Mares

Mares Abyss 22 Navy II (DIN)

Mares's cold-water flagship, a fully sealed balanced-diaphragm regulator that passed US Navy testing at 60m in near-freezing water.

Environmentally sealed, cold-water rated

Sealed first stage keeps water and ice crystals out of the internal mechanism, the standard for diving below 50°F/10°C.

Mares Abyss 22 Navy II (DIN)
3.8Comparison Score
$869.95
Buy on AmazonBuy on Scuba.com
Released2011
First stagediaphragm
BalancedYes
Environmentally sealedYes
Cold-water ratedYes
ConnectionDIN
Max pressure300 bar
HP / LP ports2 / 4
Adjustable 2nd stageNo
Weight1172g
Nitrox-ready (EAN40)Yes
Octo includedNo

"HP / LP ports" is the number of high-pressure and low-pressure ports on the first stage, which caps how many accessories (transmitter, SPG, inflator, second second-stage) you can run at once.

Pros
  • US Navy tested at 60m/-2C, one of the more rigorously cold-water-proven regs on the market
  • Fully sealed balanced diaphragm first stage keeps performance consistent in silty or freezing water
  • Automatic VAD/DFC breathing-assist system tunes airflow without a manual knob to fiddle with
Cons
  • No manual adjustable breathing-resistance knob or venturi switch, unlike the Scubapro/Apeks flagships
  • Heavier and pricier than Mares's mid-tier Rover and Prestige lines
  • No octopus included in the base regulator set
Diver community sentiment
Mostly positive

Across several Scubaboard threads, divers consistently describe the Abyss 22 Navy II as an old-design, all-metal, "bulletproof" regulator that breathes easily and dry in most positions, with long-term owners reporting years of trouble-free use in cold water and at depth. Its cold-water credentials are widely respected, though a few posters noted the cold-water spring-chamber oil kit is a hassle to service and one user reported a persistent wet-breathing issue that survived a factory overhaul. The most recurring gripe isn't breathing performance but service costs: the Navy II variant requires annual overhauls using older USN-approved seat kits, and several divers complained about pricey service kits.

Scubaboard: Mares 22 Navy II discussionScubaboard: Abyss 22 Navy II modificationScubaboard: wet breathing issue thread

Summarized from public forum discussion (Scubaboard, Reddit, and similar), not a survey we ran ourselves. See the linked threads for the original conversations.

The Abyss 22 Navy II is Mares’s cold-water and technical flagship, a fully sealed, all-metal balanced-diaphragm regulator built for ice diving, drysuit divers, and anyone diving in genuinely cold conditions where a sealed first stage matters. It’s not the reg for someone counting grams on a warm-water trip, but for cold water it’s one of the more rigorously tested options in Mares’s lineup. Also sold in an INT/yoke configuration.