Apeks Black Sapphire 40yr vs Aqualung Legend LUX Supreme

[brad.almony]

Hello everyone,
I am new to diving and the forums. Currently I am still working on getting my open water diver cert from a local dive shop.
I am positive that I want to stick with diving for a long time and am looking for advice on picking between two regs.
Because I travel a lot to colder places I am looking at getting a reg that is designed with cold water in mind.

I like the AL Legend Lux Supreme, it seems to offer great performance at a very similar price to the Apek Black Sapphire 40yr.
Both of the regs are from what I can tell designed for cold water. I have been told that the Apek will be a little bit heavier than the AL.
Also they both have a PVD coating which is supposed to help with durability.

Would you consider Apek quality to be higher than AL?

My local shop can service both regs and from what iv seen the Apek is easy to get serviced just about anywhere and AL seems to have a large service area as well. Just incase if i ever need to get it serviced while i'm not near my local shop.

Has anyone had an experience with both? (i know thats a long shot maybe)
Or just one or the other, what are some of the things you liked, and some of the things you didn't like?

Thanks in advance!

 

[KevinNM]

Don't be in a big hurry to invest a lot of money in gear before you are a certified diver, are sure you like it and have some familiarity with various brands of gear.

I dive aqualung regs, but not that one. They are both quality manufacturers, in fact Apeks is a division of Aqualung. These are both fairly high-end models, lots of clever features with a corresponding price. But you don't have to buy really high-end to get a reg that will be more than capable of serving you for pretty much forever.

 

[Centrals]

My 18 yrs old Apeks DS4 is till pretty shinning. There is no point to pay extra for the appearance.
Look after it properly and it will serve you well for many many yrs.

 

[brad.almony]

Don't be in a big hurry to invest a lot of money in gear before you are a certified diver, are sure you like it and have some familiarity with various brands of gear.

I dive aqualung regs, but not that one. They are both quality manufacturers, in fact Apeks is a division of Aqualung. These are both fairly high-end models, lots of clever features with a corresponding price. But you don't have to buy really high-end to get a reg that will be more than capable of serving you for pretty much forever.

I agree not to rush into the purchase but I am looking to buy within the next month or so (My check out dives are this weekend).
As far as gear goes I have everything but a bcd, reg, and tank(might not buy for a while if ever).

I was planning on holding off on the bcd for the moment right now because I have only had the chance to use an aqualung dimension i3 (which i kinda liked but am not sure if i want a jacket or back inflate style).

Forgot to mention that I have used three different regs so far, the first one I dove with was a really old Titan like one of the originals. The second one was a newer Titan lx and the last was a Legend lx.
I could tell a difference between the Titan and the other two, I attribute this to it being unbalanced. The Titan lx and the Legend lx were a little harder to really see much of a difference between the two but I felt like the legend was just a little easier to breathe out of.
I might try out an Atomic B2 on one of my check out dives just to try out a 4th one.

I knew Apeks was a division of Aqualung but I wasn't sure because it was made in the UK and not France if there was a difference in build quality / machining tolerances?

 

[claymore]

I would wait and see if the heat of the moment dies off. Those are very good regs but you are paying a BIG premium for Bling. Same regs and same performance as lower priced modeled just lots of bling to justify a higher price.

 

[Kevrumbo]

As a limited production "collectible/investment" --the Black Sapphire is a similar marketing ploy to the Apeks 30th Anniversary Black Pearl -which claims a supposedly higher resale value now because of its rarity, as well as usual Apeks quality in a cold water reg.

 

[wolflegresley]

I love my Apeks XTX 200 and I dive it in Cold (Canada) waters all the time, Never have had an issue and the parts for life program is great.

If I had my time back I would have purchased the XTX 50 as it is the same reg on the inside. I highly suggest you try this reg out, I doubt you will ever notice a difference in breathing them...you would have to go far beyond NDL limits to find a difference.

Apeks is bullet proof.

P.S.
Just a quick afterthought that you may find interesting, the record deepest dive was used with Apeks Regulators (Tech 3s).
Declassified: the world

 

[KevinNM]

I was planning on holding off on the bcd for the moment right now because I have only had the chance to use an aqualung dimension i3 (which i kinda liked but am not sure if i want a jacket or back inflate style).

If you want a deal on a medium, I've got one. I'm a late convert to backplate and wing, so I've got a dimension i3 with about 40 dives on it. But truthfully, you should try a backplate and wing set up by someone who knows how to do it first.

 

[buddhasummer]

I'd imagine they won't, cosmetically, hold up as well in general as the chrome plated brass. I've seen some pretty ratty looking Tungsten regs. I of course don't know this for sure as have only seen pictures. Over here they are listed as almost $2500USD.

 

[KevinNM]

There is nothing wrong with buying something just because it looks cool and you want to have it. I've certainly done that. Or because you think it's the best and you want to own and use the absolute best. It's your money. But regulator quality doesn't scale linearly with cost, even fairly modestly priced regs are pretty darn good these days. Improvements are usually incremental and pricey. So buying a reg that costs five times what a low end Hog or Dive Rite reg costs is not going to get you even close to five times better performance. Don't get me wrong, it will look better and have various improvements, but whether they are worth the price is something you have to decide.