Apeks XTX200 - Opinions?

[John_B]

I have the XTX100s (FST first stages, great hose routing and great low profile). Great stuff in warm water and cold water.

I don't know how the LDS system in Japan works... Are you affiliated with a shop and, if so, do you need to be working with students in a brand of gear that the shop sells?

 

[Chuckitall]

I own the Black Pearl Limited Edition anf the Tungsten. Both are great and I dive 150 dives a year. Breath well and I ususally go 2 years between service (my bad).

 

[SeaGazer]

John -

Thanks for your response. Not sure what you mean by "LDS system in Japan." I am active military and stationed here. We have 3 shops on our various bases. Tsunami SCUBA is by far the largest (and best, in my opinion). They have a main shop on one of the bigger bases and 3 satellite shops on 3 of the smaller bases. I deal primarily with them. If they don't have it, scubatoys.com usually does! I work (volunteer) as a divemaster for one of the staff instructors. The shop does not require me to use gear they sell. However, it is to my advantage to do so as they can service it and their prices are awesome. They don't stock Apeks, but they do stock Aqualung. As such they can special order the reg for me and service it as needed.

Spencer

 

[SDAnderson]

My experience is definitely personal: most of my dives are either in a mudhole (Master Instructor) or in very cold, very deep, fresh water (Deep Trimix) scrabbling through wrecks. I've been diving since 1970 and get something like 200 dives a year in and pound my gear, so my experience is fairly broad. Personally, I currently own six sets of Apeks, a couple of ScubaPros and a handful of other stuff. I rely on my Apeks without hesitation. You have to seriously abuse them to get them to fail, they deliver a ton of air if you need it and breath as easy or hard as you want them to. I'm also a manufacturer trained tech for Apeks (also Aqualung, ScubaPro, Mares, Zeagle, TUSA, Sherwood & a few others) and I've seen thousands of regulators open on my bench. Apeks are a simple design, easy to service, hard to screw up and built like a tank.

I think you'll be very happy with your choice. There are other regulators that are as good or nearly as good but anyone looking for a high-performance, reliable, easily serviced, freeze and crud resistant...well, you get the point. They're monster regulators and my first choice.

 

[John_B]

Thanks for your response. Not sure what you mean by "LDS system in Japan." I am active military and stationed here. We have 3 shops on our various bases. Tsunami SCUBA is by far the largest (and best, in my opinion). They have a main shop on one of the bigger bases and 3 satellite shops on 3 of the smaller bases. I deal primarily with them. If they don't have it, scubatoys.com usually does! I work (volunteer) as a divemaster for one of the staff instructors. The shop does not require me to use gear they sell. However, it is to my advantage to do so as they can service it and their prices are awesome. They don't stock Apeks, but they do stock Aqualung. As such they can special order the reg for me and service it as needed.

Spencer, LDS is shorthand for local dive shop. If you were a DM in the states you would probably have to use gear they sell, so the students can say they want what you are using. Dive shops understand it can be a pain to have to buy extra gear if you already own some other brands, so they usually sell it to you for a steep "keyman" discount. See if your Japanese dive shop can get you some sort of a similar discount.