Greetings once again. I'm going to continue beating the dead horse of "din vs yoke" into the ground. No actually im just refreshing a question mentioned earlier....
Ifukuda, in response to your statement :
" Sport Chalet dive centers seem to carry only Yoke first stages and sell the DIN adapter (converter? converter kit?) separately. Are regulators, equipped with the DIN first stages to begin with, not popular enough for Sport Chalet to carry?"
It isn't that they arent popular. It's simply that 80% of the clientele of the store I work at are happy with their 30-40 foot excursions in a no-overhead environement. So we mainly cater to the popular *customer*. The popular customer buys AL80's, which have yoke valves. While it is a simple process to use a yoke adpater on a din first stage, it is (sadly) beyond the understanding of many people. So we simplify the matter by selling the normal yoke 1st stages and din adapters for the more serious customers. (i'm not implying that HP din valves are only for technical use *only* either..)
When I have a 'technical' customer come in and say "i need a din put on my first stage", I get the appropriate din adapter, unscrew their yoke piece, check the torque requirements for the din piece, screw it in and tighten it down to the specifications. It is now a *din* first stage, able to use a yoke adapter on yoke valves. A first stage remains the same in function, a yoke or din setup on it is simply a connector to a valve. Not (usually not) an integrated internal piece of the 1st stage itself.
Also, its often argued that it is particularly easier to get water into a din first stage due to improper care and handling than it is to do the same with a yoke. Not trying to start arguments, but I'd say this still relates to the "technical-ism" of the customer paying attention to detail. "Yokes are easier to maintain" would summarize this last paragraph. (this is a statistical evidence, for those of you who wish to fire off a disagreement)
Here's some humor.... (this happened to me)
There's always the stray guy (like a few days ago) who walks in and says :doctor: "that damn reg you sold me isnt working". I take a look at it, pop the delrin cover off of the 1st stage on the yoke and turn it upsidedown and water pours out of the first stage. "sir this has water in it" I say.
"so?" he says. "sir", i say " your first stage is not supposed to have water in it... its supposed to be dry. "oh" he says. "you didnt drop this in the water by anychance did you?" i say. Guilty look, plain as day, he starts to stutter "well, no, no of course not, gosh... i wonder how it got that way...no no... no i .. no... " Dead guilty... well, being as how the company I work for has a 100% satisfaction guarantee, he decides he wants a better reg anyways, slaps down some extra cash and walks out with a Maximus reg with a 10% discount... :shark: any thoughts on that one?
Well, a bit lengthlier than I originally planned, but does this help at all?