Been a few days since the last traffic in here but I just found it. Full disclosure, I own two liberties right now. A back mount that can be used as a heavy and a side mount. I also own a gemini. I have multiple hundreds of hours on eight units so I am an agnostic rebreather user. I don't know if my observations will be of any use but what the heck.
I started on a MEG 2.7 and had just shy of 1100 hours when I got rid of that. Move to a fathom. Had 400 hours on that and then moved to the liberty. I have dived a joki, a sidewinder, the gemini, the liberties, a satori, among others. I am by no means an expert on any of this. I also sell quite a bit of dive gear. Some of which is mine and some of which was purchased for the purpose of resale.
Rebreathers have specific characteristics that impact their value that varies by brand and manufacture date. That's just a fact that goes along with many other toys. When you buy something for the purpose of reselling it you will never get the same value as if it were yours for years. No matter what you say to the potential buyer, you will not have the history as if it were yours. It will not have the same resale to the purchaser and it certainly does not have the same emotional value to the seller. Values are decreased in those use cases.
I have not had any issues with the Liberty since I've been using it since 2021. I do not consider a botched software update or some software Gremlins as a rebreather problem. Although I will agree that it may manifest as an issue that impacts it's use that would generally be in advance of splashing.
I'm not aware of any rebreather manufacturer that does not recommend an annual service. Variety of reasons and certainly not limited simply to normal maintenance problems and I would offer that it would be seen as a limit to their liability if you violated their prescribed maintenance process.
Having said that, I have never sent a unit in for service. I've always done it or sought help from others with more experience and technical ability. I will do nothing different with the liberty.
The Liberty has more bits and pieces and certainly more o-rings. It also has more capacity and capability than most any other unit on the market. I love shearwater, but they are hammers. The Liberty electronics are not hammers. They do more than shearwater has any interest in doing. And that's okay. I was initially intimidated by the capacity of the electronics but have grown to appreciate it. There was a learning curve especially after 12 years on shearwater. I would hardly consider it unmanageable. You can also decide what things you do not wish to use in the handset and turn them off.
To answer the original question which is why do they lose value, I don't believe that is restricted to this brand. I think there are several specifics at play with this unit Rodney is selling. I don't think there's anything wrong with the unit nor do I think it would absolutely be necessary to update it for the cost of $5,500. Absolutely anyone looking to purchase it would use that to negotiate the sale price. Certainly I would. A unit that was maintained and updated as the manufacturer prescribed would have significantly more value, as it should. To apply the specifics of this case to all liberties is probably a bit unfair.
Apologize for the long and fairly useless post, but there it is. And I do wish Rodney good luck with the sale. And once he's desperate enough, I hope he calls me!
