Aluminium & Titanium 1st stages

[DA Aquamaster]

'Cuz it's COOL boogie! The gearhead (or techno-nerd) population is indeed a mighty demographic in diving. Any miniscule reason to buy newer and better stuff... I'm feeling the shakes just thinking about titanium. MUST RESIST!

Yep, the snob and/or geek factor is about 90% of the appeal for some customers. I had a customer come in the other day and go on and on about his $1200 MK 25T and get all concerned about whether I had the parts to service his extra special regulator. I assured him I had a kit designed just for his reg and then aftter he left I dug out one of the 50 or so Mk 25 kits in the bin and rebuilt his reg.

His MK 25T will do absolutely nothing that a standard Mk 25 can't do just as well (but a standard Mk 25 can pass a tank of 100% O2 at 3500 PSI that would leave his reg at risk of going up in flames.)

But the important thing is that it makes him happy as he paid 3 times what he would have paid for a regular Mk 25 and is extremely proud of the fact that hardly anyone else has the lack of sense required to buy one of their own. Consequently his reg is pretty rare and provides him with the opportunity to impress all his poor captive companions on the dive boat.

The Mk 25UL and MK 25T are great regs from a sales standpoint as price is part of the appeal so we never have to even think of discounting the price on them so much as a penny.

I had a Mk 25 UL come in for its first annual service this spring and it still had the slightly worse for wear price tag stuck on it. Apparently he was modest and did not want to actually have to brag about how much he paid for it ($938) but rather preferred to just let people see the tag for themselves. It takes all kinds to make a world.

 

[Boogie711]

Man, I only WISH I had a name for people like that: Clients.

 

[Diver0001]

<snip>

Personally I think chrome plated brass has 40 plus years of successful service behind it and it is hard to question it in terms of durability and general suitability.

<snip>

I was going to make this comment too but I was worried about sounding like an old fart saying "look sunnny boy, when I was a kid we swam the length and breadth of the seas with these old lumps of brass and if it's good enough for me it must be good enough for you...." LOL

Maybe after some time we'll conclude that some of the new materials are better. I just don't know how we can tell yet.....

R..

 

[kactus]

I've done some searching but not found much on these materials used for 1st stages.
.........
Curious.....

I'm was in the same boat and what I have found agrees with what you've and others have said. But here is something else to consider. The following was taken straight from the Atomic website and shows the weight savings for their regulator sets. The difference from the M1 to the T1 is only 1 pound. Is the cost difference worth saving one pound? Even at LeisurePro prices the T1 is almost twice the cost of the M1.

COMPLETE SYSTEMS
T1_______B1_______Z1______M1
1.66 lb___2.43 lb___2.30 lb___2.6 lb

Also consider that Atomic warranty information strickly states that the T1, B2, & Z1 are not to be used with Nitrox. Although most feel that this is being overly cautious and as long as you do not exceed 40% O2 you should be fine.

By the way, I just purchased a B2 from ScubaToys. I had been looking at the MK25/S650, but found a good deal on the Atomic. If I had it to do over again, I might go with the M1 and save some dollars since everyone seems to agree that all Atomics breath the same. i will get to dive it for the first time this Sunday.

keith

 

[lanwu]

Hi All,

Thanks for the great comments....certainly been enlightening....

I think overall, it seems that:

1. as usual, we (over) pay for less
2. brass is still the best all rounder - although lets see where Monel will take this...

Of course, more comments are welcome...the more insight the better!