Poseidon regulators??

[ams511]

AMS, I will continue to say it because it is true, you can not get factory service kits or parts for Aqualung/Scubapro etc. regulators without being a factory trained service technician, working for an authorized dealer. You can get 3rd party kits sure, but if you need a replacement "part" that isn't part of the kits, you can't buy them from the factory. Hog is as good as Dive Rite, but I prefer the XT's to the D3's, personal preference. When Jack hiked the price of the regs up to the point where you have no advantage to buying hogs, you may as well go with something that you can get serviced globally if you aren't servicing themselves.

I am sorry but it is not true. I am not in the dive industry and not a tech, yet I have factory rebuild kits from Apeks, Aqualung, Scubapro, and others. Granted, some were purchased off dive shops, others from eBay, and some from other divers on SB. So they can be had without being in the industry. For most manufacturers that sell parts you do not "buy from the factory" but need to go through a dealer.

Your posts are biased towards Poseidon. I remember when Poseidon was considered the "bee's knees" with technical divers in the 90s. However, the regulators were expensive and not really very popular. Poseidon then left the U.S. market for years leaving owners high and dry for parts and service. How long were they absent from the U.S. market? 10, 15 years? Now, they have returned by setting up a few online dealers like DRIS, and DGX. However, these dealers can dump Poseidon (or Poseidon dump them) very easily. DGX used to be a big HOG dealer and they dumped them and DRIS just dumped xDeep. These things happen.

Even when Poseidon did have dealers in the U.S. the were known to be difficult to service and required a real tech not a wrench turner. If someone is interested in self-servicing their regulators then they are much better off choosing a conventional regulator rather than a Poseidon.

 

[tbone1004]

I will not disagree with the last comment, but the official policy from Poseidon allows dealers to sell parts and kits to customers. Has nothing to do with buying directly from the manufacturer, but everything to do with whether the dealers are allowed to sell the parts kits as part of their dealer agreement. With Scubapro and Aqualung, this is expressly forbidden.

Your comment about official parts kits is completely bs, because from other individuals, from surplus dive shop parts, from ebay, and from Europe are against the official policies of Aqualung, Scubapro, and most others. Dealers have been dropped by Aqualung and Scubapro for providing new parts kits to unauthorized techs. I have sources for both, I have a few brand new, official parts kits from Apeks in front of me right now, but I will not tell anyone where I got them, because that dealer will be at risk of being dropped. So, now tell me where you can officially buy Scubapro and Aqualung parts kits without them coming off of the black or grey markets and then I'll agree with you. A few dealers in Europe that have customer protection laws requiring them to sell parts and kits to the customers were dropped by Aqualung as dealers because they were caught sending them to the US a few years ago....

Aqualungs official policy. Scubapros is similar
It is our policy only to sell repair parts to authorized Aqua Lung Dealers. There are no exceptions to this policy.

 

[ams511]

Your comment about official parts kits is completely bs, because from other individuals, from surplus dive shop parts, from ebay, and from Europe are against the official policies of Aqualung, Scubapro, and most others.

If you read your original statement, you said a person cannot get factory service kits unless they are a tech at a scuba shop. That is completely false, even you yourself admit to being in possession of factory kits. So if anyone's statement is complete BS it is yours.

The question is not what are Aqualung's and Scubapro's official policies but if parts are available for their products and the answer to that is yes. As you know but maybe some newer divers don't. A rebuilt regulator can go for 2 or more years without a rebuild. So there is plenty of time to plan ahead and get a new service kit. I am not going to reveal any sources and get a shop in trouble any more than you will.

 

[tbone1004]

ok, so we admit that any parts we have go against the manufacturers official policies, can get the shops we get them from in trouble, and completely void the warranty of these regs? My point was that you can't easily purchase factory kits without going to black market, or "knowing" someone, which most of us at this point do, but is reason enough for me not to ever recommend someone purchase new regs from AUP, Aqualung, or Scubapro if they have any interest in servicing them on their own.

As an alternative, we can officially purchase parts for Poseidon, and if we want to maintain the warranty, we can purchase regulators like Hog or Dive Rite who do not have their warranties predicated on regular service intervals by authorized factory techs. You also don't see me recommending Poseidon to people on a regular basis because I don't think they are for everyone, and their new prices are insane, though inline with Atomic, Scubapro et al.

 

[buddhasummer]

I too can get factory service kits for both Apeks and Scubapro from a couple of dive stores. I have read before about them getting into to trouble for doing so, so I don't advertise where from. I do get kits for one of my dive buddies though. I don't think they get too many people buying them though as DIY is not as common in Japan as the US, over here there is a very strong "abunai" (danger!) culture. I didn't know you could buy third party kits.

 

[ams511]

ok, so we admit that any parts we have go against the manufacturers official policies, can get the shops we get them from in trouble, and completely void the warranty of these regs? My point was that you can't easily purchase factory kits without going to black market, or "knowing" someone, which most of us at this point do, but is reason enough for me not to ever recommend someone purchase new regs from AUP, Aqualung, or Scubapro if they have any interest in servicing them on their own.

We are in agreement, although I would not characterize eBay as the "black market".

As an alternative, we can officially purchase parts for Poseidon, and if we want to maintain the warranty, we can purchase regulators like Hog or Dive Rite who do not have their warranties predicated on regular service intervals by authorized factory techs. You also don't see me recommending Poseidon to people on a regular basis because I don't think they are for everyone, and their new prices are insane, though inline with Atomic, Scubapro et al.

My understanding (for Scubapro at least) is the regular servicing only applies to parts for life programs. The warranty is still whatever it was when purchased. In my opinion the warranty is of limited value because there is little that can go wrong with a properly maintained regulator. Also the warranty is most often against factory defects which can be whatever the manufacturer says it is.

I have never used Poseidon regulators and they may be the best regulators ever made. However, they have a very sketchy history of U.S. support for their products which cannot be ignored, especially when buying new. The ability to purchase service kits does not matter if the regulator is too complicated to be serviced properly by the average DIYer.

 

[runsongas]

the required service intervals for AL/SP are to keep current for parts for life programs iirc. i couldn't find any difference between the limited warranties of AL/SP versus HOG/Dive Rite. from my understanding, servicing your regulator while not being an officially trained tech voids the warranty for all manufacturers. the big difference would be that HOG offers the regulator service course without requiring you to work at a dive shop.

 

[ams511]

the required service intervals for AL/SP are to keep current for parts for life programs iirc. i couldn't find any difference between the limited warranties of AL/SP versus HOG/Dive Rite. from my understanding, servicing your regulator while not being an officially trained tech voids the warranty for all manufacturers. the big difference would be that HOG offers the regulator service course without requiring you to work at a dive shop.

So true. DGX now has a bunch of disclaimers on their site that servicing your regulator or BC violates your warranty.

 

[wgmontgomery]

Jusr a quick FYI: I seriously considered buying the Jetstream reg, but it was sold before I could do anything.