Ok, acceptance was a given. And the purpose? Well if Suex were to commit to a warranty as long as five years, then a maintenance program needed to be in place whereby Distributors were factory trained and evaluated as capable of performing the required annual servicing to support it. Some training can be done online, but sometimes you just have to go and get hands on with the experts.And so it was that Dave and Jeff Ross boarded for the long flight to Venice last October, happily to be joined as co-students on the course by Phil Hsieh of Dark Tide in Taiwan, and Sam and Ashley from Living Group. So all of us shared the same jetlag.
Our first three days at the factory were given over to pulling apart VR's, XJ's and XK's. Excellent guidance, experience and wisdom came from our two Suex trainers Clemenzo Schutzenhofer and Marco Constantini (not to mention their outstanding hospitality) and the end result is that Tech Asia becomes a Level S3 5 For You Service Center. For you as a DPV owner that means your warranty will be maintained and extended if your unit is serviced inside the first two years, again after three, and then a very deep overhaul before the fourth year passes. No other manufacturer will stand by their product or their technicians to this extent.The view of the factory was equally fun and insightful. Located in Treviso outside Venice, the area is both picturesque as well as being a manufacturing heart of Italy. All parts are made in surrounding plants and Quality Assurance performed on arrival at Suex for assembly. Everything from our familiar recreational/technical scooters to military machines of unbelievable capability, are being built by hand at the facility and individually tested prior to shipping out. The sensitive stuff we were shown, but absolutely not allowed to photograph... 
Suex is growing and the factory premises and commitment to their Distributor network clearly reflect their professional approach. All of this should inspire confidence that in adding one of their DPV's to your dive locker, you're investing in the best.There was a part two to this trip, the DRIVe Navigation course, more about that to follow.