Atomic regs for tech/cave diving

[1amphibian]

Does anyone know if Atomic regs are used regularly in tech or cave diving? I haven't seen them on any of the cave divers I have seen at Ginnie and don't see any mention of them in the tech forums. Yet I hear lots of praise for them from magazines and people here, but are they used for other than open water diving?

If not, then why not?



Chris.

 

[CompuDude]

Are they servicable underwater? I'm no tech diver, but I seem to recall reading somewhere that you want to be able to perform maintenance on the reg underwater in case of trouble, and I'm not sure you can with Atomics. I, too, have heard rave reviews of them, however.

 

[Vie]

Does anyone know if Atomic regs are used regularly in tech or cave diving?

I don't see why not, the Atomic first stages route the same as Scubapro MK20/25 so offer very nice hose routing options. The "Comfort Swivel" on some of the second stages might be a problem (not needed, require custom hose) for tech/cave diving though.

Here's what George Irvine had to say about using Atomic Aquatics regs for deco bottles (he prefers Apeks for backgas):

"...speaking of Atomic, I bought a bunch of these a while back and have been testing them for a couple of years. So far they have been perfect, required no maintenance, work every time no matter how I treat them, and are the easiest breathing of them all."

"My use of these regs has been as shallow stages and deco regs. Upper deco gases are the best application since you breathe them for such long periods of time and these are the easiest breathing regs out there. I have been running them as stages in Mexico to test them out, since down there you have both waters and you run a stage for ridiculous times due to the shallow depths."

Are they servicable underwater?

For disassembly (removal of front cover to access diaphragm) of the second stage underwater, Atomic offers the Atomic M1 Stainless Steel Cave Ring (see attachement):

From Atomic Aquatics website: "...designed to work with the M1 regulator. This important tool allows divers to disassemble their regulators underwater during a dive to make adjustments or clean out sand and sediment."

 

[PerroneFord]

Might have something to do with the fact that the Atomics are VERY expensive relative to the regulators cavers seem to favor, and may not offer anything seen as an advantage.

 

[CompuDude]

Thanks, Vie, that's good info!