Damselfish
Contributor
I've had a Mikron for a bunch of years. I noticed the bubbles at first but don't anymore. I'd actually forgotten all about them until I saw this thread.
I like the compactness. The weight savings is nice and is much more than the 4oz someone mentioned, maybe more like 2 pounds overall? Maybe it's 4oz on the 2nd stage but most of the weight savings is in the 1st. Breathes fine for any depth and position I'm in, but that should be true of plenty of regs. (Most good regs should breath fine if properly serviced and tuned, rentals tend to be lower end and not always in peak shape, so not a good comparison - I don't think it's something you need to obsess about a huge amount. If you care about a reg breathing dry when you're sideways/upside down/whatever, that's something worth specifically checking into.)
I would keep in mind service. Make sure you can get it serviced locally or are ready to ship it someplace for service. (Personally, I don't get regs serviced too often, I find have way fewer problems if I don't give someone a chance to fix what's not broken.) My understanding is the Mikron requires a special (expensiveish) tool to open, so if you needed service when traveling that could be a drawback over something more generic. It's not the only reg that needs a special tool but this one may be less common. But I haven't actually had that problem, and worst case I'd just rent if I needed to.
I like the compactness. The weight savings is nice and is much more than the 4oz someone mentioned, maybe more like 2 pounds overall? Maybe it's 4oz on the 2nd stage but most of the weight savings is in the 1st. Breathes fine for any depth and position I'm in, but that should be true of plenty of regs. (Most good regs should breath fine if properly serviced and tuned, rentals tend to be lower end and not always in peak shape, so not a good comparison - I don't think it's something you need to obsess about a huge amount. If you care about a reg breathing dry when you're sideways/upside down/whatever, that's something worth specifically checking into.)
I would keep in mind service. Make sure you can get it serviced locally or are ready to ship it someplace for service. (Personally, I don't get regs serviced too often, I find have way fewer problems if I don't give someone a chance to fix what's not broken.) My understanding is the Mikron requires a special (expensiveish) tool to open, so if you needed service when traveling that could be a drawback over something more generic. It's not the only reg that needs a special tool but this one may be less common. But I haven't actually had that problem, and worst case I'd just rent if I needed to.