Atomic Reg and Tech Diving

[britishdiver]

Thought I would get in a word from this side the pond.

We have a great following for Apex regs in the UK, they are used in very harsh environments down to 450 fsw on a recent expedition. The TX40 is the best, no frills just perfect performance.

http://www.britishdiver.com

 

[Tekdiver]

SORRY for the delay guys.... I've been diving.

RE: post from uwsince79
"TEKDIVER- I do a bit of tech-diving and I do have a question. As for DIR methods, are you in the habit or training to repair a (down stream valve)free flow reg underwater? If this is the case I have a few questions to ask on how you handle certain situations. (Just a question on your/DIR methods)To me a free flow is an abort dive, shut down the gas to the reg and dive over. (we are taking twin bottles w/iso valve here I assume). I was taught it is a gas management issue first. Or are we talking about deco regs? Are you in an extended range overhead environment? Cave or wreck how many feet in? What is the reasoning for the repair? I have many questions...

Always looking to leard something new and Just wanted some info..... "

Bobby,

Thanks for the questions. I don't have a lot of time to respond since I'm self employed and spend all of my free time diving. First, I'm not a DIR nazi but I do believe in about 99.9% of their operational principals. How you dive is up to you!

Re: "As for DIR methods, are you in the habit or training to repair a (down stream valve)free flow reg underwater".
NO... That's the point. You can't effectivly accomplish this with this reg. Let me say I do not represent any arm or agency that is associated with the DIR concept. Am I trained to repair regs above or below the surface...? Six or seven manufactures seem to think so since they certified me on their hardware. But I specialize in the stuff I dive. I don't train anyone, I train myself. I'm not an instructor and don't claim to be. It cuts into my diving too much. I just have 29 years of serious diving under my belt at the ripe old age of 39. I am associated and consult with several dive shops in my area and do technical consultation for a couple of commercial dive charter operations.

Re:"To me a free flow is an abort dive, shut down the gas to the reg and dive over. (we are taking twin bottles w/iso valve here I assume). I was taught it is a gas management issue first."

YES, I agree that a free-flow (if not readily repairable/ie. shake the reg out) is an "abort dive" scenario. In much of the diving that _I_ do, if you can foul your primary your secondary SHOULD be highly suspect. Not so much in wreck but in cave. If your primary is fouled and you have an hour+ swim out, it sure is nice to know that you can clear the foul and re-light that post so you have a back-up to your back-up if you will.

Re: "Or are we talking about deco regs? "
Same above pretty much applies. With the Rouses' deaths ("The Last Dive" Berny Chouherdy) who I've been in with. I do my best to carry all of my gas with me, as opposed to leaving outside the wreck, and plan the dive accordingly.

Re: "Are you in an extended range overhead environment?"
YES... most of the time.
If you mean "extended range" as deep-air no. I use a mix on anything below about 60'.

Re: "Cave or wreck how many feet in?"
Both. In August I was 2600 feet back in a Mexican cave (at the Chappel) when a spool o-ring decided to start leaking. 1hr10min swim out... it was gas managment on the fly. Luckly it waited until we were in the basin to blow. Last weekend I ran 300' feet of line in a 265' wreck at 110' and spent 1hr08min inside an 45min or so of deco (ask TexasMike about the trip. He's not qualified to do most of what we were doing but held up under a baptisim of fire with his instructor in 8-10' seas, although a little green :^) )

Re: "What is the reasoning for the repair?"
Survival. My reasoning is primarily from cave diving. In a wreck you can usually get out in a short time and then will shift to a deco gas/reg and bail to your back-gas if necessary (ie. not drown). In a cave things can be completely different with the long swim to a surface air source.

I hope this answers your questions.

 

[uwsince79]

Thank you for your reply it was quite informative and I do agree with your reply. I too have been in the water a long time and never went into the business of diving, for the simple reason, I just love to dive. But I do keep my education going at a pretty good pace. I will be attending a cave 1 class in Northern Fla that is a GUE/DIR program. I have been diving wrecks for as long as I have been diving but now have the time to spend learning and then exploring some caves which will all be new to me.

 

[Tekdiver]

Bobby,

Good luck on your GUE class! Do you know who your instructor will be? I would be interested in a review once you get through it.

Kind regards,

 

[uwsince79]

Marc,
I do not know as of yet but I will keep you informed.

 

[frogman]

Atomic regs are great for tek, that is if you have that much money to spend. They're great performers and are reliable....sweet suckers! I use them for tek but change to a more practical setup. No question about performance but the cost is too high, especially if your using multiple regs.
I would suggest switching to diaphram based 1st stages. I have switched to a combination of regulators from Poseidon Odin/Jetstream on my doubles, a couple of Scubapro MK20/G250 on stages (wished I had MK14s or the Apeks) and a simple unbalanced piston-based reg for my deco. There are a lot of good regs out there other than the ones I have mentioned.
:doctor:

 

[monster]

Where can I download the DIR manual? Would like to look through it as well.

Frogman... where in the Philippines are you from?

As for the thread topic... barnone, the Atomics are the best regs I've ever used, including the SP MK20/G500s (haven't had the chance to try the MK25, nor the new 600 2nd stages), and the JetStream. They breathe easy and naturally, whether you're at 5m or 60m.

You might want to look at the B1/Ti2, since the T1/Ti2, especially for your backset and maybe even your stage/deco regs, will put you in serious debt. The Z1s are even cheaper, but they don't swivel, which might cause some problems with setup.

Get another Ti2 for your octopus, if you're only buying one 1st stage in the meantime; you can de-tune it using the adjustment knob to prevent freeflows. Otherwise, if you get two B1/Ti2's, then you've got a pretty good pair already for your twins. The turret configuration -- much like the SPs -- makes setup and hose routing very flexible.

 

[roakey]

Originally posted by monster
Where can I download the DIR manual? Would like to look through it as well.

http://www.gue.com/catalog/order