Affordable regs?

[Bounty]

I need to replace my ancient reg with something more up to date. After reading Scuba Diving Magazine gear reviews, I'm thinking about a Zeagle Rezort. Their take is that they all do a good job, just some do a better job and the Zeagle got a best buy for a very low price. I'm sure that after diving with 20 year old equipment, anything will be a vast improvement. And while I may be able to afford a $600 reg, is there an overriding reason to go high end? I also have other gear needs, such as a BP/W, so the money saved will be put to good use. I won't be diving every weekend and twice a week at night for bugs like I used to, so am I thinking wrong or right?
Thanks for any thoughts on the subject of gear and pricing/value.

Steve

 

[dschulte]

The Aqua Lung Titan is a good regulator as is the Genesis GS2000 (Great price and easy breathing). Either of these should save you enough for the BP/W.
:monkeydan

 

[johnny_bravo]

Support your local reg manufacturer:

"For over twenty years, Dean Garraffa and Doug Toth have been innovators in the diving industry with over a dozen patents to their credit from BC's to regulators to snorkels. In 1995 they founded Atomic Aquatics in Huntington Beach, California.

Atomic Aquatics introduced the world's finest titanium regulators, whose innovative features and record breaking performance have become industry benchmarks. These were the first of many exciting new products to be coming your way."

http://www.atomicaquatics.com

I dive an atomic by the way.

Cheers.

-J.-

 

[ams511]

Ebay is one option and the classifieds here another. I have some extra stuff if you want you can PM me.

If you are looking for new, Leisurepro has a good deal on R290/mk17's for $200

A real good deal for a quality setup is:

123Scuba has a $60 Colti first stage
Samish divers has a $70 Oxycheq second
For $130 you are getting very good regs for a rock bottom price.

 

[ams511]

Don't be too sure that 20 year old regs cannot get the job done. Dive gear is not like electronics or automobiles that improved radically over the past 20 years or so. There are experienced divers that swear old Scubapro regs are just as good as the new ones, maybe better. My old Sherwood Magnum breaths just as good as a new one.

EDIT: The Atomic regs are excellent but pricey, you may be able to find a good deal on a Z-1, because they are coming out with a Z-2.

 

[redacted]

I need to replace my ancient reg with something more up to date.

What kind of old regs are you talking about? I'll take a high quality 20 year old reg over most of these new-fangled plastic things. Particularly when many of the small improvements that have occured in the last 20 years may retrofit into those older models.

 

[in_cavediver]

I'd look at Dive-Rites and Salvos. I know the DR regs are good (I own 2 and use one as my primary reg). I have heard on SB that Salvos are pretty much the same reg. They both have the low price point but are good regs.

As for Zeagles, I own a flathead 6, DS4 and 2 Envoys. All top notch regs.

 

[wunat]

The Aqua Lung Titan is a good regulator...............

I second this. The Titan and Titan LX is a great regulator with a good price tag. You won't go wrong with it.

I have 3 different sets of regulators all from different manufacturer. Scubapro M16+G250hp for my single, Apeks DS4s+ATX50s for my doubles, and Aqualung Titan LX (with standard hose setup) for my classes. The Titan LX costs me the least among all the sets of regs I have but not inferior in terms of performance. In fact, I can't tell the differences at all.

 

[DiveMaven]

I dive with a Zeagle Envoy primary and secondary. I dive warm only and haven't seen any performance difference between 30' and 130'. Not only that, but the Envoy had perfect scores in ScubaLab's testing a few years ago. For my money, you simply can't go wrong with a Zeagle.

 

[espantoon]

I second the Zeagle Envoy-Just received mine from ScubaToys a little over a month ago, and tested it out in the pool-lightweight, comfortable, easy breathing reg for a great price. Zeagle also has exceptional customer service and product support.