About to buy first regulator set - DIN or yoke?

[dflaher]

I like DIN since you become responsible for the O ring instead of the rental shop or charter. Since it’s your gear, you have to check it yourself.

I'm heavily leaning toward DIN for my next reg purchase. How is the O-ring properly maintained? Do you simply lube it prior to each trip, as well as a visual inspection?

Plus I’m a sucker for shiny metal and I like threads vs the clamp design of yoke.

Me too. Which begs another question: How tight should the threaded collar be when assembling onto the tank? Hand tight?

 

[lexvil]

DIN is a better fitting but for travel I switch the yoke because it’s just easier to use anywhere you’ll be renting tanks, buy one of these and stick it in a pocket or wherever and you’ll be prepared for the occasional bad o ring.

 

[davehicks]

I'm heavily leaning toward DIN for my next reg purchase. How is the O-ring properly maintained? Do you simply lube it prior to each trip, as well as a visual inspection?

Me too. Which begs another question: How tight should the threaded collar be when assembling onto the tank? Hand tight?

You never lube the oring. It is a static oring (does not slide into a fitting) and does not need it.

The din fitting is hand tight only.

 

[cgblake]

I'm heavily leaning toward DIN for my next reg purchase. How is the O-ring properly maintained? Do you simply lube it prior to each trip, as well as a visual inspection?

Me too. Which begs another question: How tight should the threaded collar be when assembling onto the tank? Hand tight?

Visual inspection. Plus having a couple spares with you. If you notice the rubber is cracking or looking worn you can go ahead and replace it.
Hand tight only for threading it in. If you think it’s cross threading, unscrew and keep unscrewing until you feel the threads drop back in.(not sure how to explain it but you can align the threads by going in reverse for a turn or two) Then you can start tightening knowing they are aligned. If it seems to take effort to thread it in stop. That could mean the valve is a slight oval shape rather than round. You should not have to squeeze hard or put much force behind it.
For reference it’s a similar amount of force to open a tank valve as it is to thread in DIN

 

[Belzelbub]

The tank o-ring can get easily cut by those scratches. If the o-ring is not blown out, you may see some bubbles that would shorten your dive time.

Exactly. My primary regs are all DIN. I do have a Pony only reg in Yoke, but that's it.

I have had to use some aquarium owned yoke regs in the past and have had a similar failure as Dan posted about. I found out about it during pre-dive checks. I checked my air pressure, and heard some air leaking around the yoke connection. I shut it down, purged, removed and swapped the o-ring. Same result. I was a bit confused, but took a look at the yoke sealing surface. It was pretty scratched up. Not quite as bad as Dan's but enough to affect the seal. Swapped with a different reg and everything was nicely sealed.

The yoke sealing surface is pretty exposed. When inserting on a tank, it's not unusual for the yoke knob to not be opened far enough which results in the sealing surface scraping against the valve and whatever is on it. Eventually it will get scraped up. You would really have to try to scrape up the DIN sealing surface as it's buried pretty deep

I like DIN since you become responsible for the O ring instead of the rental shop or charter. Since it’s your gear, you have to check it yourself and make sure it’s up to snuff. Otherwise you may get issues.

Yep. And, I would bet that the storage conditions for the DIN o-ring attached to your reg are better than the o-ring on a rental tank. Even on my own gear that's the case. My regs are stored with DIN caps in place in air conditioned comfort. May tanks are in the garage. I've seen shops where many are actually stored outside. I've seen some rough looking yoke o-rings come off of a tank, but the DIN o-rings always look great. I swap them out on a regular basis, though I'm sure they have more life left.

I bought DIN originally for the flexibility of being able to use with any tank, along with the higher pressure ratings. At the time I had two AL80 tanks, but knew I would get steels at some point. Both had yoke valves. I used the adapter all the time. Yes, it's less than ideal, but I didn't have an issue with banging my head on the reg, but this may depend somewhat on the design of the reg. If it sticks out pretty far from the tank, the adapter will add to that, so needs to be considered. When I got my 1st steel tanks, I promptly removed the donut and put them in my SAD kit, mainly if one of my friends needed to borrow it. I then swapped the AL80 valves for DIN, and the Yoke adapter moved to my SAD kit and has not been used since.

 

[Polarorbit]

I'ver never run into an operation that uses Pro valves that cannot remove the insert for you upon request.

I’ve been on plenty of boats that did not have a wrench to remove the insert. Make sure to take care of it before you get to the boat.

 

[Polarorbit]

I’m close to buying my first regulator setup and wavering between a DIN or yoke first stage. So far, 95-plus percent of my diving has been in the US or the Caribbean, and all my rental gear has been yoke. But who knows where I’ll be going in the future … and for that reason, im leaning toward buying DIN along with a yoke adapter. Does this make sense, or am I better off just buying yoke?

Since everyone is throwing in their two cents… I’m in the camp recommending yoke for your first reg (in the US) and then DIN for any others if you decide to get into anything more advanced. I’ve been diving all over the US, Caribbean, and Pacific since 1979 and I’ve never had a problem getting yoke tanks in these locations, whereas DIN is hit or miss.

I got the parts to convert my old yoke reg to DIN but ended up switching it back and keeping it for travel because using a yoke adapter sucks (constantly hits the back of your head). I got dedicated DIN regs for tech diving, in addition to dedicated BP/W, because I’m too lazy to switch everything back and forth. If you do get into tech, you’ll end up collecting all kinds of gear. Keeping one set configured for travel, whatever that means to you, should be no big deal.

It’s not like yoke regs are blowing up left and right. Hundreds of thousands of recreational dives have been safely conducted with yoke regs. DIN is “better” and less likely to cause problems in wrecks or caves. However, if you aren’t diving wrecks or caves, there’s no reason to get worked up about using a yoke reg. Still, if you’re more comfortable with DIN, it’s now possible to dive DIN most places. You just have to plan ahead and confirm your rental operation can and is providing DIN tanks.

Since, from my experience, rental tanks are rarely high pressure, DINs higher pressure rating is not relevant for the OP. While DIN regs do protect the o-ring more than the yoke configuration, it is still possible to lose the o-ring on a DIN setup. I have an Apex where the o-ring tends to fall out (obviously while not attached to the tank). Therefore, I have to carry several spare DIN o-rings, just like I did for yoke regs. This hasn’t been an issue with any of my Scubapro regs, just Apex. Regardless of what configuration you dive, you need the appropriate o-rings in your SADK.

Anyway, buy and dive what fits your needs and makes you happy. Don’t worry much about future possibilities. You’re going to buy more and different gear as you gain experience and expand your range of diving.

 

[rx7diver]

... But then again I was once teaching an Academy class on the patrol carbine and there was a cadet loading his mag with the cartridges in backwards....

I don't see the issue. Everyone knows that a premium firearm will work with the bullets reversed in its mag.

 

[OMyMyOHellYes]

I don't see the issue. Everyone knows that a premium firearm will work with the bullets reversed in its mag.

View attachment 830698

That's an example of special Teutonic engineering.

 

[rhwestfall]

Lots of comments about high pressure being the justification for DIN. Um, 3500 psi tanks are kind of a "no more" thing, and likely not in a rental fleet if you are traveling, especially to recreational locations. Yoke is more that fine for 3442 tanks, even with a little more in them (assuming you even get a fill pressure that high). I'd add to that, the likelihood is 3000 psi aluminums for a great portion of resort recreational diving, though maybe I live a sheltered life....

There also seems to be a comment of abused yoke nuts/sealing surfaces associated with "abused rental gear". Um, if the idea is you bringing your own gear, I'd certainly hope you are taking care of it better than rental fleet stuff.....

Yes, I have DIN for my own tanks, but have yoke regs for travel... the best of both worlds I'd say...