Best Inherently Sealed Regulator for Cold/Warm Diving
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I dive the MK25 first stage. It's a great regulator but it's a piston regulator and so it is not inherently sealed. You'd have to buy and install a sealing kit. If you keep up with service and aren't going to be diving in icy water where it might freeze then it should not be a concern. Take it to a scubapro shop on whatever service interval they recommend and you'll be just fine. Well, you'll be fine so long as you take care of it by rinsing after diving just as you must do with every regulator.
If you want inherently sealed, you want diaphragm rather than piston. Scubapro sells the Mk17 that is such a regulator.
If you want inherently sealed, you want diaphragm rather than piston. Scubapro sells the Mk17 that is such a regulator.
My shop does also sell Atomic, so that would be an option. But, my reasons are:
- I just got trained and certified as a ScubaPro "Pro Tech". With SP regs, I can work on them myself, at my shop, using the shop's tools, etc.. And also have some hope of being able to work on them myself even if I someday am no longer part of any dive shop. I have no Atomic training and no near-term prospects for getting Atomic certification. I could probably get the info and work on Atomics, if I had some. But, in this case, I'm just going with what I know. The SP regs are all I "know" right now. Maybe Atomics are just as well-designed (or better) on the inside. Maybe they are just as easy (or easier) to work on. I don't know. I know that the regs I'm going to buy seem well-designed (to me, with virtually nothing to compare them to...) and are definitely easy to work on.
- I don't want the extra expense of the sealing fluid/grease that is required when servicing the Atomic 1st stage. After fully exploring the insides of the Mk25, the Mk17, and the Mk2, I am no longer worried, like I used to be, about having a sealed 1st stage. Though I will admit, if ScubaPro had a sealed diaphragm reg with a swivel turret, that matched the Mk25 flow characteristics, I might be going for that instead.
- Everyone at my shop keeps telling me that the Mk25/G260 combo is the best breathing reg set they've ever tried. Until I own one for myself, I will not really KNOW what they are like. So, I feel like I need at least one set of those, just to expand my base of experience. In this case, I am actually listening to my more experience colleagues and taking their advice. ;-) Maybe I'll try some Atomics eventually.
- I am set to get key man pricing on the SP regs. That makes them very attractive. Our SP rep for the shop is a good guy that I've come to like, so getting that all together was easy. I've never met our Atomic rep or heard anyone at the shop talk about him/her. If I eventually get sorted out to get similar pricing on Atomic regs, I will probably get a pair to try - to expand my base of experience even more.
- My gut feeling (i.e. no basis in actual facts/research) is that if I were ever in some random dive spot around the world and I needed something fixed, it will be more likely to be able to get a SP set fixed than an Atomic. I don't KNOW what Atomic's worldwide distribution is like. I just speculate that SP parts are more readily available and SP techs easier to find (in the event that I am unable to buy my own parts and fix it myself) around the world.
If you can work on a SP first stage you’ll have no issue with an Atomic first stage. Sealing an Atomic isn’t all that expensive once you have the tool, about $12 worth of lube. When traveling I just bring a spare regulator all set up the way I like it, I’ll hunt down the parts when I get home.
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In Japan if you wanna buy or get Atomic serviced you better have at least three kidneys...
As a pair of cold water "tekkies" we do use up to 5 regs each on a serious dive by the time we both have our doubles and stages ready to go
! We keep one around as a spare, just in case...
1. If you know how to service SP MK25/X regulators, you will have no problem servicing Atomics, just follow their manual step by step.
2. Cost of sealing lube: Don't believe the nonsense being propagated on SB about this cost. Don't forget that you can go for 3 - 5 years between servicing it.
3. Servicing it overseas on trips:
a. It is Atomic, the most reliable regulator in existence!! I have been using them since circa 1998, no problems whatsoever with any of my Atomics at all!
b. If you are worried about it still, carry a spare. You really don't want anyone to be touching or trying to fix your regulator when you are in a remote place even if they are service technicians for that brand, even SP, especially in third world countries and when you are on vacation there and in a rush. Get a spare.
4. Pricing: I am certain that the Atomic rep. for your region will bend over backwards to take care of you to please you and increase the good will for Atomic in your region.
5. Performance: Atomic is better. I have MANY SP regulators, MK25/s600 and MK17/X and I like the Atomic better (not a huge difference however). The AFC feature is awesome. In terms of performance, if the Atomics are a 10, SP will be a 9.8.
6. If you decide to work on Atomic regulators and you leave the shop you are working with now at some point, you can get Atomic spare parts more easily than the SP parts for you to work on Atomic yourself AFAIK.
Please note that I love SP regulators and it is down to personal taste here, both brands are the best out there. Atomic may have a slight edge over SP however.
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- Messages
- 17,617
- Reaction score
- 9,880
- Location
- Somewhere between here and there
- # of dives
- 2500 - 4999
"...the most reliable regulator in existence!!"
That's a mighty bold claim sir. I've no doubt they are reliable, although my sample of one proved otherwise, but there are other brands that are equally reliable, Apeks for example. I've used many brands over the years and in fact I've only had trouble with two regs, an Atomic and a SP, both pistons by the way.
That's a mighty bold claim sir. I've no doubt they are reliable, although my sample of one proved otherwise, but there are other brands that are equally reliable, Apeks for example. I've used many brands over the years and in fact I've only had trouble with two regs, an Atomic and a SP, both pistons by the way.
I owned a very busy dive center/shop in NY for over ten years that sold many brands of regulators (AL, SP, Atomic, Poseidon, Mares, Sherwood and others) and I run a dive school now and I can make that claim with confidence. I have never seen any regulator that can go for many years of heavy use without any issues at all as the Atomic regulator does.
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