Since someone brought up issues w/ the retractor, I'll touch on my personal view of it just during assembly yesterday.
For some strange reason, the retractor feels like it drags a bit when it is deployed. When attempting to return it to a "hands-free" position, the retractor did not want to retract fully. It actually left almost 1 inch of cable out and had to be pulled and released a second time to get it to retract fully.
To my recollection, the Oceanic retractor for the VT3 is a sealed unit that can not be opened by a tech at a LDS. It would be nice to have a non-sealed unit that can be serviced by an LDS. That is, unless replacing the entrie unit is cheaper than getting repair parts (for the LDS or the customer).
Also, for those of you who have experience w/ retractors, I suggest that since there is a $1000 pc tied to a cable and plastic that you fashion a lanyard from some 550 cord or something as a "dummy" strap in the event of retractor breakage (think Murphy's Law).
I also own a Cetacea gauge retractor for my Mares Mission dashboard. I do not have and have yet to experience any issues with that particular retractor. It has 60 salt water dives, 8-10 pool dives, and another 40 muck-water (lake) dives.
I DO like the fact that if the clip for the retractor (that clips to your gear) breaks, you don't need to order just a new clip. I've got a "hose wrap" style clip w/velcro closure for my older gauges (made by Trident or Cetacea). The velcro on this particular clip will wrap right around the retractor clip slot w/o incident. Just a little tip for you "save-a-dive" kit nuts.
