Buying my first regulator

[JBreezy]

Hi all,

Due to two near misses' stemming from rental equipment (1 reg, 1 spg) from someone in my group on a recent trip, I've decided it's time to purchase my own gear. I've mostly narrowed it down to two choices: the Aqualung Legend LX Supreme, and the Sherwood SR2.

Both of these look pretty comparable to me, and both seem to be pretty highly rated. The biggest difference I can really see is the Aqualung supreme model is specifically made to withstand cold water according to their descriptions, but Sherwood's SR2, while having an environmentally sealed 1st stage, does not claim to be for use with cold water. My understanding is that the environmental sealing is what makes the difference in regs that can and can not be used for cold water... Am I incorrect? Either way, I am from Arkansas and have only traveled to the Caribbean for diving so far, so I don't have any cold water experience, but I thought it would be a good idea to have a reg that could handle it if we decided to go North somewhere (B.C. has been discussed). Any opinions on these two regs? They are both quite highly rated, and I feel like I wouldn't be making a bad decision either way, i was just curious if the board had any input? (As a side note: an Atomic regulator could also be an option, but after seeing the T3 all over the place, kind of brushed them aside at the price tag).

Thanks in advance!

 

[ScubaWithTurk]

I am familiar with Atomic has I own an ST1 and you are right about the prices. I do not know much about the two you are looking at but wonder if you have seen the regs from Deep 6?

What is it you are looking for in a reg set other than being able to dive on colder B.C. type water and of course reliability?

 

[JBreezy]

I have not looked at anything from Deep 6 yet, I'll have to check into them a bit. I was primarily basing my options on what could be serviced locally for me.

Reliability is the big thing. Cold water would be a plus. I'm still early in my scuba days, and who knows where it will take me, so I wanted something that would be very flexible for a variety of different conditions (I'm EAN certified now, so compatibility with Nitrox is a must, although I don't think I've seen any so far that couldn't be used with rec. levels of Nitrox).

 

[BoltSnap]

Atomic has several models spanning a wide price range yet all have the same performance level if tuned to mfg. specs. I believe that the M1 model is best value and is certainly better than the AL and Sherwood you are looking at. The AL is miles ahead of the Sherwood if Atomic isn't an option.

 

[JBreezy]

Atomic has several models spanning a wide price range yet all have the same performance level if tuned to mfg. specs. I believe that the M1 model is best value and is certainly better than the AL and Sherwood you are looking at. The AL is miles ahead of the Sherwood if Atomic isn't an option.

Huh. Alright, maybe I was a bit quick to discredit Atomic based off the T3 price tag. If you don't mind me being a bit daft and asking, would you mind explaining why Atomic > AL > Sherwood in this case? I only recently started looking into regs, so I'm not entirely in the loop here. Is it the materials primarily?

 

[BoltSnap]

Atomic will be best performance and MOST reliable due to the design and materials used. You can go 4 - 5 years of heavy use and not need to service. The M1 is made for technical/cold water diving also. I use sealed first stage Atomic regulators btw. AL uses proven design and is very easily serviced worldwide. Performance is very good also. Sherwood is generally reliable but not on par in terms of performance with Atomic or AL. Sherwood isn't easily serviced outside the North America (not sure about Canada however).

We use SP and Atomic in our dive school rental fleet. We are phasing out Cressi and Mares. Atomic has been most reliable and best performance out of several other brands, only SP comes very close second.

 

[Marie13]

I have the AL Legend LX Supreme. Love it. Breathes easy and has spoiled me for other regs aside from Apeks. I’ve had it down to 40F without any issues.

 

[guruboy]

What price would you be paying for the AL?

If you are buying it new, you might consider used ScubaPro or Atomic regs as an option.

 

[lexvil]

There are a lot of really good regulators out there, at the moment I prefer Atomic, 3 z2’s All bought used and an ST1 I think of it as an STM1 now which I bought new and switched to an M jam nut to get rid of the comfort swivel and the M exhaust tee because it wider. Atomic are very simple and easy to service with the exception of cleaning up the ambient chamber of the sealed models (2 of my z’s are sealed now) the z models are pretty light as is the ST, not as light as the titanium by any stretch but lighter than most first stages, the AL first is really light too.

Don’t put to much stock into the cold rating as just about anything can handle water as cold as the average diver can handle, if you move and become a dedicated cold water diver you’ll welcome the chance to pick up a dedicated reg for that.

 

[runsongas]

best bang for the buck will be deep 6 or other taiwanese rebrand regs.

if you can find an atomic/SP/apeks/aqualung with a verifiable service history for half MSRP or less, they can be considered.

the big name brand regs are overpriced when bought new, but if you absolutely want to go that route, the AL core and atomic z2 are less overpriced.