Cold water reg advice needed

[Saskia]

Hi!

I have recently moved from the UK to Florida and man, is the gear CHEAP over here! Soooo, since it's so affordable, i want to buy my own set of bc and regs.
Most importantly i would like some advice of regs, i've heard a lot of good things about apex (especially in the UK) but also on this board. I was just wondering which particular model would work best for me? I don't know all the technical things, so looking at the Apex website hasn't been very helpful! I'm not into technical diving, but i will of course be diving in coooold waters, so i want a GOOD reg, and i am willing to pay for it! What are the advantages of certain regs, and also in terms of warrenty and servicing (I dont' want to get back to the UK to not be able to service my reg!). I dont' know where my work will take me, so i would prefer a reg which has support widespread across the globe. Any advice? Thank you!

 

[paulwlee]

What do you mean by 'coooold' waters?
For seawater above 40 degrees, almost any regulator will work fine.
For arctic/antarctic waters or freshwater below 40, you will need 'cold water regulators'.
If you need a real 'cold water regulator' Apeks seems to be the first choice.
If not, then many people also like Scubapro and Atomic Aquatics.

 

[SangP]

Hi Saskia,
Apeks produces great regs not just good but do you really need the best? If you aren't going down past 40m you really can't tell the difference.

Cheap, good, cold water reg:
DS4/XTX50/ATX50

Expensive, fantastic, cold water reg:
FST/XTX100/ATX50

Other cold water alternatives:
Scubapro MK17/D400/G250

Cheers,

SangP

Super cold water reg: Apeks Tungsten

 

[Saskia]

I'll be diving in sea water, as well as fresh, with the fresh water coming close to freezing point (i don't know farenheit, sorry!!). Last year we did our training dives in 3 degrees c of water...that was pretty coooold! I'm not planning on going any colder then that tho! Thanks!

 

[oscar_2424]

there are 2 new regulators from aqualung one is the legend glacia which is in the $600 range and the other is the KRONOS supreme

 

[Nonni]

Went diving last week in air temp -7°C(19,4°F) and water temp 2°C(35,6°F), there were 4 types of regulators, Poseidon Xtream, Poseidon JetStream, Scubapro MK17/S600 and Aqualung Titan LX. The Titan froze when it hit the water in the second dive that day and had to be replaced with a Jetstream.
This week we went to the same place but the air temp was -19°C(-2,2°F). The only ones that were usable that day were the Poseidon Xtream and The Scubapro MK17/S600. Two different sets of JetStream froze, no use trying to thaw them by submerging the in the water for 10 minutes.
Of course in these cases it was the extreme air temp that killed the regs. and not the water temp, but that usually is the case since water rarely reaches below zero °C.
So based on that I would recommend:
Poseidon Xtream
or
Scubapro MK17/S600(or any other balanced SP second stage)

 

[martzak]

cold water regulator = Aqualung Glacia --> Leisurepro, $250, was $199 for a few days

 

[mobeeno]

Besides the regs mentioned above, Sherwood is also known to make cold water regs.

 

[RAWalker]

Let's not overlook Oceanic's Delta IV FDX10 or EOS

 

[texdiveguy]

Salvo for sure is a great pick in cold water regs..