Cheap vs Expensive SPG's internal differences

[Zef]

I did look at DGX gauges i and i do like them. The one thing i like more about ihe mares is the color coding on the face. It makes it easier to see halves and thirds but that's the only advantage i really see

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That's all good until one day you will have enough experience and realize that this feature is totally unnecessary...new divers tend to be way too hung up on air consumption and signalling EXACTLY how much air they have in their tanks. The reality is that usually your partner really only wants/needs to know that you are monitoring your air, when you have hit half a tank, and when you are getting close to the reserve amount you planned on surfacing with (such as 50 bar / 300 - 500 psi).

It is really not necessary to signal that one has 175 bar left in their tank...signalling 170 or 180 is good enough. For the most part, other than indicating half a tank and the reserve pressure, a more experience diver only tends to compare what their partner is signaling to the last time they signaled how much air they had left so they can gauge approximate consumption...they may even compare it to their own consumption to determine if they need to turn the dive earlier than planned.

In my opinion, paying extra for fine granularity is not really money well spent.

-Z

 

[W W Meixner]

Folks...

Never thought of an SPG as being either ''cheap'' or ''expensive''...only as plastic...as opposed to brass-n-glass...with bourdon tube mechanism as being typical...made from a material with heat/cold stability properties...

Most OW reg sets with booted consoles have plastic SPG's...with the boot protecting the plastic housing...

I've always preferred the large/standard brass/glass...as has already been mentioned ''most'' brass/glass SPG's come from one manufacturer in Italy...Termo...individual companies adding their own face layout and logo...

Face layout is a personal preference...I prefer ''black face''...when ambient light disappears at depth...the black face luminescence remains very clear without the need to shine a light on the SPG...

DGX SPG's have always served me well...and a lot less expensive than typical dive shop markup...

Best...

Warren

 

[Diver below 83]

The black dgx looks really nice when in low light and using the luminous glow.

 

[dmaziuk]

A mechanical device that never goes out of calibration and has no means to manually adjust calibration. Those devices are spensive, somewhere up there with one of them there, perpetual motion machines.

Someone should clue Mares on to Oxygen Free Pure Ohno Continuous Cast Copper. With that one can hear one's SPG never going out of calibration.

 

[MichaelMc]

Nothing against the OP for raising the color issue, or liking the colors. I think they're cool to. Just the notion that some companies think they need to be there is discouraging.

It seemed like they felt it was very important that they emphasize to the diver which regions where GOOD, which were OK, and which were BAD. Possibly at the expense of usability when you already know which regions meant what. And where BAD starts depends on depth, it isn't fixed.

I may be being overly critical of the design choice. It just seems wrong. Color warning are good. But these are fixed and very fuzzy, when the need varies with depth, RMV, etc. Not sure how much static colors help or desensitize the viewer. I get that this helps new divers understand or remember that 600 psi is likely bad. And that is a good thing.

(I'm a happy DGX SPG user, they seem to come from that Italy factory. No extraneous logos. I have two black, two white. Eventually I'll decide which I like better. I need more night dives for that.)

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I use all black face gauges. Color coding is not necessary. Black face gauges are better for night diving because when you hit it with the light to make it glow, only the lines and hand glows. Not the whole face that might screw with your night vision and for the first few seconds looks like a white blob.
MARES being in Italy is probably getting their gauges from Termo. They are adding a premium and using BS ad language to sucker people into paying over 100 bucks for a gauge that you can get for 50 anywhere else.

 

[Jiminy]

Look what I got! Thanks everyone for the advice and input.