Can't beat the old stuff

[OldNSalty]

Tried taking my wife diving today. She has a AL Legend that I bought her and I usually dive with some old conshelf XIV's on a SEA4 first (Because I can't find DIN kits for the conshelf first). I told her we would swap gear because I know my stuff works (and I am super protective that way). I got to say, that new stuff isn't all that, I wasn't in the water long and I got bad dry mouth. Maybe the new Scubapro A700 might work as well as my kit from a few decades ago but I don't know...what have the new regulators brought us?
I am thinking of just selling the legend set that I bought my wife and getting her something like mine.

 

[Nemrod]

The Conshelf really is hard to beat for a single hose job .

My wife also has a Legend and I have a Titan LX Supreme but I also have a fleet of SP109s and Connies. The Conshelfs are just a bullet proof basic design that works very well and is simple to rebuild and service which it rarely needs. It seems of late there has been renewed interest in Conshelf regulators as people discover their plastic thingys really are not forever and, just saying, a Conshelf is forever or darn close to it. A Conshelf may be scratched and scuffed but it will not crack and crumble.

The overall performance of a well tuned Conshelf is very close to the Legend or Titan either if which are difficult to surpass in any practical sense. The "balanced" second stages of the plastic regs are a positive and I do notice the difference afforded but again, a good Connie is no slouch.

N

 

[fmerkel]

Just hooked up an old Calypso steel 2nd to my ScubaPro MK14. Was using a SP M109 converted to balanced and that was working great. The Calypso has a different breathing feel but seems great on the bench. Looking forward to testing it out in the water.

Just got done testing a very old Sherwood Oasis downstream 2nd with the MK14. It worked fine. Pretty much all original parts that must be 20 years old or more.

 

[rhwestfall]

SCUBA regulators have seen little gain in many decades that divers doing recreational profiles could really notice. Most of the changes have been about producing products for less, yet charging more. Companies prey on "must have new things" mentality, and need that to stay in business. Much of the old stuff was built "too well", so discontinuing support was the only way to stay alive. A $2.00 (production cost) service kit does little to a company's bottom line compares to selling $1,000.00 regulators...

YMMV

 

[OldNSalty]

So at what depth, water temp or breathing gas would the new stuff like the legend start to outperform or be a better pick then the older stuff?