Regulator parts - how long are they available for?

[Sasha_K]

Is there a regular rule of thumb when it comes to availability of parts for regulators. A few people advised me to check for how long are the parts for a particular reg going to be available for, before I make my purchase.

Right now, I kind of narrowed down my choices to either Mares or ScubapPro. I went to both www.mares.com and www.scubapro.com to look for some infromation. There seems to be a lot of information on 'lifetime warranty' - but is that realistic?

Mares doesnt mention it (http://www.mares.com/customer_service.php?region=USA) and ScubaPro link at http://www.scubapro.com/registration/ is broken (http://www.scubapro.com/registration...rix_page_3.pdf)

So, in general, if I buy new and I am servicing it at an authorized dealer, should I even worry about this?

Thanks!!

[subsur]

that's a good question. i have poseidon and can talk about that brand. people still have regs made a decade ago and are getting their service. it all depends on how popula and well engineered a particular make of a reg (assuming the company is still in business). if i had to guess, parts for ScubaPro regs should be available for a long long time.

[ScubaToys Larry]

If you want something that will be around for a long time... look at Zeagle. Their regs all use the same rebuild kit - so you don't have to worry about them phasing out a reg and no longer having kits for that model which has happened with scuba pro and many others.

Also, you can buy kits from a dealer, and keep some kicking around so even if traveling, you have a complete rebuild kit available. We sell them all the time.

[nferra2]

What about the Tusa Regs Larry. I was planning on getting the Tusa 130 (well 2 of them) mainly due to its price, and that everyone who has it seems to rave about it (even those who have more expensesive regs). But this reg is not such a good deal if parts aren't available down the road.

[awap]

Scubapro has a good reputation for supporting older regulators. I dive 20 to 35 year old scubapro regs and service parts are readily available. Much of that is due to the fact that scubapro has maintained a compatible design envelope so that my 1970's vintage Balanced Adjustable uses the same working parts as todays S600.

Many of the hard parts for older scubapro regs are no longer available from the mfgr. But I have heard of the rare diver who has serviced his reg annually to maintain his warrenty and had a failure that Scubapro could not fix due to lack of parts. I understand they make good on the warrenty by replacing it with a modern reg.

Maintaining that reg for 30 years gets quite expensive. Assume you pay $100 labor charge for an annual service. That's $3000 for service labor to maintain your warrenty and receive about $1500 of free parts ($50 per year for annual service kits). My regs go 3 to 5 years before a full service but I take real good care of them and do the work myself. With reasonable care, a diver should be able to go 2 (or more) years between service thus paying $150 for parts and labor every 2 years or $2250 over 30 years for a $750 savings. And, if you decide the warrenty is not worth the cost, you can realize some significant savings up front by purchasing new Scubapro regs from one of the unauthorized internet dealers or go with a used regulator for about half the price of a new one.

There are so many quality modern regs to chose from. Take your time and look at as many as you can before you decide

[awap]

Duplicate

[ScubaToys Larry]

Tusa has always been great... I've never had a problem with not being to get any parts from them. And that is a current model now that we sell a ton of - and they are still producing those no problem... I sincerely doubt that would ever give you a problem.

[namabiru]

Quick question, but is Aqualung also one of those long-term parts package companies? I know ST doesn't deal in Aqualung, but it's perhaps something I would think about since that's what I have now.

[ScubaToys Larry]

Zeagle used to sell Apeks regs with the zeagle name on them... Apeks owned by aqualung, and I know they had some parts issues back then - but it might be totally different now. We don't carry them, so I cannot give you any kind of authoritative answer other than to tell you... you won't get those parts from us!

[awap]

Originally Posted by namabiru

Quick question, but is Aqualung also one of those long-term parts package companies? I know ST doesn't deal in Aqualung, but it's perhaps something I would think about since that's what I have now.

I believe they are. But it is an every other year thing. If you need service kit type parts more often than that, you get to buy them.