Cold Water Regulator Search

[KKingEck]

Now the questions.
Do you now or do you plan to own your own tanks?
How much travel to tropical destinations do you anticipate?
How religious are you with proper gear rinsing before the regs are allowed to dry out?
Do you see yourself diving doubles, sidemount, or with a pony bottle in the future? Pony bottles and doubles are not uncommon in the PNW due to the depths.
Do you have any interest in servicing your own equipment to save insane amounts of money over the course of your diving career?
Cave Adventurers - Dive Rite XT Sidemount Regulator Package - Marianna, Florida USA - Never Undersold!

Additional info and answers to your questions... My husband and I plan to predominately dive in the Pacific Northwest in water temperatures ranging from 45 to 55 fahrenheit. No ice diving. We will be traveling to tropical destinations hopefully once a year for 1-2 weeks. We plan to purchase our own tanks within 6-9 months. We will be pretty religious with properly rinsing our gear. No diving doubles. Possible sidemount in the future and maybe pony bottles. No interest in servicing my own equipment. I know it is cheaper but I know myself and I highly doubt I will ever do it. I also looked into places that service equipment and there are multiple places not far from me that service the major brand names. I have a list of the brand names. Suggestions?

 

[tbone1004]

Cave Adventurers - Dive Rite XT Regulator Backmount Package - Marianna, Florida USA - Never Undersold!

Get two of those, ask for one set to be yoke, the other to be DIN. Gives you din regs for use at home, and you can swap over to the yoke first stage for travel in 5 minutes at home and if you go to sidemount or a pony bottle, you only have to buy one other spg and appropriate hose lengths. For a pony bottle, you only need a button gauge and maybe a longer secondary hose.

That will do everything you want in the future with no concerns at all. I honestly would not look elsewhere unless buying used.

 

[KKingEck]

Cave Adventurers - Dive Rite XT Regulator Backmount Package - Marianna, Florida USA - Never Undersold!

Get two of those, ask for one set to be yoke, the other to be DIN. Gives you din regs for use at home, and you can swap over to the yoke first stage for travel in 5 minutes at home and if you go to sidemount or a pony bottle, you only have to buy one other spg and appropriate hose lengths. For a pony bottle, you only need a button gauge and maybe a longer secondary hose.

That will do everything you want in the future with no concerns at all. I honestly would not look elsewhere unless buying used.

Two of which? SCUBAPRO MK25 EVO/G260 or Aqualung Core Supreme?

 

[tbone1004]

neither, the one that I linked to. Will be cheaper than either of the options, perform better in your conditions than both of the products you linked since neither are sealed regulators.

 

[rhwestfall]

Cold Water - Argonaut Kraken w/ a HOG Classic or Zenith as an octo...

 

[KKingEck]

neither, the one that I linked to. Will be cheaper than either of the options, perform better in your conditions than both of the products you linked since neither are sealed regulators.

Sorry I missed the link! Thanks! I will check it out!

 

[KevinNM]

You want the actual gold standard for true cold water diving? You have two options, Poseidon, then Apeks.

Actually, the gold standard is Poseidon Xstream Mk3 and Mares Abyss 22 Navy II per AMU 04/06/16. But this for diving in COLD water, under 38F.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Slightly OT. To you @KKingEck and your husband, welcome to Seattle.

 

[tbone1004]

Kevin, I was talking globally, but yes USN approves those two. I think Apeks is still used more overall globally by different navies, but in terms of cold water technical divers I think it's Poseidon and Apeks. Either way, we aren't talking that cold.... Plus, Mares is an annoying company to deal with. VERY italian

 

[Shotmaster]

Actually, the gold standard is Poseidon Xstream Mk3 and Mares Abyss 22 Navy II per AMU 04/06/16. But this for diving in COLD water, under 38F.

The Navy is looking for an improvement over the existing cold water regulators. Drager has a new cold water regulator being released in 2 months. I can tell you more after the release.