DIR reg's

[Boneisland Photo]

WOW, now that was some very useful info thank you so much. You're right JeckyII, I should have put more info into my original post, and you link was a great read. Also, DA Aquamaster, thanks so much for the detailed post. It really answered a lot of questions. I've been diving since I was a kid and have a lot of bottom time but I've never been that into gear, and the truth is I've been Doing It Wrong for a long time. I do appreciate all of the help and I can see I've got a lot of reading to do. -Brian

 

[Boneisland Photo]

Oh, and XiSkiGuy, I currently have an Apeks 1st and TX50 2nd that I was going to put the G200 on so I think, from the advise I've received and what I've read, that the G200 will work nicely. Thanks to you too for the info.

 

[Jimmer]

I don't have any idea who makes the new Zeagle regs. So I can't tell you if they work.

I'll give you a hand with that. They are built by Zeagle, designed by Zeagle. Zeagle hired Jim Fox from Sherwood, and basically told him that the restrictions Sherwood had with only using flow by pistons was in the trash and gave him a blank slate to design the regs he wanted. They work fantastic, rock solid under ice and at depth, and Scubadiving magazine scored their Flathead VI (their "premier" reg) a perfect 20/20 on the simulator. In that test only one the Scubapro Mk25/X650 also got 20/20, and the Apeks ATX200 Black Pearls got 18/20. Long story short, Zeagles are kick ass regs, both in performance and reliability.

 

[Shawley]

thanks for all the info guys!

 

[rjack321]

Do the new zeagles have swivels?

Personally I like my pistons. The Mk20/25 is a superb reg when paired with the S600. I have been disappointed with the R380 2nd and hope to replace it with an R190 sometime. I like not having much of an IP creep issue.

 

[Jimmer]

Do the new zeagles have swivels?

The 50D first stage has the swivel turret, all the rest are fixed.

 

[SparticleBrane]

Can't say I trust a lot of what Scubadiving magazine says...

 

[Jimmer]

So then trust the divers that use them. I know one guy that used his to 270 feet in the North Atlantic. There is a story on Zeagle's website about a group of guys that did a 425 foot dive using Zeagle gear. Fact of the matter is they work, and work well.

 

[rjack321]

Can't say I trust a lot of what Scubadiving magazine says...

They do have a test bench, although the DIR world tends to go by real world experience. Really does that rag rate anything less than 4/5 stars??

Other than the SPs with the port in the bottom of the turret, I don't see very many swivel regs (like Apeks or newer Zeagles) on doubles. Hose routing would seem to be less the clean and tight with swivels.

 

[Jimmer]

They do have a test bench, although the DIR world tends to go by real world experience. Really does that rag rate anything less than 4/5 stars??

Other than the SPs with the port in the bottom of the turret, I don't see very many swivel regs (like Apeks or newer Zeagles) on doubles. Hose routing would seem to be less the clean and tight with swivels.

Actually that same review that had the Zeagle scoring 20/20, they had something else (can't remember what it was but I think it was Sherwood) scoring a 13/20, and there was one issue that they rated a reg, "not good enough to use for life support at any depth".

You're right about the swivel issue. I see mostly fixed port first stages on doubles around here, with the odd set of Atomics, and sometimes Dive Rite's with swivels.