Best bcd in the market now?

[dmaziuk]

I've noticed some sports cars sit real low, and I don't like that.

Someone I once knew complained that by the time you can afford one of those things your back is too worn out to climb in without being in pain.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Spend as you like.
We’re all grownups here so if anybody is swayed by bling factor and enjoys spending way more than another person deems as necessary, I see it as their right and freedom to do so.
If I had tons of money and could afford a Ti reg I might buy one.
I manufacture probably the most expensive plate out there. With all the upgrades (high lustre polish, rail, wedge) it can run up to $345.
Believe it or not, about 50% of my sales include upgrades.
There is a market for Gucci, Ferrari, Lotus, Rolls Royce, Rolex, high dollar wines, Atomic, etc.
If there wasn’t they wouldn’t exist.
Happiness can have a price, if something expensive can make you happy. Who has the right to judge otherwise?
You get what you pay for, in one form or another.

 

[eelnoraa]

why would anyone buy the T3 and pay more? same as sports cars, fast motorcycles, whatever your hobby. Weight.

I wanted the lightest best travel setup

also for the extra cost you get once every three year rebuild. Ill keep my reg for 20 years. Doing the maintenance on a reg every year or every two years vs once per 3 yrs with the T3 will save TONS of money and that cost just goes UP every single year....

aaaaaaand whens the last time you saw titanium rust?

The T3 is NO BRAINER better than other non titanium regs.

and CHEAPER in the long run than high end non titanium regs.

yea I could buy a cheap reg and do just fine. and I had one. that had just been serviced. It failed at 100 ft and my dive partner was narced so....yea not doing that again.

plus asthetics etc. it just looks cool.

hyundai vs porsche ....why do people buy expensive nice cars? why buy a teric why buy anything nice.... some people seem to get all pissed off if you spend money scuba diving. it makes no sense at all. scuba is an expensive sport. Thats just a fact. Some people like bragging about how little money they spend. I love diving with those people. and ive been on dive boats where everyone has a perdix and T3 with 6 divers.... I say let everyone dive with what they want.

my reasoning for T3 is all of the above reasons. weight, asthetics, mainenance, durability, cheaper than other high end regs in long run. I know people that have titanium regs for 20 yrs and still use them.

Im no spring chicken I want what I want. Ive done the whole oh ill save money and go with a lesser model thing...not anymore.

people spend ALOT more than i do on their sports....motorcycle trackdays will break most bank accounts. mountainbiking you can spend 15k on a bicycle...... if you want a halfway decent bike its over 5k.

my T3 was under msrp then another 20% off on the twice yearly sale. I paid way under msrp.

Don't get me wrong, I am totally OK with owning Ti reg, or expansive sport cars. What I am trying to say is if you are on budget, which you did mention, then spending money on Ti reg is giving you the return you are thinking.

I do own set of Atomic Ti. Weight saving is really minimal. If you search my posts, I have weight all the components on a kichen scale. Ti 1st + 2nd together is a few oz of weight saving. Hardly makes practical difference. As for longavity, there are plenty of brass reg with minimal maintanance that has been around for longer than 20 years. In fact, I think my mk25/G250V is probably about 20-25 years old. They are my backgass reg for double. Just trying to speak from owning both Ti and brass regulators.

But again, nothing against Ti, espeically if you get a good price. Enjoy the reg.

Some numbers:
2nd stages:
B2 with M1 heat sink: 6.8oz
M1 with M1 head sink obviously: 7.6oz
May difference is Ti inlet tube vs brass inlet tube, weight saving is 0.8oz.

1st stage:
T2 yoke: 15.2 oz
B2 yoke: 1lb 6.4oz.
weight saving is 6.2oz. Together, you get 7oz of weight saving. I am not sure in grant scheme, it makes any difference at travel packing at all.

I think maintenance difference is almost none in term of service interval. For active divers, we are mostly gated by number of dives, not time. AA get a larger number of dives because 2nd stage seat saving. It applies to all of their reg. If less maintenance means not washing your reg, then Ti definitely has advantage. But remember, the main spring isn't Ti, so you still need to be careful washing salt water out of ambient chamer if reg isn't sealed. For sealed reg, I actually saw crystolube will become paste like texture in less than 3 years, not sure if that means I should change out the lube tho.

One disadvantage of Ti is cold water and high O2. In colder water, mass is what you need. That is why very cold water reg has heatsink. I guess for CA kind of water, it isn't cold enough to be concern.

 

[Kialn]

+1 for the Aqualung Rogue. I bought two for my boys and so far they have dove in chilly lake quarries nearby. Next year we'll be taking them to SE Florida.

CAUTION for the Aqualung Rogue - NEVER BUY A BCD WITH PLASTIC PIECES!! I bought this BCD in 2018, just finished a dive trip a week ago. I had only about 35 dives on it, and on the last dive my weight pocket fell off during the dive! I started to involuntarily ascend, thank god I was near a bottom surface and not on a wall (where it could never be retrieved) and that someone was close to me and grabbed it quickly!! This was a life-threatening situation. I thought the BCD was cool because you could take it apart and it was lightweight for travel, but the weight pockets are held on by plastic tabs that fatigue easily!! Upon inspection, the tab (that that weight pocket clicks into), is so fatigued that it's about to break off, again after 35 dives! The tab on other side that holds the other weight pocket is also fatigued and I'm sure would've failed soon. I took a lot of care with the BCD - never stored it with the weights in between dives. I would never let anyone I know dive with this BCD.

 

[WS007]

Interesting tread here, as I am also at the stage to buy a new jacket (my Seac 2000 HD pro is already disassembling after 5 years of use...).

I look currently at Scubapro Hydros and Seahawk 2. I prefer to have pockets. Is the Hydros worth the extra money? Can someone compare these two products from experience?

Wolfgang

 

[RogueClimber]

Interesting tread here, as I am also at the stage to buy a new jacket (my Seac 2000 HD pro is already disassembling after 5 years of use...).

I look currently at Scubapro Hydros and Seahawk 2. I prefer to have pockets. Is the Hydros worth the extra money? Can someone compare these two products from experience?

Wolfgang

If you want pockets then you already have your answer when deciding between those two. One of my major deciding factors towards my Hydros Pro is that it doesn't have pockets (or any other extra material/padding etc to get wet).