Hi LHS, could you speak to the reliability of the Mares XR bladder’s ? Is there anything we need to watch out for or anything we can do to prevent wear and tear?
Hello @Russianspyonyou, this is a great question. So in my experience, the bladders are extremely durable and for the average diver, they should not have any issues with them. We have had several failures in bladders (specifically the Mares XR wings first generation) as we use these bladders on our underwater salvage team. We typically put these bladders through conditions a typical diver would never do, and the failures are primarily coming from exposure to extreme hazmatic materials. We continue to use these bladders because we trust them. Just make sure you are flushing them out with fresh water and you should be good to go. Now if I am being completely honest, the inflator valves on the Mares XR Wings are I believe on their third generation, and unfortunately, they right out suck. This is something I believe Mares should focus some more development in. We are routinely having to rebuild these for customers. I keep several spares in my save a dive kit for our salvage team, and most of the time, I replace them instead of rebuilding them. The issues we keep having are the o-rings breaking down inside, or slipping, thus causing leaks constantly. I replaced several of mine with generic inflators. Keep in mind we dive outside your typical recreational / technical settings. So dealing with extremely hazardous environments, most divers will not have the same issues.
@ it’s funny you say that about the kvalve. I was just thinking that it felt very well made. I picked up the 35 pound single tank bpw setup on Black Friday. I just plan on doing some recreational warm water dives around Florida. Are these leaks in the valve catastrophic or just small leaks?
@ that’s so weird you mention that about the inflator, I was just setting my BCD up & thought how high quality it felt with those metal buttons. Is the corrugated hose on the mares xr 35 pound donut standard sized? If yes I can just get another inflator from diverite or xdeep for 30 bucks and just keep that In my save a dive kit in case of an emergency
@@Russianspyonyou So typically what we are seeing is the valves will malfunction in a manner that they constantly leak. Never to the point that a rapid ascent is a concern, more of a nuisance of a constant stream of bubbles coming out. Most of the time, its right around the inflation valve itself. A quick fix is to make sure your inflator button is screwed all the way into the housing, but not overtightened.
@ hi LHS. Thanks for this insight. I have done a lot of research on this and you are definitely the subject matter expert when it comes to Mares XR. I think the best course of action would be to just pick up some extra inflators to replace the oem from mares and and to keep in my save a dive kit just in case. Are there any inflators that you recommend?
Hi LHS. I have a quick question about the Mares XR. I am looking for a new single tank wing. I previously had a wing from another manufacturer and the bladder was way too big for the shell. This caused wrinkles, trapped air, difficulty dumping air, and a tendency to sometimes roll in the water with more air on one side. I have had other wings that did not do this at all. In your experience, how do the Mares wings perform in this regard? Thank you.
Hello Gene Keeler. Like most manufactures, the bladder inside the shell, will always typically be much larger in size than the external shell. Personally though, I have never had any issue with trapped air in the bladder. With the Mares single tank bladders all being a donut design, and not a horseshoe design, this helps eliminate any trapped air. There is a horseshoe design in their double bladder system, but not for the Sidemount and Single Tank Systems. Coming from a back ground with OMS and the original Redwing systems, I much prefer a donut style bladder. Though I am a huge fan of Mares, I have always had great luck with other manufactures as well.
Hi LHS, A quick question regarding these bladders. I'm slowly putting together a BPW system for travel (Mares XR soft backplate with heavy duty harness so far), but since it's for travel, I'd be relying on rented bottles with regulators, diving mostly in warm water with a shorty or normal 3mm wetsuit. Since I (maybe) can't control whether I'll get an aluminium or a steel tank, I guess I should go for the 32 pound / 16 kg bladder, and add some of Mares' side weight pockets for flexibility? I notice they also have a 10 kg / 20 pound bladder.. so I'm a little confused on which would be better. Can you provide any insight on whether it's better to go for the 10 kg one, or the 16 kg one?
Hello drheaddamage, cool name by the way. I have a serious of videos on how I travel with my Mares XR sytems. I will link them here for you. ua-cam.com/video/dQe2zQUfjZc/v-deo.html ua-cam.com/video/xAmoBblWEYM/v-deo.html ua-cam.com/video/ajgO8qyzI-s/v-deo.html ua-cam.com/video/0MCb7ceJdr0/v-deo.html As far as lift, I have absolutely no issues getting enough lift from the 10/22 (small wing) from Mares. I use it for summer time diving, or tropical diving. I also use the 16/34 (larger wing) for winter time diving. If you are looking for a wing that will accommodate both, then go with the 16/34. Its always better to have more lift, then not enough.
How not to get confused which valve is the inflator valve and which one is the exhaust valve? I took out my tecline internal bladder and I dont know now which one is which.
Hello @lukaszeS, great question. Each manufacture design their bladders systems differently. With Mares, they will only line up one way. I would suggest taking your BCD to your local training center to get help with it.
Hi LHS. Thanks for great video.
Can you give me a advice please? where can i buy a replacement bladder for xr 52?
Hello farzadveisi7392. Send me an email to bryan@lakehickoryscuba.com or give me a call at 828-632-7649, and I can help you out with that.
Hi LHS, could you speak to the reliability of the Mares XR bladder’s ? Is there anything we need to watch out for or anything we can do to prevent wear and tear?
Hello @Russianspyonyou, this is a great question. So in my experience, the bladders are extremely durable and for the average diver, they should not have any issues with them. We have had several failures in bladders (specifically the Mares XR wings first generation) as we use these bladders on our underwater salvage team. We typically put these bladders through conditions a typical diver would never do, and the failures are primarily coming from exposure to extreme hazmatic materials. We continue to use these bladders because we trust them. Just make sure you are flushing them out with fresh water and you should be good to go. Now if I am being completely honest, the inflator valves on the Mares XR Wings are I believe on their third generation, and unfortunately, they right out suck. This is something I believe Mares should focus some more development in. We are routinely having to rebuild these for customers. I keep several spares in my save a dive kit for our salvage team, and most of the time, I replace them instead of rebuilding them. The issues we keep having are the o-rings breaking down inside, or slipping, thus causing leaks constantly. I replaced several of mine with generic inflators. Keep in mind we dive outside your typical recreational / technical settings. So dealing with extremely hazardous environments, most divers will not have the same issues.
@ it’s funny you say that about the kvalve. I was just thinking that it felt very well made. I picked up the 35 pound single tank bpw setup on Black Friday. I just plan on doing some recreational warm water dives around Florida. Are these leaks in the valve catastrophic or just small leaks?
@ that’s so weird you mention that about the inflator, I was just setting my BCD up & thought how high quality it felt with those metal buttons.
Is the corrugated hose on the mares xr 35 pound donut standard sized? If yes I can just get another inflator from diverite or xdeep for 30 bucks and just keep that In my save a dive kit in case of an emergency
@@Russianspyonyou So typically what we are seeing is the valves will malfunction in a manner that they constantly leak. Never to the point that a rapid ascent is a concern, more of a nuisance of a constant stream of bubbles coming out. Most of the time, its right around the inflation valve itself. A quick fix is to make sure your inflator button is screwed all the way into the housing, but not overtightened.
@ hi LHS. Thanks for this insight. I have done a lot of research on this and you are definitely the subject matter expert when it comes to Mares XR. I think the best course of action would be to just pick up some extra inflators to replace the oem from mares and and to keep in my save a dive kit just in case. Are there any inflators that you recommend?
Hi LHS. I have a quick question about the Mares XR. I am looking for a new single tank wing. I previously had a wing from another manufacturer and the bladder was way too big for the shell. This caused wrinkles, trapped air, difficulty dumping air, and a tendency to sometimes roll in the water with more air on one side. I have had other wings that did not do this at all. In your experience, how do the Mares wings perform in this regard? Thank you.
Hello Gene Keeler. Like most manufactures, the bladder inside the shell, will always typically be much larger in size than the external shell. Personally though, I have never had any issue with trapped air in the bladder. With the Mares single tank bladders all being a donut design, and not a horseshoe design, this helps eliminate any trapped air. There is a horseshoe design in their double bladder system, but not for the Sidemount and Single Tank Systems. Coming from a back ground with OMS and the original Redwing systems, I much prefer a donut style bladder. Though I am a huge fan of Mares, I have always had great luck with other manufactures as well.
Hi LHS,
A quick question regarding these bladders. I'm slowly putting together a BPW system for travel (Mares XR soft backplate with heavy duty harness so far), but since it's for travel, I'd be relying on rented bottles with regulators, diving mostly in warm water with a shorty or normal 3mm wetsuit. Since I (maybe) can't control whether I'll get an aluminium or a steel tank, I guess I should go for the 32 pound / 16 kg bladder, and add some of Mares' side weight pockets for flexibility? I notice they also have a 10 kg / 20 pound bladder.. so I'm a little confused on which would be better. Can you provide any insight on whether it's better to go for the 10 kg one, or the 16 kg one?
Hello drheaddamage, cool name by the way. I have a serious of videos on how I travel with my Mares XR sytems. I will link them here for you.
ua-cam.com/video/dQe2zQUfjZc/v-deo.html
ua-cam.com/video/xAmoBblWEYM/v-deo.html
ua-cam.com/video/ajgO8qyzI-s/v-deo.html
ua-cam.com/video/0MCb7ceJdr0/v-deo.html
As far as lift, I have absolutely no issues getting enough lift from the 10/22 (small wing) from Mares. I use it for summer time diving, or tropical diving. I also use the 16/34 (larger wing) for winter time diving. If you are looking for a wing that will accommodate both, then go with the 16/34. Its always better to have more lift, then not enough.
How not to get confused which valve is the inflator valve and which one is the exhaust valve? I took out my tecline internal bladder and I dont know now which one is which.
Hello @lukaszeS, great question. Each manufacture design their bladders systems differently. With Mares, they will only line up one way. I would suggest taking your BCD to your local training center to get help with it.
where can a buy a replacement bladder for my us diver bc?
Hello stevedecrow6809, unfortunately, US Divers no longer produces nor supports their equipment.
Huge increase for mares product this 2021 🙃
Very huge increase. We are hoping to get our hands on them at DEMA this year.
Would've been a lot more interesting video if you show how to fix that bladder
Hello E. Sanchez, unfortunately, replacing the bladder is the only option, hence the title of the video.