Dropped $270 on a Kirby Morgan knockoff exhaust valve and it leaked on my first lockout
I was trying to save a few bucks on a replacement exhaust valve for my hat and grabbed a no name one off a dive supply site for $270 instead of the real deal at around $400. First jump in 60 feet of water off Port Fourchon it started free flowing and I had to bail out of the lockout early, which cost the crew about an hour and a half of bottom time. Has anyone else gotten burned trying to save money on hat parts, or do you just eat the cost and stick with OEM?
cost the crew about an hour and a half of bottom time" and that's the part that really stings, not the valve itself. A buddy of mine did the same thing a couple years back with a cheap neck ring gasket set, figured it was just rubber, how bad could it be. Blew the seal at 90 feet on a job and he had to ride the bell back up while the other guy finished the dive alone. He says the look on the sup's face was worse than losing the money, and he's been OEM ever since.