Bringing Italy to America
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lowridersvt
Contributor
Man i just came back from a dive with my atomics under ft of ice you need to rethink your regulator choises i would never take scubapros any were near ice man they freeze solid allot off mk25 divers have finished there dives on my atomic m1 and have a cressi works great for a pool reg and btw my tech instructor dives m1's 500 dives in. And some to past 400ft still going strong
realdiver7
Contributor
Just for the record, even though I exclusively dive the Scubapro MK17 with various Scubapro and other 2nd stages, including the Oceanic Omega II, I have dealt with Ken at Off the Wall Scuba, and find him to be a straight-up kind of guy who seems to tell it like it is. Promoting his products and making fair comparisons to other products is OK in my book.
Besides, members of this board know they will make decisions based on their own experiences, and they also know how to weed through info to get to the bottom line.
Besides, members of this board know they will make decisions based on their own experiences, and they also know how to weed through info to get to the bottom line.
barc802
Contributor
The partner SPEAKS!!
I am Ken's Partner and the one that did the test at Bainbridge on New Years Day.
I Originally owned an Atomic Z1, I still have it, my wife likes it very much but she will not get in cold water. The following is my experiences and not opinion. My Atomic Z1 was a good reg and I never had a major problem. When inverted in 90' 39 degree water it practically shut down. When i switched to doubles I bought 2 Scubapro regs: MK25 S600 and MK25 G250, both are pretty much the same reg just different bodies. They worked great until I got them serviced after a year. From then on they free flowed and froze on every dive under 50 degrees. So fed up with this BS I learned how to tune regs and tuned it myself. I have not had a freeze from normal use. I have froze the reg while filling a lift bag in cold water.
I went to Tobermory this past summer and talking to the captain he had told me that in the last couple years he had several divers using the MK25 have frozen regs at 100'. There were 2 other divers diving on MK25 S600 on this trip and we all bought them from the same store. Both of those divers had there regs freeze at 104' on the same wreck but on different dives. My MK25s work great with out a hitch. The temp on that wreck was 46 degrees F.
The New years Day test dive: 84' 42 degrees F (not 36 degrees, Ken must have misunderstood me on the phone that day)
I took my MK25 on my back gas and 2 stage bottles one with the Cressi Alaska and one the Dive Rite RG3000. I had the Cressi and my buddy had the dive Rite. I expected the Cressi to freeze and with the mouth piece down I taped the purge twice and on the second tap the reg froze. My buddy hyperventilated the RG 3000 and had no problem with the second stage cranked all the way open. I took the reg and held the purge open and was not able to free flow. I then turned it mouth piece up and laid on the purge and was able to get it to free flow, I let it go for about 15 seconds and then started to close the venturi knob (not the lever) and after about 2 full rotations of the knob the free flow stopped. I have never been able to stop a free flow at that depth and temp. I was very impressed with the RG 3000.
To clarify the purge on the Cressi Alaska is very stiff and only opens the gate partially, so i know that if I had breathed on it, it would have frozen. I chose not to freeze the reg by breathing on it because the area I was doing the testing was very crowded, a group of about 20 divers was at the same small (20') boat that I was on and I did not want to cause alarm to anyone.
I shared my results with Dive Rite and they agreed with my results and told my that they have done similar test with the same results. They also told me that the RG3000 is the best Reg they have for depths less than 60' and the Hurricane and Jetstream are better in deeper water.
My Plan for the future is to use 2 Dive Rite Jetstreams (Posiden Reg just painted in Dive Rite Colors) or Hurricanes (have not tested either yet but will decide after testing both) on my back gas and the RG3000 on my stages.
I have used the Posiden Jetstream before that was owned by a buddy and it was a great breathing reg.
Conclusion: I will be recommending the Cressi to anyone that is a pretty fish diver and the Dive Rite to anyone that is a deep, cold diver.
I am Ken's Partner and the one that did the test at Bainbridge on New Years Day.
I Originally owned an Atomic Z1, I still have it, my wife likes it very much but she will not get in cold water. The following is my experiences and not opinion. My Atomic Z1 was a good reg and I never had a major problem. When inverted in 90' 39 degree water it practically shut down. When i switched to doubles I bought 2 Scubapro regs: MK25 S600 and MK25 G250, both are pretty much the same reg just different bodies. They worked great until I got them serviced after a year. From then on they free flowed and froze on every dive under 50 degrees. So fed up with this BS I learned how to tune regs and tuned it myself. I have not had a freeze from normal use. I have froze the reg while filling a lift bag in cold water.
I went to Tobermory this past summer and talking to the captain he had told me that in the last couple years he had several divers using the MK25 have frozen regs at 100'. There were 2 other divers diving on MK25 S600 on this trip and we all bought them from the same store. Both of those divers had there regs freeze at 104' on the same wreck but on different dives. My MK25s work great with out a hitch. The temp on that wreck was 46 degrees F.
The New years Day test dive: 84' 42 degrees F (not 36 degrees, Ken must have misunderstood me on the phone that day)
I took my MK25 on my back gas and 2 stage bottles one with the Cressi Alaska and one the Dive Rite RG3000. I had the Cressi and my buddy had the dive Rite. I expected the Cressi to freeze and with the mouth piece down I taped the purge twice and on the second tap the reg froze. My buddy hyperventilated the RG 3000 and had no problem with the second stage cranked all the way open. I took the reg and held the purge open and was not able to free flow. I then turned it mouth piece up and laid on the purge and was able to get it to free flow, I let it go for about 15 seconds and then started to close the venturi knob (not the lever) and after about 2 full rotations of the knob the free flow stopped. I have never been able to stop a free flow at that depth and temp. I was very impressed with the RG 3000.
To clarify the purge on the Cressi Alaska is very stiff and only opens the gate partially, so i know that if I had breathed on it, it would have frozen. I chose not to freeze the reg by breathing on it because the area I was doing the testing was very crowded, a group of about 20 divers was at the same small (20') boat that I was on and I did not want to cause alarm to anyone.
I shared my results with Dive Rite and they agreed with my results and told my that they have done similar test with the same results. They also told me that the RG3000 is the best Reg they have for depths less than 60' and the Hurricane and Jetstream are better in deeper water.
My Plan for the future is to use 2 Dive Rite Jetstreams (Posiden Reg just painted in Dive Rite Colors) or Hurricanes (have not tested either yet but will decide after testing both) on my back gas and the RG3000 on my stages.
I have used the Posiden Jetstream before that was owned by a buddy and it was a great breathing reg.
Conclusion: I will be recommending the Cressi to anyone that is a pretty fish diver and the Dive Rite to anyone that is a deep, cold diver.
The Z1 (or Z2 which is sold now) is not designed for 39degree water off the shelf. The M1 is, and has lube packed around the piston and a heat sink jam nut on the 2nd stage. You can get the Z1 1st stage sealed, but unless you did that you should not be shocked by cold water problems. Pg 11 of the owners manual, for anyone who cares.
You should give Atomic another shot. You might change your mind.
Rich
lowridersvt
Contributor
our local dive shops dose not sell unsealed atomic regs for the extra 40$ why not have it i have had really bad experiences with scubapro regs mostly the mk25 and the g250hp . the only scubapro that i have used in cold water with no problem is the mk17 and the old g250 .the stupid plastic or graphite parts in the second stage makes them prone to free flow in cold water . There should be a big warning on mk25's saying no cold water diving
Hey in tobermory the wreck that froze the mk25 was the niagara 2 or the arabia lol seen happen allot of dive there i make the 5 hour drive at least 5 times a year lol
Hey in tobermory the wreck that froze the mk25 was the niagara 2 or the arabia lol seen happen allot of dive there i make the 5 hour drive at least 5 times a year lol
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