Aeris, Zeagle...

[uberspeed]

I bought 2 sets of Aeris Atmos Pro's for myself and my girl.
For no real reason, except Warranty perhaps, I keep thinking I should have gone with a Zeagle [ ZX-DSIV or ZX-DSV or ZX-50D ] instead of the Aeris Atmos Pro. What about parts cost for servicing them? From the WOB numbers I see, the Aeris is better at .90 whereas the Zeagles are 1.39 for the 50D, 1.29 for the DSV. However, when all is said and done, will the warranty on the Zeagles and the cost of servicing them make it a better purchase?
Also, I will only be doing warm water diving, but I decided to get environmentally sealed regs because I think it's an added feature to keep regs "cleaner". Am I wasting my money on that since I won't be doing cold water diving? Should I then just go for something like the Zeagle Envoy Deluxe (1.03 WOB)?
Yes, I know, I did read a lot, but just made more of an impulse buy and now I'm having a bit of buyers remorse. Might as well try to fix it before I actually use the regs. Or did I buy a good reg and have nothing to worry about?

 

[crpntr133]

Sounds like you did the seaching and something/someone else made the decision for you. Personally I would have gone with the Zeagle. I don't think you made a bad choice but it sounds like you really wanted the Zeagle regs.
The sealed reg is a good idea no matter where you dive, no required but a good idea.

 

[Vie]

Nothing wrong with the Aeris at all. I prefer the ZX/Flathead VI but that’s my personal opinion. I would avoid the ZX-50D as it has a swivel turret (another failure point IMHO). Don’t dwell on the WOB too much—a machine can feel the difference but a diver will probably not notice much difference between .90 and 1.29.

 

[RonFrank]

Nothing wrong with the Aeris at all. I prefer the ZX/Flathead VI but that’s my personal opinion. I would avoid the ZX-50D as it has a swivel turret (another failure point IMHO). Don’t dwell on the WOB too much—a machine can feel the difference but a diver will probably not notice much difference between .90 and 1.29.

I hear this a lot, but after doing a lot of digging, and after discussion with the tech at the LDS who is VERY well respected have found little (in fact zero) evidence to support that swivels (be they zeagle or otherwise) are a failure point that has resulted in real incidences.

So is this something that seems to be repeated by those who have read it, and think it makes sense, or something that has some real world basis that someone can quantify?

I'd be VERY interested in seeing something...anything that supports this view as I dive the ZX-50D. I like the reg very much, and the swivel is kinda nice.

 

[uberspeed]

Does having the environmental seal make servicing more or less expensive?
Is it truly worth it to have it?
If not, then the Envoy Deluxe looks pretty good I guess.

 

[JulesVerne]

Looks like a scubatoys deal. It's hard to get independant information on the Atmos Pro and this board has positive biais towards Zeagle (never used one so I don't know if justified or not).

I've seen a few people with Aeris regs (I think mostly the Sport model) when I go to the caribbeans and no one's ever complained (and I almost always ask). Unless you are planning to expand your range of diving, you and your girlfriend probably made a good financial decision, getting a good reg for a decent price. In addition, from what I remember, the Pro is lighter than most Zeagle regs and that's a benefit not to be neglected (assuming it breathes properly of course) if you plan to travel with it.

If you end up keeping them, would you mind posting on this board your experience after you've tried them a few times.

 

[Vie]

I hear this a lot, but after doing a lot of digging, and after discussion with the tech at the LDS who is VERY well respected have found little (in fact zero) evidence to support that swivels (be they zeagle or otherwise) are a failure point that has resulted in real incidences.

So is this something that seems to be repeated by those who have read it, and think it makes sense, or something that has some real world basis that someone can quantify?

I'd be VERY interested in seeing something...anything that supports this view as I dive the ZX-50D. I like the reg very much, and the swivel is kinda nice.

I’m sure a swivel failure would be an extremely rare event but it can happen. There was a thread on this board recently, with a picture—it concerns a dramatic failure of a Scubapro MK20 1st stage.

http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=88158&page=1&pp=10

I’m sure your ZX-50D is wonderful and I have nothing against it—I was merely expressing my opinion regarding the swivel.

 

[crpntr133]

It is technically a "failure point". Anything that can fail is another failure point. Do they fail on a regular basis? Probably not but it is truly a failure point. If you want to get technical about it you could say that a quick disconnect is a failure point.

The reason that this board is biased towards Zeagle, Apeks, Scubapro, ect, is probably because there are a lot of experienced tech divers on here that rely on their gear more than a rec diver. I rent Oceanic regs from my LDS but there is no way that I would take them to 100'. Just like everything else, you have good, better and best. Part of it is opinion and part of it is fact.

 

[uberspeed]

Looks like a scubatoys deal. It's hard to get independant information on the Atmos Pro and this board has positive biais towards Zeagle (never used one so I don't know if justified or not).

I've seen a few people with Aeris regs (I think mostly the Sport model) when I go to the caribbeans and no one's ever complained (and I almost always ask). Unless you are planning to expand your range of diving, you and your girlfriend probably made a good financial decision, getting a good reg for a decent price. In addition, from what I remember, the Pro is lighter than most Zeagle regs and that's a benefit not to be neglected (assuming it breathes properly of course) if you plan to travel with it.

If you end up keeping them, would you mind posting on this board your experience after you've tried them a few times.

Here's my opinion
The reg breathes well, a bit hard because I forgot to adjust the venturi on it. Once I did that and took it out of the pre-dive position it flowed very well indeed. I went all the way to the + and had to back off a bit since it started to ALMOST push air into my mouth instead of waiting for me to ask for it. It did not free-flow, just to make that clear. Also, I made sure to go upside down for extended periods of time and breath to see if it would breath "wet". When first going upside down it gets an ever so slight amount of water in there, after that this thing breathes very, very dry. I was quite happy and was so impressed I made a not about it in my dive log. Matter of fact the reg breathes so dry I got a bit of cotton mouth towards the end of my second dive. Perhaps I needed to be a tad more hydrated, or perhaps it's just that dang dry. Overall I would buy another one again in a heartbeat. Hope this helps anyone considering this reg.
Thanks for the advice Larry!

 

[ScottZeagle]

WOB is a funny thing. It looks great on printed reports, but very few people in "real life" situations would be able to judge the difference, imho.

You don't say what type of diving you are doing, so it is hard to answer the question of which reg you should choose.

If YOU are happy with the Aeris regs, I would say keep them.

If you are not happy with them, I would say swap them out.

Regardless of any poll answers, you must be the one that makes the final decision!!!

I will abstain from voting, as my views are clearly biased!