Best first regulator, DIY service

[Magnus Lundstedt]

Marriage, what can I say. My son I don't regret for a minute. Getting old, that's life.

Getting old is better than the alternative.

 

[buddhasummer]

Getting old is better than the alternative.

I'm ok with two out of the three, guess which two.

 

[Centrals]

Do you believe that the DS4/XTX50 is a good choice for that purpose ? I could get one for 360€ (390$)

Money well spend.
I have no knowledge on any regulators except Apeks. My work horse for rec or tec dive is DS4/FSR + TX50 since 1998.
I believe Buddhasummer has explained very well the benefit of FSR over its other stablemates.
BTW, Apeks are very easy to service.
Go for it.

 

[george_austin]

as Herman said, the Mk2 or a 2nd Gen Mk 5

 

[loosenit2]

I started with a Cressi AC2/XS2 1st/2nd stage and an XS2 octo. I service them myself and after getting a solo card and with ≈ 300 dives I've seen no need to get anthing else. I don't exceed rec depths but have had them to over a 100 feet at 42°F and 130 feet in warm water with no problems.

They are easy to service and the service manuals are on line or on youtube, but I can send you them so you don't have to hunt.

Parts are easy to get from DiveSeekers ( Buy Scuba diving gear for recreational, technical, and wreck. ) for about $15 each kit. The regs themselves are inexpensive ($152 for a combo AC2/XS2 Cressi Ac2 Xs2 and $70 for the octo Cressi Xs Octo )

I just checked the site...I don’t see any cressi service parts for sale. Have they stopped carrying?

 

[Kharon]

I just checked the site...I don’t see any cressi service parts for sale. Have they stopped carrying?

Send them an email and ask them to order you a service kit. They don't stock it. They have to order it.

 

[Random Dude]

Without going through all the replies, I would recommend ScubaPros, reason being that there are loads of materials available to teach you how to service them (schematics, manuals, posts on blogs, and even official training videos for certain popular models).
Also, with the mainstream ones like MK25, 17, 10, 5, 2 etc, it's very easy to seek for advice on them.

That being said, do check out the availability and price of parts in your region, since I am blessed in that there's a SP dealer near me selling parts at a much cheaper price compared to other regs.

Do note that SP regs do have a higher need for certain specialized tools, but since all my regs are SP, that isn't too much of an issue for me.

APEKS would be a close second in my region too, since parts are usually same for all generations of APEKS regs, and easily available at a good price. They also have not really changed all these years, so materials and advise on servicing would be plentiful.