Best quality gear?

[Zung]

I went down once to 215 ft on air, with an AL Supra/Cousteau; way too narc'ed to notice anything. Subsequently, I did a few 180 ft on air with the same AL, and then with a SP MK10/G250; I found the SP breathed better and stick with it, until today. The difference comes from the second stage, mostly.

The current quarrel leads me to the second part of the rhetoric: define "Best", or even "Better":
- Better design
- Better execution
- Better performance
- Better performance vs time
- Better integrity vs time
- Prettier

I have no doubt the kilo-buck regs fullfill the last criterion, even though "pretty" is yet to be defined.
For the other criteria, I have serious doubts.

 

[Nitro91]

Internet is serious business...

 

[scubafanatic]

Really? I've used many more brands and models then I can or care to recite. I can tell the difference, maybe because I push limits. I have overworked regs at depth. I guess in the 0-130' range yeah your right not much difference. Personnelly I prefer not to dive with tonka toy regs...
I you have a thing for old stuff, good for you. Seriously, golf ball diving? Been there... 3-20ft who cares what your breathing on, you could suck the air out of a ducks butt at that depth and get by just fine... You said "Scuba Pro MK 20", thats your high end needy reg...? Funny, thats why you cant tell the difference. Go breath off a poseidon, atomic or even a legend at say 200' then tell me you dont notice a difference...

Brendan, the VAST majority of divers will be well served by a relatively modern 'tonka toy' class reg and don't need to spend 200 % or 300% more for a 10 % or 20% increase in performance. There is a point of diminishing returns and each of us depending on our needs/budgets has to decide where to draw the line. 99% of the divers on this board will never see 200' deep.

 

[ams511]

I went down once to 215 ft on air, with an AL Supra/Cousteau; way too narc'ed to notice anything.

Glad you lived to tell about it.

 

[TSandM]

I know some folks here in the PNW who are doing some serious technical diving with relatively inexpensive regulators -- I'm talking sub-200 foot, high current, low viz dives. I do not think it is at all true that paying more gets you more on a reliable basis.

 

[ams511]

My first reg was a Conshelf 21. My dive instructor did everything he could to prevent me from buying it. Said was a bad regulator, unbalanced, difficult to breath from etc. It stuck me odd that Aqualung (U.S. Divers at the time) would produce and sell such a piece of crap. Turns out the regulator was not crap but my dive instructor was full of crap. The reason he did not want to sell me the reg was because it was a loss leader and he wouldn't get a commission on it, it retailed for $200 but they sold it for $100 probably in violation of MAP and MSP. He convinced me (I was stupid at the time) to buy an Oceanic Delta octo (this will give you Navy class A perfomance) and Oceanic Gauges instead of the Parkway ones that were on sale. It was all BS, at recreational levels any reg from any reputable manufacturer will do fine, unless there is some unintentional manufacturing defect.

 

[ams511]

I know some folks here in the PNW who are doing some serious technical diving with relatively inexpensive regulators -- I'm talking sub-200 foot, high current, low viz dives. I do not think it is at all true that paying more gets you more on a reliable basis.

If you compare a Apeks US4/TX, ATX, XTX 20, with a DS4/TX, ATX, XTX 50 you are only giving up cold water performance and second stage adjustability. The regs will breath the same because they are the same except for a few parts. Seaquest loves it because for maybe $20 in parts they can sell the reg for $200 more.

 

[Rich Keller]

The "best" is always going to be different depending on your point of view. My point of view concerns what regulator is easiest for me to service. I have replaced all my newer regs with old Scubapro 108HP, 109, MK3 and MK5s that I bought on ebay over the past few years. I have had lots of experience working on them and feel they work at least as well as the regs on the market today. Scubapro still makes parts for every reg they ever sold though getting parts has always been a problem for the DIY diver. I have been looking into HOG regs as they are making them so they can be easily serviced by the diver unlike every other reg on the market today. If I were in the market to buy a new reg today it would be looking at HOG regs.

 

[Centrals]

Personally to me what matters most is how well tuned the regulator is.

Absolutely!
Learn how to service your kit and this will save you bucket of money as well as peace of mind.

 

[Brendon]

Brendan, the VAST majority of divers will be well served by a relatively modern 'tonka toy' class reg and don't need to spend 200 % or 300% more for a 10 % or 20% increase in performance. There is a point of diminishing returns and each of us depending on our needs/budgets has to decide where to draw the line. 99% of the divers on this board will never see 200' deep.

Point taken... I shall remind myself of that fact, before speaking of such things and wasting my time.