The Mares & Dacor HUB

[sky50960]

When buying a HUB think about positive points and negative points.

A HUB is nice to own, it is very compact. ( no tubes around you which may get stuck )
I know a little about the Mares HUB and was thinking to buy one, but decided not to : why?

If you have a technical problem with the HUB regulator or BC you have to leave everything in the shop.
The air trim is OK (easy to reach and stay in place) but your dive buddy has to now how to use it.
The oral inflator is very difficult to reach as well as the octopus which is located in a translucent pocket.
Very difficult to take the BC off under water and fix a potential problem.
In many dive schools the exercises are not adapted to such material.
I forgot : Very bulky, no regulator chose


I decided not to buy a HUB...

Fa

 

[Corsair]

I've seen the HUB, it's an interesting setup. However, my opinion on it is that it looks a little awkward and bulky. I considered it when I was buying my rig. I decided to go with the tried and true BC, reg, octo, and gauges. If you can, try it out in the water and give a report under general equipment discussions (since the thing doesn't fall under any one category). The main thing to consider is how it feels to you. Is it comfortable and easy to use? The companies that put it out are both reputable, therefore service should not be an issue. It really boils down to what works for you.

 

[sky50960]

When I tried the HUB I felt physically quite comfortable with it, but psychologically unsafe.
Maybe there should be a change in the mind of diving with using HUB's and air trim systems.
Maybe diving schools have to adapt their diving lessons to such material.

 

[Tavi]

I tried out a Mares HUB in the pool. I really liked the Airtrim feature,But thats all. The BC felt bulky. You don't get a choice of regulator, You get whatever regulator comes on it. If any part of it needs service, the whole thing has to go.

The shop I bought my equipment from, allowed me to put together my own package. Then gave me discount prices for buying it all at once. I tried a lot of different BC's and Regs Before choosing. I did a lot of research on the web, I checked out different shops and talked to other divers.

You can get a lot of information and opinions by checking out older threads on the boards.

Don't buy the first thing you think you like. What I ended up buying is nowhere near what I originaly thought I wanted.

Tavi

P.S.I have checked my spelling and punctuation, and hope it is acceptable to most members.

 

[Ladydiver]

This thread has been edited due to some rather uncalled for things that were said in the beginning of the thread.

Please keep in mind that with the international nature of this forum, some of the posts may not be in perfect English. Please have some patience and understand that people are doing the best they can.

 

[I Dive Do You]

The removed threads were a small dispute between another diver and me. I apoligize to all about what I said. SORRY!

 

[sky50960]

About the price...
I could get a better price deal buying a Abyss regulator + octo + pressure gauge and the BC.
A friend of mine managed to get a better deal buying a dragonfly BC and Abyss reg. than the Mares HUB.

But for the HUB "claming Mares innovation " now way to get a deal...

Don't forget the regulator peaces are specially buid for the HUB, now way to borrow a regulator from somebody else.

Maybe one day we all will be using AIR TRIM systems and/or HUB's...There MUST BE A CONSTANT EVOLUTION...
Tomorrow we might all be using rebreather, who knows.

I think actually it is nice to have such HUB in parallele to a conventionnal gear but you need to have the $$$$$$$

But if you really feel confortable with the HUB buy one, but not if you are buying your very first diving gear.

Mares is a very good label.

Fa

 

[sky50960]

Have a look here about the HUB :

http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?threadid=1199

 

[Dafydd]

This is a request for opinions about the Dacor HUB.
If you own it why?
If not, Why?
Do you know anyone who has one and how they feel about it?
I heard that the pockets tend to get excesive wear. Can anyone confirm or invalidate this?
How about problems that require getting it serviced?

I did look though the site but only found negatives about Mares HUB. With the biggest complaint being that you have to leave the whole thing at the shop when it needs servicing. But these comments seemed to be from people that don't have one. Can anyone who owns a HUB confirm this. Couldn't you rent regs to put on it? I.E. rent a Viper? Even if it meant taking the whole thing in to swap for rental regs? I would have thought that the hoses and second stages just need to be threaded though the jacket. So couldn't a person put other than Viper regs on it?

I think the Dacor HUB is what I want under my Christmas tree this year. Despite the negative comments.

Oh ya, the last thing. Some one told me that they are hard to clean after a dive. How about some one that has used both commenting on this.

Thanks
Dafydd

 

[TexasMike]

Hey Dafydd! Welcome to ScubaBoard! And glad you made it here from "that other" chat board. Hopefully you'll make this place your home as I did.

Be sure to post something in the "Intro's and Greetings" section about yourself, your past diving experiences, where you are, what you like to do, and lots of other interesting stuff.

One thing I would highly suggest about your wanting to obtain the HUB is to see if a shop will let you dive with it in the pool at least (lake/quarry even better) so you can try it "for real" to see if it is what you want. Often, what looks good on the display might have something about it (quirk, negative feature, etc), that would cause buyer's remorse if you didn't discover the negative until after you bought it. A common bit of advice from many ScubaBoarders is to try out the new gear in the pool before you plop your hard earned cash down on the counter.

Anyhow, glad your here!!!