Mares V16 titanium 1st stage
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why are you interested in this regulator in the first place? Is Mares a brand that you are wanting to purchase for a specific reason, or have you found a very good deal on this?
They are very old, but should still be able to be serviced. It is a V16 first stage as shown in the picture, and the second stage is an Akros. Mares, unsurprisingly since they're Italian, like to fiddle with things and tend to remake their regs quite regularly as opposed to companies like Scubapro, Poseidon, Aqualung, Apeks, Atomic, etc that get a good design and stick with it. Mares feels the need to come out with something "new" every year or two. It is what it is. Call a service tech and verify whether they can get parts for these regs, but it shouldn't be a problem.
The history of this regulator is as simple as Mares trying to capitalize on the Titanium craze in the early 2000's, nothing more. Titanium is not a justified material to use in scuba unless you really need to shave ounces out of your luggage for travel, it offers no benefit in performance over brass, but has limitations in terms of O2 mixes. It is a good enough regulator, but I would look at other brands if I were purchasing.
They are very old, but should still be able to be serviced. It is a V16 first stage as shown in the picture, and the second stage is an Akros. Mares, unsurprisingly since they're Italian, like to fiddle with things and tend to remake their regs quite regularly as opposed to companies like Scubapro, Poseidon, Aqualung, Apeks, Atomic, etc that get a good design and stick with it. Mares feels the need to come out with something "new" every year or two. It is what it is. Call a service tech and verify whether they can get parts for these regs, but it shouldn't be a problem.
The history of this regulator is as simple as Mares trying to capitalize on the Titanium craze in the early 2000's, nothing more. Titanium is not a justified material to use in scuba unless you really need to shave ounces out of your luggage for travel, it offers no benefit in performance over brass, but has limitations in terms of O2 mixes. It is a good enough regulator, but I would look at other brands if I were purchasing.
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Vq-1
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just inquiring because I've read a little about titanium regs and found out just recently that Mares and one. So, were these regulators milled out of titanium or were they just coated titanium? I know about how corrosion resistant titanium is.
OP
Vq-1
Contributor
Oh, thanks for the quick reply
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they are milled, it is just not a problem if you take care of your gear
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Vq-1
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That is really interesting. Milled from a solid piece of titanium. No wonder why that cost >$1000 when they were new.
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Atomic still makes first stages milled from titanium...
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Vq-1
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I think scubapro does as well. Pricey
It's called the Titan ......not a drop of titanium in it.
Mares also had a MR22 Abyss Titanium that had a "titanium" chrome coating (that wore off and looked bad very quickly).
They did make one kosher titanium reg for a very short time called the "ti-planet".
What your pic is showing is the MR16 first stage with the scs (spherical cone seat) coupled with the Proton second stage ..... and don't forget that special plastic jewel bead in the middle of the purge.
The 1st stage is absolutely fine (like all Mares first stages), that particular 2nd stage was about the worst thing they ever made.
(the Akros was one of their better efforts btw......just ask Mares guru Mr Barlow)
Mares also had a MR22 Abyss Titanium that had a "titanium" chrome coating (that wore off and looked bad very quickly).
They did make one kosher titanium reg for a very short time called the "ti-planet".
What your pic is showing is the MR16 first stage with the scs (spherical cone seat) coupled with the Proton second stage ..... and don't forget that special plastic jewel bead in the middle of the purge.
The 1st stage is absolutely fine (like all Mares first stages), that particular 2nd stage was about the worst thing they ever made.
(the Akros was one of their better efforts btw......just ask Mares guru Mr Barlow)
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the one pictured may be the titan, but they did produce a titanium version of the v16 so I was answering the question
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