st stage even if you paid me.
See spontaneous ignition curve for Titanium.

 

[dachsie]

thanks for comments!

i'm going to do another round of dive shop visiting this weekend. What about scubapro, and apeks?
I don't think there's a dealer for Atomic in Singapore though.

thanks again!

 

[edwinh]

I'm using the V32 first stage and the Proton Ice second. It's a real pleasure breathing them.

If you had shopped around, you'll find that Mares' top range is a fair bit cheaper than ScubaPro's top range.

I was deciding between the Mk25/X650 and the V32/Proton Ice. Got the latter at S$200 less and never regretted since. There are no problems getting spares for servicing in Singapore. I'm not too sure about elsewhere.

How long will you be in Singapore?

If you have money to burn, try Mares Ruby. :10:

 

[PurduEE]

Doesn't this line include Titanium parts?
Since I dive Nitrox now and again I wouldn't have Titanium in my 1st stage even if you paid me.
See spontaneous ignition curve for Titanium.

nope. no titanium parts. Mares did include titanium seats in their higher-end first stages, but they got all those parts out of the channel at least 2 years ago. There are still some ti planet regs out there (body is titanium, not sure about the innards), but those regs are usually on super-duper closeout. In general, titanium was a bust for Mares, and it seems they now avoid it like the plague.

 

[edwinh]

Ti is good, if you just want to dive air and no enriched mixtures.

It's a little lighter and much less corrosion inside.

So if you want a 4 times more expensive air-only reg with all the good corrosion resistant qualities and relatively lightness, you can check out Scubapro's Mk25T/S600T.

Mares left Titanium business because their normal metal ones are as good. It was not worth the cost. Ti is very expensive to work with.

There are people in this forum who will condemn Mares for some reason or the other. However, from my experience with Mares so far, most of those reasons are not very accurate. It may be difficult to get parts in certain countries or states, that's about as bad as it gets.