1st regulator, advice appreciated

[rsingler]

I can't tell you which of the regs TO pick. It's such a personal decision. Your budget is pretty tight.
Considering that my favorites are expected to last 30 years or more, you might run the amortization numbers and think about a slightly larger amount.
I can, however, comment on the four you've listed. From the vantage point of someone who services this gear, Oceanic's Delta 5 second stage would drop it down my list. The first stage is fine.
I think the Zeagle is probably the best of your four.
Apeks has a huge following here on SB, but again, their XTX50 second stage is...uninspiring.
For sure, stay away from the XL4. Between case lugs that break easily and a faceplate that's too hard to remove, it's a dud. The first stage is great.
If it were me, on your budget, I'd choose a Scubapro Mk11 for diaphragm or a sealed Atomic Z or B for piston. Any Atomic second stage is superb, and the new SP S270 is almost as good as the flagship S620Ti for a fraction of the price.
Deep6 would be awesome, and within your budget. But you're going to have trouble outside of ScubaBoard finding support for your decision. It's a company that relies on word of mouth, instead of costly advertising and dealers that want a cut. We know how good it is. You may not.
But then, that reflects my prejudices.

Don't sweat your reg decision. They ALL can work great. Worry more about the quality of your service and tuning.

 

[Akimbo]

After 5 years of diving, I've decided to invest in my first kit.

I assume that you have rented regulators over the last five years. Have any of them made an impression on you, good or bad? Dive shop rental fleets get a lot of consideration, some based on financial incentives but mostly reliability and maintenance parameters.

Half of my question is about brands and half about features. For example, did you readily understand the knob or lever control on the second stage (if there was one)? How deep do you plan to dive? The breathing performance between any regulator with a CE stamp (which is virtually all of them) is hard to detect above 165'/50M and 500 PSI/35Bar cylinder pressure.

An Alternate Perspective​

There is one characteristic of high performance (balanced) regulators you may not have considered. In the event you accidently breathe down your gas supply too far, you will get virtually no warning — like maybe 2 breaths between noticing increased inhalation resistance and sucking your brains out. You might think that you would never allow that but say your SPG or computer is not reading correctly, visibility is too bad to read it, or you just get distracted near the end of the dive. It happens.

On the other hand, increased breathing resistance on an unbalanced first and second stage will will be quite noticeable starting about 500 PSI before getting nothing out or being unable to add gas to your BC. That allows plenty of time to surface without a safety stop. This characteristic is the main reason that all the divers didn't kill themselves before SPGs were widely adopted.

A modern solution to this problem is a redundant air supply, but that is a significantly increased physical and cost burden. That is probably overkill on guided tropical dives with backup gas on the dozen divers around you. You and a buddy in the Great Lakes with limited vis and plenty of silt... not so much.

Unbalanced designs are proven, simple, reliable, and inexpensive. For perspective, very few of the divers on the Andrea Doria before the 1980s used a balanced regulator that performed anything like the ones you have listed. I mentioned 1980s because that is when the first Scuba diver died on the Doria, though it is questionable if any deaths can be directly attributed to regulator performance.

 

[TheRealScubaSteve]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Hog. I've never seen them besides my own in Mass, but I like them. As with Deep6, Hog also offers a service class.

For local service Apeks would be easiest around here. Many shops look are snobby/difficult if you have anything besides Aqualung or Apeks, if that matters to you.

Are you planning to dive more on vacation or more locally? If the former, yoke regs would be less hassle, but if you plan on getting into local diving I would recommend DIN.

I can't tell you which of the regs TO pick. It's such a personal decision.

Agree, and you'll get a million differing opinions on here on what's the best.

Deep6 would be awesome, and within your budget. But you're going to have trouble outside of ScubaBoard finding support for your decision. It's a company that relies on word of mouth, instead of costly advertising and dealers that want a cut. We know how good it is. You may not.
But then, that reflects my prejudices

Don't sweat your reg decision. They ALL can work great. Worry more about the quality of your service and tuning.

 

[gwiazda79]

Hey folks,

Didn’t want to create a new thread, thought I will ask here.

I am looking for a new reg too, mostly for cold water diving, going to Iceland soon, but mostly diving in 10° C water.
Drysuit and xDeep Zen bcd.
I have 3 options to choose from
xDeep NX700/LS200
Atomic Aquatics B2/Z2
Apeks MTX-RC

What should I go for?

Thanks!!

 

[scrane]

I like Atomics. High quality at a reasonable price. All Atomics share the same design, differing only in materials. The Zirconium line (Z2, Z3) is a great bargain. Recommended two year service interval. Excellent breathing characteristics.

 

[Centrals]

We all have our favourites. There are so many reliable brands out there and regulator failure is NOT common as long as you take good care of it.
After sell services is also very important if DIY is not an option.
Regulator last for very long time.
I have been using the same Apeks regs since 1998 for rec & tec dive and serviced them myself. No knowledge on any other brand but will accept anything if required(rental equipment on a short diving trip).

 

[gwiazda79]

Atomic 1st stage is titanium, will it be ok for cold water though?

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

All good regs. I don't think paying for titanium is worth it, but as a brand, Atomic is very good. Apeks is good. A number of manufacturers you didn't list are good.

Ignore the advice on being able to service while you are on vacation. That is not the time for getting your regs serviced. You either have backup or rent in that extremely unlikely event. There are too many tech monkeys out there. Whenever you get your regs serviced when you are at home, you want to test them before jumping off a boat.

If you want to service yourself, you'll need to go with other options.

 

[gwiazda79]

All good regs. I don't think paying for titanium is worth it, but as a brand, Atomic is very good. Apeks is good. A number of manufacturers you didn't list are good.

Ignore the advice on being able to service while you are on vacation. That is not the time for getting your regs serviced. You either have backup or rent in that extremely unlikely event. There are too many tech monkeys out there. Whenever you get your regs serviced when you are at home, you want to test them before jumping off a boat.

If you want to service yourself, you'll need to go with other options.

Well said thank you sir

 

[Shabaday]

Atomics T3 is all titanium and very expensive. The B2 and the Z2 are not titanium. A sealed B2 or a sealed M1 would work well for the cold. Around here most of the cold water divers use the Apeks XTX 200. Atomic advertised their M1 for cold water. I have had no issues with relatively cold water 39 degrees with the Atomic M1, Apeks XTX200 and ScubaPro Mk19evo /G260