Apeks and Aqualung regulator service

[Divin'Papaw]

No. AirTech is by the book and uses only OEM parts. They are large enough that they may get better service than my LDS.

I'm sure they buy A LOT of kits a year!

 

[rsingler]

Which brand regulator would you recommend then? Cold water use

Since you're in the UK, it all depends upon whether you're self-service or local dive shop.

If you're not DIY, then for cold water, Scubapro Mk19EVO with G260 or S620Ti would be best engineered and most reliable.

If you're DIY, then for now Apeks might be attractive if you can get parts and kits. And me, I'd replace the stock Apeks diaphragm with a slightly (0.4mm) thicker Scubagaskets aftermarket part. And you can get Apeks service kits from them.

Otherwise, I'm hoping that the new Scubagaskets SG-S3T3 will turn out to be a star. We probably won't know for 4 months, but based upon the quality of their S2T2, I'm really hopeful.

Any of the US brands might be price/customs duty prohibitive, but there's always Deep6.

I don't know!
Maybe our European members can stir up another "best cold water reg" debate for their side of the pond. But I'm forever against Apeks for cold water as long as they use a diaphragm that depends upon "metal-to-metal" contact instead of torque. I have several Northern European buddies that report "champagne bubbles" from that joint at the 1-2 year mark. That's a deal-breaker for me.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Since you're in the UK, it all depends upon whether you're self-service or local dive shop.

If you're not DIY, then for cold water, Scubapro Mk19EVO with G260 or S620Ti would be best engineered and most reliable.

If you're DIY, then for now Apeks might be attractive if you can get parts and kits. And me, I'd replace the stock Apeks diaphragm with a slightly (0.4mm) thicker Scubagaskets aftermarket part. And you can get Apeks service kits from them.

Otherwise, I'm hoping that the new Scubagaskets SG-S3T3 will turn out to be a star. We probably won't know for 4 months, but based upon the quality of their S2T2, I'm really hopeful.

Any of the US brands might be price/customs duty prohibitive, but there's always Deep6.

I don't know!
Maybe our European members can stir up another "best cold water reg" debate for their side of the pond. But I'm forever against Apeks for cold water as long as you use a diaphragm that depends upon "metal-to-metal" contact instead of torque. I have several Northern European buddies that report "champagne bubbles" from that joint at the 1-2 year mark. That's a deal-breaker for me.

The annoying "champagne bubbles" are why I got rid of the one Apeks reg that I ever had. Annoying as all get out.

 

[rsingler]

Bingo. ANOTHER first hand report.

 

[macado]

I know this doesn't help everyone but I've had very good luck with third-party service kits and generic HP seats from ScubaGaskets. I've also had good luck buying Apeks parts and official Apeks kits from ScubaSupport.nl. They shipped them to the US no problem.

I bought all the Apeks o-rings in bulk from various o-ring suppliers and bought a bulk supply of HP seats / third-party kits from ScubaGaskets however I can totally understand the reasons why a dive shop is not going to install an unofficial / third-party kits in a customer's regulator. If you're doing the servicing yourself I would say have at it.

I know this isn't a huge data point I've got a ton of DS4 / DST first stages on bailout, stage and deco regs. I'd say half of them have third-party kits installed. Many of them are 2-3 + years old and still holding IP with plenty of dives on them.

It sucks that I can't buy these parts in the US and I hate this is the "norm" in the scuba industry but at this point I have too many regulators to consider replacing them all with a different brand. I'm happy with third-party kits and will continue using them and buying Apeks parts overseas when I need them. I hope they don't go out of business and from @rsingler's review of the new Apeks regs, I am not impressed. I'll stick with my TX50 and ATX 50s / XTX50 second stages.

 

[runsongas]

metal to metal requires the tolerances to be maintained to work. the problem is not everybody takes care of their regs correctly. I have a dozen apeks regs with some dating from the 90s and don't have this issue. adding the hog thrust washer #13 possibly might be a fix for a reg that is out of tolerance too.

 

[happy-diver]

Go ATX like the day they were born