Replacing my mk5 + balanced adjustable for the new era

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Joris Vd

Contributor
Messages
289
Reaction score
280
Location
Belgium
# of dives
200 - 499
Hello everyone,

I've now clocked 250 dives on my old mk5 + r109's now and have recently started to become more interesting in going the technical diving route. While I had a nice instructor who allowed me to use my 'antique' combo as he called it, for my advanced eanx and all the tech prequisites ( adv rec trimix / + tech lite or however you want to call it) which is basically an IANTD-style fundies,The complaints and funny looks over the 109's have gotten rather tiresome

I have plenty of (older) regs, but am looking for something modern specifically scubapro, just to see what their modern regs are about, since I've been so happy about the r109's / mk5 combo.

I would like to do my full cave this year and was thinking of finally taking the plunge and switching to something more modern.

I've narrowed it down to three choices:

the mk19 - g260
or mk19 - d420
or mk17 - g260

The s600 second might be an option too, but I'm not sure if it's actually a big improvement to the g260 design? I've considered the a700 for a second, but it's the ugliest regulator on the market in my opinion, so yeah... not rly.

I do most of my diving in winter so freeze resistance is the main topic. I've yet to had a freeflow, but I do get very paranoid on long dives in sub40 water with the mk5's...

I've never used the d-series and here in Belgium they don't have the best reputation because they are supposed to be difficult to tune properly.
But I was wondering if the design of the d-series is suited for very cold diving, or is it more something you should avoid?
 
The only thing I can see in a GUE style tech class (DIR) with the older 109’s is you can’t unscrew the 2nd stage purge cover to free any silt or sand underwater with out tools.
If you’re worried about freeze ups then get a diaphragm reg. Choose the most basic balanced second stage you can and avoid anything overpriced or frilly.
When I was I to tech it was the G250 all day long.
 
I've now clocked 250 dives on my old mk5 + r109's now and have recently started to become more interesting in going the technical diving route. While I had a nice instructor who allowed me to use my 'antique' combo as he called it, for my advanced eanx and all the tech prequisites ( adv rec trimix / + tech lite or however you want to call it) which is basically an IANTD-style fundies,The complaints and funny looks over the 109's have gotten rather tiresome?

@Joris Vd ,

I did my cavern and basic cave training in 1988 using my Mk 10's and Balanced Adjustable and G250. I shortly afterward converted them to 300 Br. DIN. When I began my extended range diving in 1994, I upgraded two of my Mk 10's to Mk 10 Plus's to use, briefly, on my manifolded doubles (because my HP cylinders were being filled to higher pressures, and because the Great Lakes temps I was diving in were much colder than the temps here in the Midwest). I upgraded my third Mk 10 + Balanced Adjustable to "oxygen service" (to use as a deco reg on my 100% oxygen deco cylinder).

I believe these regs would have sufficed "forever" for me if not for the very cold Great Lakes water temperatures I was diving in at that time, combined with the very high fill pressures my HP cyinders were seeing at that time.

I subsequently purchased Poseidon Odins (cold water regs) to use on my back tanks, and (since I was soon slinging two deco cylinders) switched my Mk 10 Plus's to my deco cylinders, with my other Balanced Adjustable being used for overboard oxygen.

Bottom line: If your Mk 5's are the "newer" Mk 5's (and you're using LP cylinders and not diving in very cold water), then they just might serve you quite well, "forever", for your continued tech training. Upgrade your 109's ("Adjustable's") to 156's ("Balanced Adjustable's"). Conversion kits are still available, and you can easily convert and service these "antique" regulators, yourself, using service kits that, too, are still available. If it turns out that you do need additional regulators (because you've begun using stage bottles and/or deco cylinders), then switch your Mk 5 + 109/156's to your these other cylinders.

Maybe your instructor just doesn't know how solid the Scubapro Mk 5 + 109/156 regulators really are.

FWIW,

rx7diver
 
Hello everyone,

I've now clocked 250 dives on my old mk5 + r109's now and have recently started to become more interesting in going the technical diving route. While I had a nice instructor who allowed me to use my 'antique' combo as he called it, for my advanced eanx and all the tech prequisites ( adv rec trimix / + tech lite or however you want to call it) which is basically an IANTD-style fundies,The complaints and funny looks over the 109's have gotten rather tiresome

I have plenty of (older) regs, but am looking for something modern specifically scubapro, just to see what their modern regs are about, since I've been so happy about the r109's / mk5 combo.

I would like to do my full cave this year and was thinking of finally taking the plunge and switching to something more modern.

I've narrowed it down to three choices:

the mk19 - g260
or mk19 - d420
or mk17 - g260

The s600 second might be an option too, but I'm not sure if it's actually a big improvement to the g260 design? I've considered the a700 for a second, but it's the ugliest regulator on the market in my opinion, so yeah... not rly.

I do most of my diving in winter so freeze resistance is the main topic. I've yet to had a freeflow, but I do get very paranoid on long dives in sub40 water with the mk5's...

I've never used the d-series and here in Belgium they don't have the best reputation because they are supposed to be difficult to tune properly.
But I was wondering if the design of the d-series is suited for very cold diving, or is it more something you should avoid?

The complaints and funny looks over the 109's have gotten rather tiresome
Really? After 50+ years 2000+ dives with the same setup I've come to enjoy it myself.
The thing that really gets'em best is when I open my tank valve to clean my dust! Some of them look like they heard gun shots!! LOL!

I'd keep it and put a "make someone's day MYOB" sticker on your tank.
 
Actually I think it's mainly the second stage that throws people off. If i'd come with a g250 ofcourse no questions would be asked.

But one thing I've been meaning to get out of this thread is an answer to d420 vs g260 in cold temperatures. Is the d-series prone to ice buildup in very cold temps? Because I remember they changed the second stage orifice to delrin to help with ice shedding in the later stages of the d400.

Not sure if it actually did or what the deal is for cold water diving with the d-series.
 
Actually I think it's mainly the second stage that throws people off. If i'd come with a g250 ofcourse no questions would be asked.

But one thing I've been meaning to get out of this thread is an answer to d420 vs g260 in cold temperatures. Is the d-series prone to ice buildup in very cold temps? Because I remember they changed the second stage orifice to delrin to help with ice shedding in the later stages of the d400.

Not sure if it actually did or what the deal is for cold water diving with the d-series.

Well think about stupid that line of thought is born of ignorance about dive gear.

I've used my set up for ice diving. The key to piston regs not icing is to keep it in the water once wet and to not breath from it in the cold air. I haven't done but a few ice dives in my life, once you've done a few it gets old, not much to see. We played inverted hockey the last ice I dive just to break the boredom. I did think about it 2 years ago when the lake froze over solid one more dive before I can't anymore, but never pulled the trigger.
 
But one thing I've been meaning to get out of this thread is an answer to d420 vs g260 in cold temperatures. Is the d-series prone to ice buildup in very cold temps? Because I remember they changed the second stage orifice to delrin to help with ice shedding in the later stages of the d400.

Not sure if it actually did or what the deal is for cold water diving with the d-series.

@Joris Vd ,

I own both a G250 and a D400 (predecessors of your G260 and D420). I bought the D400 (ca. 1994) to pair with a new Poseidon Odin 1st stage (whatever it's called, the "new" one with the built-in OPV) to be used as a primary reg for extended range diving in the Great Lakes (because that setup is what my instructor was using), a sublime combo--until I experienced a massive free-flow at about 135 ffw, returning solo from a Lake Huron dive. (I wrote about this in a SB post a long time ago, IIRC. I shared the download from my Cochran Nitrox Nemesis II, IIRC.)

My instructor had tuned my new D400 + Odin 1st when I purchased them from the LDS he owned, and he tuned it again after the free-flow, but I never again used the D400 for non-recreational diving. I replaced the D400 with a Poseidon Odin 2nd stage and never looked back.

Oh, but the D400 is a sweet breathing reg!

ETA: I just remembered: I actually purchased an entire Poseidon Odin (1st + 2nd) to use, and set aside my now-second stage-less Odin, to use as a back-up 1st stage. I still have this hardly used, "orphan" Poseidon Odin 1st stage! Not sure why I haven't gotten rid of it.

FWIW,

rx7diver
 
Hello everyone,

I've now clocked 250 dives on my old mk5 + r109's now and have recently started to become more interesting in going the technical diving route. While I had a nice instructor who allowed me to use my 'antique' combo as he called it, for my advanced eanx and all the tech prequisites ( adv rec trimix / + tech lite or however you want to call it) which is basically an IANTD-style fundies,The complaints and funny looks over the 109's have gotten rather tiresome

I have plenty of (older) regs, but am looking for something modern specifically scubapro, just to see what their modern regs are about, since I've been so happy about the r109's / mk5 combo.

I would like to do my full cave this year and was thinking of finally taking the plunge and switching to something more modern.

I've narrowed it down to three choices:

the mk19 - g260
or mk19 - d420
or mk17 - g260

The s600 second might be an option too, but I'm not sure if it's actually a big improvement to the g260 design? I've considered the a700 for a second, but it's the ugliest regulator on the market in my opinion, so yeah... not rly.

I do most of my diving in winter so freeze resistance is the main topic. I've yet to had a freeflow, but I do get very paranoid on long dives in sub40 water with the mk5's...

I've never used the d-series and here in Belgium they don't have the best reputation because they are supposed to be difficult to tune properly.
But I was wondering if the design of the d-series is suited for very cold diving, or is it more something you should avoid?
Do you have already a MK19?
If not, it might be difficult to find one, even here in Europe.
But if you were really writing about a MK19, not a MK19 EVO, you should consider to try to find a 'Modern Classic' like this one. From style it would keep you 'Semi Vintage'.....
Just joking..........:)
P1080745.JPG
P1080748.JPG
P1080753.JPG
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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