MAKO Spearguns - Poor quality made in China

Better then a great customer service (as it is usually referred to this brand) is to not have products break to service it in the first place.

Go go china spearfishing products. Dime a dozen with majority of the industry. Sad

Quote from isotopez

go go china spearfishing products. dime a dozen with majority of the industry. Sad

Quote from sdeisen

I guess you guys don't know.. tying bands is really hard!

I've had a few....duds. haha. When I got Speardiver's small inside diameter rubber I tied a few half hitches because it was hard to get the double wrap half hitch (don't know the name....Riffe Knot is what I call it) and didn't put super glue on the tip of the wishbone after the knot. The knot came undone and slipped out.

Then Dan the Master advised me to ream out the hole a bit before shoving it in....:laughing:....and it's worked.

But I've made bands for all my family and some friends. None have slipped. Only my own....."experiments". I'd feel like a total loser dweeb **** if I sold some to my other buddies here that slipped. And I'm a shrimp farmer....not a spearfishing supply specialist.

I like speardiver small id bands because you get more rubber (and power) for the same diameter and the price difference is not an issue.

Tying bands is not rocket science, but you have to pull like a man...

That wrist strap is the dumbest thing I have ever seen. definitely get someone hurt using that. The scuba divers around here use a rope that loops over their thumb, but they wouldn't even tie something around their wrist.

I haven't visited weird board in a couple of years - but this brand name is king on weird board and anyone that says anything negative about this brand gets banned. I heard elsewhere that his AR 15 handles are cracking and the potential to cause serious harm does exist from the poor handles. Also heard that someone brought it up on weird board recently (the bad AR 15 handles) and he got banned. :nono:

I have bought some gear from Mako and don't regret.

Ale's fins are the best (and only!) freediving fins available for a kid (Los niños). Shafts are ok. I think all the South african shafts are made by the same chinese factory... :rolleyes1:
I also bought their flashers, a bungy and maybe some more little items. The knife is made by the same factory in Italy as most other brands, the masks probably also...

I would not buy one of their spearguns or a wetsuit, but they do have other products that work and the cost is fair.

Labor costs. BMW engines...German engineered, Chinese built! I ride my BMW Sertao off road the way I race my dirt bike, harder than it was designed it to be ridden off road, and never a problem! But BMW regulates and monitors closely the Chinese manufacturing of their products. As soon as foreign companies that have their products manufactured in China or India or Mexico, etc stop closely monitoring the process and end product then the Chinese (and the others) will depart from the established quality of materials and procedures. There is great stuff coming out of China that allows a product to be affordable to more people. At the same time there is a ton of garbage too that comes from China.

Like Marco, I have purchased products from Mako and have had both good and bad experiences. I'm not a fan of their gun designs, but that's me and my bias to what I prefer in a handle, barrel, etc. But I know guys that slay fish with those guns and love em. I bought a couple gear bags from Mako years ago and they fell apart halfway to Fiji. I've since purchased the improved bags and they are great. Los Ninos fins are my 9 year olds first freediving long blades. Awesome. Flasher tape, blue bulk rubber, a spare low volume mask for my youngest son, Rash guard with 1 mil neoprene a favorite for warm water diving, and a Riffe inspired knife that cost me three times as much from Riffe even when I was a Riffe dealer! I'm always dropping knives or loosing them on ragged reefs when getting pounded from a giant swell, so why spend tons of money on knives when I know I'll be buying another in a few months? Same shafts from South Africa as Wong, RA, etc. but cheaper in price. But I'm a buyer on the consumer end of a free market and I will look for value in price and quality. Some times you get what you pay for, some times you end up with a greater value than you pay for. I've also had good experience with customer service from Dano.

I recently wrote a positive post regarding Speardiver, and meant every word. I've purchased a reel, a 3 mil wetsuit (my absolute favorite open cell...Even over my Riffe), a carbon barrel, and did so first because Dan had them at a more affordable price than other sites, and the service was great. That's also been my experience with Mako. For those of you that like to shoot "black riffles" know that almost all AR-15 lowers and uppers, internal mechs all come from the same one or two factories regardless of the name stamp, with the exception being the custom builders that can mill and machine their own parts. So to fault a company for searching for products to put their name on (assuming patent laws, etc are not violated) doesn't make sense to me. Call me a Walmart shopper. What is too expensive for me to buy, I build or buy used. Sometimes I regret the cheaper products. But most of the time I. usually make out with great gear at a lower cost to me (my Speardiver gear and many Mako products) than others that have the money to burn on the high priced products from stores looking to maximize profits through over pricing. As the patriarch of a family full of sons that are all watermen, I appreciate the shops that provide an alternative to the big name high pricing...as long as the products I buy are of value; price + quality= win. If I get burned on a product I have the freedom to shop somewhere else.

Dan, you have great stuff. I will continue to support your store by purchasing what is of value to me, And also because of your great service. Likewise I will also continue to purchase the items I have found value in (price+quality) from Mako.

Spearfishin World has been a great forum. Reflective of great policies and moderating. Thanks Dan for an alternative venue for enjoying the spearing and freediving community.

Aloha!
Makoa

This might be a discussion that needs to be moved to a new thread.

I think there are a couple different angles to this. I believe that the Speardiver brand already provides quality products for very reasonable prices. Quality is what is the most important to me and I am willing to pay a little more for a high quality product. If Dan can release a product line that maintains the high quality but is more economical then I believe it would be fine to introduce it under the Speardiver brand name. If in order to reduce the price, some quality is sacrificed then I believe it would be better to release it under a different brand. This is similar to how the auto manufacturers do it. The higher end cars with better materials etc are sold under one brand while the more economical versions are sold under another.

Either way I think this decision is much different from the mako model. There are multiple mako products that are not only useless but sometimes even dangerous. They also make price their most important feature. If Mako products were sold at the same prices as their competitors they would never sell. Knowing Dan, neither of these will be a problem.

Found this gem of a thread. I gotta say, i am looking into buying a mako etr barrel for a build...(i believe its their only redeeming product). Seems like Mako and Hammerhead are in the same boat. Their stuff works....but I hate un-originality, (no offense to the speardiver products, phantom handle etc...) I just dislike companies BSing about how they "develope" these products, and then finding out that they were also "developed" by other companies (HH, Spetton as an example). I was turned off Aimrite after finding a Merou handle. I guess thats marketing though ey? Probably why I haven't bought a complete branded speargun in years. Just parts for new builds.

Quote from Dan

How do I say this delicately.. the Mako ETR speargun, I had it in my hands, it's a heavy difficult to maneuver piece of junk. It makes no sense to me whatsoever. It doesn't solve any problems, has no benefits, and takes away everything from a euro speargun that makes it.. a euro speargun. For a purpose made enclosed track gun best go with wood, or an Omer Cayman ET still heavy and less maneuverable but at least you'll have some style.

I hear you on the elaborate "development" claims, they regularly make me want to puke. Personally I can't bring myself to do it, even if %99 of potential buyers will never know any better. Being aware that of the %1 that do know some are spearos I respect, would be enough to make me feel embarrassed. I think you will not find a more impartial and accurate description of this speargun Spearfishing Store- Speardiver Phantom Speargun

Hammerhead takes the lead in pure fabrication about the development of products. But Mako takes the cake in over the top drooly emotional appeal, with statements like the one quoted below sprinkled throughout their product descriptions. I can't figure out if I dislike Dano more for the shit products or his arse licking promotional material.

LoL!! with that kind of sales pitch he could probably sell his own spit as mask defog.

Thanks for your opinion Dan. Ive heard mako stuff is generally heavy... I personally use carbon railgun/roller guns now, (speardiver barrel) and It would be hard going back to heavy ali. I figured itd be fun to build a hybrid BW gun using the barrel. I figure an etr rail gun would be negative without any wood to add some buoyancy.

Quote from Dan

Hammerhead takes the lead in pure fabrication about the development of products. But Mako takes the cake in over the top drooly emotional appeals, with statements like the one quoted below sprinkled throughout their product descriptions. I can't figure out if I dislike Dano more for the shit products or his arse licking promotional material.

Mako is much more than crappy spearfishing gear. Its a lifestyle....

I read the first few pages and just stopped. If you are running a business, why not let your business and customer service talk your trash. I run a successful DTC business and would never think about trashing my competitors in an open forum.
Everything you guys said may be true, I don't keep up with it enough to know but as a businessman and a consumer, shit talking the competition says more to me about the talker than the counterparty.

Quote from Dan

Here is the only place online where spearos looking for unbiased information about Mako Spearguns can find it.

Reading your intro and many others, it doesn't sound unbiased at all. It reads like a personal vendetta and call to arms.
I'm a customer of Freedive store and will remain one. I just think you should know what it looks like to those not in the click/inner circle. Censorship sucks, I totally agree and it's bull shit when a forum administration will peddle crap for ad revenue but you can't control them. You can only control your business and identity, turning around and flaming them just seems juvinile and would look very unflattering to companies/suppliers/wholesalers/marketers who are thinking about doing business with you.
My $.02 and no refunds accepted.