Which dive gear brands are good? - Scuba Brand Tier List - Part 1 

Well I'm happy to report that since the filming of this video, I have purchased and fallen in love with the eddy fins. They're worth at least a letter grade! I'm gonna have to check out more deep6 gear at some point. I honestly haven't heard a bad thing yet. Thanks for watching Chris!

@@DiveVibe just don't flutter them unless you REALLY wanna kill your legs, they are a frog kick flipper. Yes, I said flipper. Cousteau, Hans Hass, UDT teams in WW2 and virtually all the early icons called them flippers, plus fish have fins and mammals have flippers, we are mammals😁. Added bonus is using the term flippers gets so many divers and instructors that take it all way too seriously worked up 😇... I don't use goggles however, that would be wrong. LOL

@chrisrichardson4899 loooool, I noticed that your site lists them as flippers and I knew it had to be deliberate. You've given me a lot to think about here, I need to go question my life. You may have convinced me.

I have been doing this a long time now (instructing) and having a newish OWSI overhear me call them flippers and trip over themselves to inform me that "divers wear fins, not flippers" is entertaining for me, I normally will let them go a while and make a comment like "maybe when I have enough dives I will be good enough to call them fins, I only have somewhere between 6-7,000 so far" . OK, maybe I enjoy it all too much@@DiveVibe 😇

That's what I'm hearing! I think I might need to give them a shot.

@@DiveVibe Their regs are bulletproof. Mine have seen some abuse and plenty of cold in and out of the water. Had their first 2-year service a few months back with close to 200 dives on them. Zero issues. Even came with the service kits! Deep6 make the D6 line of DGX regs, too.

You're not gonna believe this, but the camera was overheating and Neal had to leave. So we skipped Zeagle.... I'm SORRY! I failed you.

@@DiveVibe 😂😂😂😂😂

Yes they are!

if we dont talk about atomic

My pleasure!

Thanks Tom!

Hollis is not their parent company, Huish Outdoors is and they started with Atomic first before they bought Oceanic/Hollis (and other brands). In fact, the owner of Huish called his very nice and very impressive yacht "ATOMIC" using the Atomic logo, so.. not at all under Hollis in corporate structure nor mind of the owner.

I talked about Mares and a lot more brands in part 2 (released today). Ran out of time and ended up skipping Zeagle and Tusa. I talk a lot about technical gear and rebreathers, because that's what I dive.

Oh yeah for sure, this is all in fun. Not to be taken seriously.

Nice!

Seems like people really dig deep six. Have you used any of their stuff?

@@DiveVibe I haven't had the opportunity to try their gear. I'm pretty set with reliable cold and warm water gear that has been doing me right for years, from before Deep Six came into the market. However, I hear nothing but good things about the company and their gear.

We were thirsty! Thanks Patrick!

I like a lot of zeagle stuff, probably B or A. Super robust stuff, but im not a huge fan of the ranger. I just think it's a bit big and floppy, but thats just me. I haven't looked at their new stuff, I should do that.

That's in part 2! I'm editing it as we speak!

Sounds like you should make a video too!

@@DiveVibe Not everyone has good camera presence or the personality to keep others entertained through videos. That doesn't mean those of us that don't do youtube videos don't have valid critiques.

@@Evanml1 You mean opinions. These are DiveVibe's opinions. You have your opinions.

Lol, I like color. Aqualung stuff is getting a little out of hand. I have a pink eezycut holder??? Lol

@@DiveVibe My colours comes from - Black/Blue Bare wetsuit Pastel pinkish lavender and white Xdeep wing (i'd rate Xdeep A rank, fantastic gear, fucking awful customer service) Pink marine cord on reg boltsnaps Pink eezycut Purpleish bigblue lights Pink double enders I was hoping to get pink fins, but I don't like how floppy the apex rk3's are, so ended up with black deepsix eddys (Totally awesome fins honestly, love em.) I was using a purple atomics mask, but the thing either leaked or cut my forehead, so switched it out for a Hollis m1. (yet to get that wet though.) Was it Aqualung that came out with those blue and white 100% plastic recycled fins? those are fairly pretty, look nice for simple rec fins.

@@Phoxinsocks This is the first I'm hearing of xdeep customer service being poor. Can you elaborate? Customer service is a huge part of how I form an opinion of a brand

@@DiveVibe sure can! So I purchased a fairly expensive custom plate and wing from them, because I thought the plate shape may spread load across my small frame better. We are talking north of a thousand bucks kinda expensive. Paid for the expedited shipping at another 100 or so. Due date comes and goes, I sent emails, I contacted the dive shop I ordered it through to see if they could contact them and nothing. No replies, no reasons, just waiting. It eventually took almost 3 times longer than expected and I never heard a peep from xdeep, no return or offer of return of the speedyboi shipping fee. One of the guys at the dive shop (who loaned me one of their rental wings as a stop gap for xdeeps lack of delivery) also said he has regular issues getting into contact with them. Now I adore my wing, it's cute as heck and functions flawlessly (although the webbing is a lil firm for my liking, might switch it out.) But not hearing a single word from them sorta put a sour taste in my mouth. I'm back and forth on getting a side mount setup from xdeep, purely because I'm worried if issues arise I'll hit a wall of no responses from them.

Honestly all it would have taken to unsour the taste would have been a quick 'sorry we are totally jammed right now, we are unable to meet shipment deadlines.' email. The speed fee being returned would have been a cheery ontop.

I would have to agree, especially now that they've released that weird ass air heater.

Check out those brands in part 2!

I assure you, Afroman is not a vagrant.

Next time!

Lol nope. The former maybe, but not the latter.

bbb-best breathing regs on the market??? 🤣🤣 youre killing me man!

Good to know! I think I gotta try out these deep6 regs.

@@DiveVibe They are amazing! Very well built balanced regulators for a price that you will not find anywhere else

doesn't sound like a great idea...but share the experience. :)

Splitfins.

SpareAir

Yeah I find that's how I feel about a lot of reg manufacturers. Nothing dangerous, but it's just not suited for the type of diving I do. Usually it comes down to the port layout. I just love the swivel turret/5th port design. I REALLY wanna try out the new xdeep regs, they look super interesting.

@@DiveVibe Same here. Mainly I'm looking at a combination of hose routing options and ease of service; in particular field service. Would love to take a look at the new XDEEPs too (or at least see a service manual).

@@tobiashartung856 Ease of service (and especially field service) are so important for higher level diving. I was just giving my sidewinder a once over and you can tell field repair was definitely considered when they designed it.

@@DiveVibe Why, that's awesome. I was thinking about getting into the sidewinder and that definitely carries some weight on the "go for it" side.

I've heard good things.

I think we gave them an A? It's in one of the 2 parts.

Poorly finished, not poorly made. Their stuff is solid, but not cleaning up mold flashes sets it back a couple of rungs. Mares, Scubapro, Apeks, Atomic, and Aqualung make the best regulators on the market imho. You can't go wrong with any of their mid to top tier regs.