Aqualung arctic info plz

[vik61]

Does anyone here know anything about the aqualung arctic reg? Pros, Cons, any info would be much appreciated. im looking at a used one but cant seem to find very much info on them. Thanks

 

[Zung]

My very first rig from over 20 years ago was a Spirotechnique Supra XL. I think there was a variation then called the Supra Arctic with a somewhat beefed up second stage for cold water. The first stage was produced until a few years ago and was last known as the Cousteau SEA. If the one you're looking at looks like this, it's a very good reg.

Mine is now retired to the role of a backup of a backup, it gets very little attention and just keep on working good, with a rock stable IP.

 

[scubapeter]

The Aqua Lung Arctic (aka US Divers Arctic) came in a few different versions over the years. It was offered with both the SE and SEA 1st stages that were both environmentally sealed. IIRC they operated at a slightly lower IP than the other regulators in the US Divers fleet. I owned the last one they offered for a few years. It was exceptional in cold water, but was non-adjustable and was not intended as a deep water regulator (fine to recreational limits). I replaced it with a pair of apeks tx-50's and have never looked back....

 

[vik61]

Thanks for the info zung i thought they must have been old being there was no info anywhere on google. I found a sherwood oasis from nov 09 with sherwood first stage, hose and fitting guards, and a sherwood second. A brand new never used genisis pro react, sherwood dual console, new knife and dive bag for 275 delivered so i picked that up. Ive dove with a sherwood oasis before and liked it. I think i got a great deal. So thanks for the reply but i found a different setup.

 

[tfsails]

The Arctic second stage is almost unique in my experience. It and the Glacia are the only two second stages I've heard of where the demand lever is remote from the poppet. For some reason known only to AL/USD, they created a monstrosity of a linkage between the demand lever and the poppet which is a bitch to get apart and even more of a bitch to put back together. It makes no sense to me. Unless you're one who likes to mess with things like this I would advise you to stay away from the Arctic/Glacia and find a simpler cold-water second stage.

I had my biggest professional embarrassment from a Glacia that I had rebuilt. I did it wrong and it became disengaged on the customer's first dive--fortunately in a swimming pool--and failed closed. No air flow at all! From that point on I have been even more meticulous when assembling one of those second stages, and have my sidekick do a QA on it before I turn it out.