Can anyone comment on the Oceanic Delta 4/FDX10? Latest

[S4Guy]

review from ScubaDiving.com describes it as the best new reg under $500. I plan on getting either a Zeagle Brigade or Seaquest Black Diamond BCD.

Also throwing around ideas of just going with a Zeagle regulator. Are these very easy breathing under almost all pressures?

Thanks,
Rob

 

[Captain CaveMan]

i looked into it when i was lookin for a reg. after talking with some tech divers i went with apex. the delta 4 is a very good worm water reg. they say that the rebuild is cheep.
but if you do cold water diving i would look at apex or other cold water regs

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Have assembled and breath tested the delta 4 with the FDX/10. While it is a good reg I would not trade my delta 3 w cdx5 for it. Why? Because to me even after tuning and adjusting it it still imo does not breath as smooth as the three. It feels stiffer throughout the adjustment and upon examination the diaphragm is slightly thicker and stiffer in the second stage than the one in the three. Also I'm wary of the envirokit cover which is plastic being on top of the reg. It seems to me this could be a potential problem in overhead environment situation where it may come in contact with a hard object. It also gives the reg a higher overall profile that may be detrimental to someone who wears their tank on the high side. So far we've sold 3 or 4 of them with no complaints but I'd still take my 3 and given the chance if one comes up new on ebay or in my travels for a decent price I'd snap up a 3 in a heartbeat. Until I've had more chances to thoroughly test a 4 in different situations I can't say that about it. I do however like the dry reg technology though. makes it more for giving if for some reason you don't thoroughly dry the dust cap or don't have it tight enough in the rinse bucket.

 

[scubatoys]

I didn't find any performance flaws in the Delta IV compared to the Delta 3... And the swivel is pretty cool on the hose.... but we still have some of the titanium 3's - at about the same price, so that would darn near be a coin toss for me. Both are excellent in my opinion.

 

[Jarrett]

I don't know if this advice is worth anything or not, but I thought I'd throw it out there. I am a complete newbie and recently tried a few regs. I tried the ScubaPro Mk25/S600, Zeagle Flathead ZX/VI, and Oceanic Delta 3 Ti/TDX5 setup (the titanium one Larry is talking about in the last post) I breathed on these 3 regs while standing in Larry's store and the ScubaPro and Oceanic breathed better to me than the Zeagle. To the point that I was not interested in trying it in the water.

I have been fortunate enough to now be able to try the Scuba Pro, Oceanic and a Tusa reg under water. Out of those three, I really like the titanium Delta 3/TDX5 setup much better. It really delivers the air and can be adjusted on the fly to give as much or little as I need. I dig that. This opinion seems to be quite a bit out of the norm as most folks here say the ScubaPro is a lot better, but breathing on them both under water, I went with the Oceanic. Now whether that was a newbie mistake or not, I guess I won't know.

Now with all THAT said. I got a chance to compare the Titanium Delta 3 setup to the new Delta 4 setup in Larry's store last week. While I didn't breathe on the Delta 4, I did notice a few differences. I noticed that the 2nd stages seemed really similar and the 1st stages were different. I liked the cosmetics of the Delta 4 better. Kinda looked like an Atomic B2 to me. The one thing that really struck me was how much heavier the newer 1st stage was on the new Delta4 setup versus the titanium TDX5. It was substantial. I really dug the swivel hose and thought about adding it to my reg, but I don't have a lot of problem with the position of my reg at this point.

To summarize, I like the Oceanic better than the Zeagle. And I am not sure if I would go with the Delta 4 or titanium Delta 3 as Larry mentioned above. It's a hard call. A light, durable, titanium reg for about $700 off list or the updated (and unproven) design of the Delta 4? If they breathed exactly the same I would be happy with either.

 

[grim_heath]

OK, so I bought one of these a few weeks ago and took it on vacation to Sharm. The reg was OK and breathed reasonably, certainly better than the CDX-5 and GT I had previously been using, BUT there was a problem that I found on the second day. Basically the a-clamp just doesn't fit properly on DIN tanks with the insert for the clamp.
There seem to be 2 different issues at the moment, on DIN tanks the metal surround where the DIN fitting screws is wider then the clamp will not fit over it and on the tanks with the slightly narrower metal surround, the ring of metal that should close onto the the o-ring on the tank doesn't mate together very well. Effectively you get metal on metal and the seal is very fiddly to make. As these tanks are the ones that are usually used for nitrox, it meant that I had to get a different reg in odrer to continue diving. I guess that the DIN version of the reg wouldn't have this issue. When I got back home I returned the reg to the shop who gave me a full refund and told me that when they called oceanic to report the problem, oceanic said that they had been aware of this issue for a couple of weeks. Grrrrrrrrr :11:

 

[laurendell]

Now with all THAT said. I got a chance to compare the Titanium Delta 3 setup to the new Delta 4 setup in Larry's store last week. While I didn't breathe on the Delta 4, I did notice a few differences. I noticed that the 2nd stages seemed really similar and the 1st stages were different. I liked the cosmetics of the Delta 4 better. Kinda looked like an Atomic B2 to me. The one thing that really struck me was how much heavier the newer 1st stage was on the new Delta4 setup versus the titanium TDX5. It was substantial. I really dug the swivel hose and thought about adding it to my reg, but I don't have a lot of problem with the position of my reg at this point.

You say the 2nd stages are really similar - so do you think they weighed about the same? I've only dove on rental gear before, and the mouth piece always irritates the inside of my mouth after a few dives. I'm thinking if I get a really light one this may not happen as much?

I like the cosmetics on the Delta 4 better, too. But if the Delta 3 is a lot lighter I may go with that.

Also I'm wary of the envirokit cover which is plastic being on top of the reg. It seems to me this could be a potential problem in overhead environment situation where it may come in contact with a hard object. It also gives the reg a higher overall profile that may be detrimental to someone who wears their tank on the high side.

This is a concern for me as well. I tend to hit my head on the first stage if it isn't low enough.

 

[donnyb]

Have assembled and breath tested the delta 4 with the FDX/10. While it is a good reg I would not trade my delta 3 w cdx5 for it. Why? Because to me even after tuning and adjusting it it still imo does not breath as smooth as the three. It feels stiffer throughout the adjustment and upon examination the diaphragm is slightly thicker and stiffer in the second stage than the one in the three. Also I'm wary of the envirokit cover which is plastic being on top of the reg. It seems to me this could be a potential problem in overhead environment situation where it may come in contact with a hard object. It also gives the reg a higher overall profile that may be detrimental to someone who wears their tank on the high side. So far we've sold 3 or 4 of them with no complaints but I'd still take my 3 and given the chance if one comes up new on ebay or in my travels for a decent price I'd snap up a 3 in a heartbeat. Until I've had more chances to thoroughly test a 4 in different situations I can't say that about it. I do however like the dry reg technology though. makes it more for giving if for some reason you don't thoroughly dry the dust cap or don't have it tight enough in the rinse bucket.

I agree! Recently bought the FDX10/DELTA4 to replace my old DX4/DELTA3 and it is NOT as smooth or effortless. After 20 dives on it, I contacted Oceanic, just sent it in today for bench test & evaluation. Tech in CA swore it should be just as good or better than my old setup. We will see...

 

[Herman(SA)]

I dive with the Delta 4 FDX10 and can find no fault. It delivers consistant through depth(30-40m). I'm thinking of getting another one when I convert to tech.

Could not find any real negative feedback on the set and Oceanic support is excelent where I live.

Not much, but maybe it helped a little.

 

[ONESPEED]

You say the 2nd stages are really similar - so do you think they weighed about the same? I've only dove on rental gear before, and the mouth piece always irritates the inside of my mouth after a few dives. I'm thinking if I get a really light one this may not happen as much?

I like the cosmetics on the Delta 4 better, too. But if the Delta 3 is a lot lighter I may go with that.



This is a concern for me as well. I tend to hit my head on the first stage if it isn't low enough.

I dive the Delta 4 and have been very happy with it so far. The first stage does sit a bit high but I dive w, steel 100's and am relatively tall so was able to overcome this by moving the tank down slightly lower than I used to wear it, no big deal. As for the second stage it is extremely lightweight and the mouthpiece is very comfortable, the swivel at the second stage really helps make this a very comfortable regulator.