The MK 17 is a superb first stage, the R395 is just average, but capable of good to very good performance depending on how it is tuned. For all intents and purpoises the R395 and R295 are identical in terms of internal parts. I am not a fan of detuned octos, so my advice is what ever octo you get, ask that it be tuned for minimum inhalation effort.
I am also a seious fan of the long hose primary (5' works great for recreational diving) and having the octo on a 22" to 26" hose on a bungee around your neck.
Unless you are diving cold water, the Mk 11 is a less expensive alternative that is just a Mk 17 without the sealed ambient chamber. For bit more mopney the S555, S600 and G250V second stages affer a lot more performance. The G250V is superb.
I am not a real big fan of package deals where the LDS sells a fixed package. It is common to sell packages as a means to get around minium pricing requirements. For example Scubapro may require a regulator to be sold at no less than $500 when the dealer cost is $250. So the LDS may package it with an different brand BC where dealer cost is also low, but where there is no minimum pricing. (which appears to be the case here). The end result is the dealer can "sell" the reg for the full minimum required price of $500 but then sell the BC at or under dealer cost to give the diver a much larger than nrmally allowed discount on the package including the regulator.
However, that could be done with any regulator and, as Scubapro allows a dealer to order either fixed packages or individual first and second stages, the dealer can give you essentially the same deal on any Scubapro regulator. Dealer cost varies a bit depending on the amount of sales the dealer has every year and it also varies a bit on the regulator models (dealer cost being lower percentage wise on high end regs compared to low end regs) but on average deaelr cost runs about have the suggested retail as an industry average. so if you estimate the actual dealer cost as being half the retail price, you will be in the ball park.
So...I'd counter offer on the package to perhaps save a little on the first stage by going with the Mk 11 unless you will be diving in water colder than 45 degrees, and I'd spend more money to get a balanced second stage as it will breathe noticeably better and serve you much better over the long term.
As for Msres, I am pretty predjudiced so take what I say with a grain of salt. Mares bought Dacor and then screwed Dacor owners hard when they dropped service and parts support for basically all Dacor regs except the few they kept in current production. I also had some very negative experiences getting parts from Mares even for Mares regs. It was an issue Mares eventually fixed, but Mares has overall never imnpressed me and their poor track record with long term support does not give me confidence about how they will treat their current regs over the long term.
In contrast Scubapro still supports nearly every reg it ever made in terms of annual service parts, and still provides 100% warranty upport on any reg bought through an authorized dealer by the original owner. In other words if they stop supporting your reg or can;t fix it they will replace it with a new model. For example I recently had a customer with a Mk 15 (out of production for perhaps 15 years) that had a material problem with the first stage body. As it was no longer available as a part, Scubapro replaced it with a new Mk 25 first stage as it was the first stage most comparable to (and actually a lot better than) the Mk 15.
When I see Mares provide that level of warranty service and support for a 15-20 year old Dacor or Mares reg, I will modify my opinion of them.
