What kind of Black Friday deals should be expected?

[divad]

 

[opie712]

To the OP as someone who thought that they was nothing but scubapro to dive I have several mk25 s600 and a hog d1 classic and have took both on dives from the surface to depth warm and cold water they is no difference in breathing I could tell which I'll admit hurt my feeling that the $750 "top notch " reg perform no better than the $179 hog plus the hog is user serviceable which is a money saver and I think my work is better than a tech it's my gear I really care about vs a tech who could care less they don't dive it and are just trying to get numbers out the door

 

[Egkid]

I'm still trying to be patient and wait for Black Friday so I figure I mine as well get any questions knocked out before then. I've been cruising my LDS's and to my surprise one of them had the same prices as online stores and could take 10% off but said not to expect any sales during black Friday. I will probably go this route but will still wait until after Black Friday just in case. I actually liked this guy too, he told me that an mk11/r195 would be more than enough for what I plan on using them for, so he's not about making top dollar. If I go the Scubapro route I'm still going with the mk25/s600 or mk21/s560 though.

Now I've been using Leisure Pro to base prices off of, and the Aqualung Titan LUX really looks amazing but I haven't seen too many reviews on them. Right now LP has them listed for $499, I walked into another LDS who is an Aqualung dealer and saw it listed for $1,075! no this wasn't the supreme version either. Now I know Leisure Pro isn't a dealer so they don't have to follow Aqualung's pricing nor will I get Aqualungs warranty, but man a $500 difference is mind boggling. How are the legend LUX's? I'm more worried about long term use as ideally I'll keep this reg for 10-15 years to a lifetime. I'll be honest looks is also playing a role in my regulator choice too, and Aqualung is winning in this department.

 

[opie712]

if your going the scubapro route i would go with ebay and buy brand new "grey market" i bought a mk25 s600 for $450 from a seller in Italy it was brand new in package they have a good rep and i was super happy took about 5 days to deliver with free shipping and the way i feel about warranty is its a BIG word with lots of small print and the parts for life is a joke i dont service until it needs it like the saying if it aint broke dont fix it well this applys to scuba gear also and if you figure yearly servicing you got a ton of money in just that

 

[Egkid]

I've been checking Ebay religiously, everything new is going for the normal $729. Even used for a 2013-2014 is going for $500+. Like you I'm not worried about their warranty, they got rid of their parts for life deal unless you buy a complete kit now (bcd, octo, and reg). That's another thing I'm worried about with aqualung, service kits don't seem to be as available. Right now there's about 5 first and second stage service kits for Scubapro, vs. just one first stage service kit for the Aqualung legend. Does anyone know if the Mk21 uses the same service kit as the Mk25? From what I've read the piston is smaller in the Mk21 so I'm assuming it'll take a different service kit. And if it does use a different kit I'd be worried about the time it'll take for them to hit the "grey market".

 

[decompression]

HOG just makes sense to those of us that don't have millions. I use them for student/rental sets and they are bullet proof and economical.

 

[Egkid]

For me hog hasn't been around long enough for me to feel comfortable buying one, I'm buying this reg with the intentions of it lasting at least 10-15 years. Who knows how long HOG will last hopefully they'll last that long but for me they're still too new(compared to the other companies I'm looking at) to make that decision. What happens if they go out of business? I doubt an aftermarket company will bother making a kit for such a cheap reg. I'm also not a fan of the look of them, just my personal taste. If I were to ever buy a second reg setup I can almost guarantee it'll be a HOG cause I'm not spending this much on a reg ever again. But at this point I have no interest what so ever in technical diving so the need for more than one regulator doesn't seem necessary. I'm comparing it to buying a car, sure a civic will do the job but if I can afford a Cadillac or Ferrari (whatever you want to compare that reg to) will do that job so much nicer. Same thing with buying new vs used, again if this is the only reg I buy for the next 10-15 years why not spend the extra $200-$300 and get it new. After 10-15 years the price between new and used is negligible. This is the last piece I need to buy for my setup(besides miscellaneous stuff like flashlights or whatever) so I'm not worried about saving the money for more gear.

For the guys that have multiple setups it doesn't make any sense what so ever to spring for high end setups because, well it just doesn't. But if you bought one and only regulator for the rest of your life with no regard to resale value, would you still buy a HOG or used??

That's just my thought process on why I'm looking into the higher end regs. Just buy it once and be done, I'm sure this won't happen but I'm buying with those intentions.

 

[drrich2]

Egkid:

What you say makes sense from the perspective you view it from, that is true.

You also are clearly trying to wring the most value from your dollar. Plus, while you're looking at a fairly high end reg. (at least compared to some), since you invoked the mention of a Ferrari, let me point out that a more analogous regulator might be an Atomic Aquatics T3 regulator. Like the Ferrari, it costs a whole lot more than a mid-range product, functions much the same in the mainstream target environment, and has advantages that are fairly minor for most people.

But some people buy Ferraris. And some people buy T3s. When people see you're looking hard for the best value proposition, the subject of HOG tends to come up.

I'm not pushing HOG (or any brand); my personal reg.s are an Atomic B2 and Sherwood SR1, and I used to dive an xsScuba SeaAir Tri-metal (I believe it was). All worked. I eventually went with the Atomic B2 with similar sentiments to yours, I think.

Richard.

 

[Egkid]

Haha I was hesitant to mention Ferrari since I wasn't talking about titanium regulators, but I think Cadillac was pretty fitting with out putting too much thought into it. Being so close to Black Friday I'm trying make myself patient by finding out there's a better deal, but it is taking everything I got. I just got my BCD in and of course I want to play with it in the pool so that's adding to me wanting it now. But saving money, is saving money and I'm not losing anything by waiting. If it wasn't November I would have had one already though.

I just didn't want people recommending HOG's to think I was blowing them off or ignoring them. But I think it gives another way of looking at it, if I let everyone in on my thought process. To me it makes perfect sense, but that's me.

I keep making up my mind but after enough people recommend HOG than I go back and fourth for a couple of days and spend hours looking up information. But I've made up my mind for sure to just get a "high end" regulator after coming to that thought process I just posted.

 

[decompression]

When I overhaul my Apeks and HOGs they look frighteningly similar. The company might not have been around for ages but the design has. Also, the support from HOG has been far and above what I've seen from the big boys.


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