IIR, you did a tech course with
@LandonL. That being the case, you already know you'll be getting great instruction. My buddy and I recently took the course from him. He was patient and thorough and the class was just fun! Chris showed up on the last day of the class and he added some additional insight into regulator design. Given the quality of instruction we got, it felt like a serious bargain!
@RyanT
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
Yep, great Trimix course with
@LandonL (although I still consider myself just an advanced open water diver with a scooter and wider choices in gas). And, yes, I just knocked out the Sig Series service course with
@Open Ocean Diver . We had a lot of fun and I was impressed with the quality of materials and the precision machining in Deep 6 Gear’s regulator components. I think there’s a lot of thought that went into the Sig Series regulators and I’m very pleased I purchased the regulators AND took the course from Landon.
DETAILED BACKGROUND:
For general readers, I think anybody can get on the net and assert their regulator has more redeeming features, qualities, better manufacturing, more this or more that, etc. I think most of the time those are subjective assertions rather than rigorous, dispassionate analysis. Additionally, I readily admit I don’t know enough about regulators to counter argue or modify someone’s deep-seated opinion - there very well may be a smoother or prettier something in another manufacturer’s regulator. I CAN definitely say in a side by side comparison over a year ago with my Dive Rite XT and Zeagle regs that I liked how my new Deep 6 Gear deco regulators (Excursion model) breathed better than the others. I was quite surprised and rotated them to backgas duty and my XT regs to deco duty (and the Zeagles to recreational family divers). This experience is what prompted me to set my sights on purchasing the Sig Series regs that I considered (and confirmed) to be in another class.
After-the-sale customer service is important to me and some ingrained expectations are hard to discard. For me, I have 20+ years of being responsible for moving nearly 1,000 people and a wide variety of equipment anywhere in the world in 19 hours or less. That was actually the first 10+ years of my career and my responsibilities have only grown since then. Anyways, I KNOW some of that equipment is going to break due to environmental conditions, operator error or lifecycle fatigue and I have to be able to repair as far forward as possible. For those things that exceed my team’s ability to repair, I have to have “reachback” (a responsive logistical chain) to pulse parts forward if necessary or to lend expertise to complete a field repair. So, although diving is a personal hobby, it’s difficult to prevent my professional experiences from imbuing my personal hobbies. I can’t get “reachback” with ScubaPro, Atomic, Aqualung, etc, etc and the pace I want to dive at exceeds the pace of learning it would take to build the depth of knowledge and experience that
@rsingler has. He can look at a regulator like Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) does a puzzle in The Davinci Code. I definitely cannot. But I have the quality of components, level of RTR training and reachback to expertise I desire with Deep 6 Gear.
The choice FOR ME is obvious and now having seen the inside of my Sig Series regulators, my confidence in my kit is very high. I don’t care if somebody tells me their Atomic or Poseidon or other reg is superior. I have absolutely zero envy. Those manufacturers don’t provide me the more comprehensive purchase and support experience necessary for the type of expeditionary diving I’m conditioned to pursue.
@rsingler
You have valuable forum credibility in my book. Thank you for freely sharing your expertise on regulators and I appreciate your positive contributions here in the forum.
@Jim Lapenta
Thanks for doing a great job on the Deep 6 Gear Sig Series service manual. I’m very grateful positive and helpful folks like you are in the industry.
