First, to the OP: My number one suggestion is, make sure you buy 1st stage regulators that have a swivel turret and a 5th LP port on the bottom. As you progress and re-purpose regs from one thing to another, the flexibility of the swivel turret and the bottom port are very handy. They make for nicer hose routing. And there really is no downside.
There is no reg out there that does not have those features, but is better in some other way to make it a serious debate about which to get. (in my opinion)
My instructor (which I won't name) described Halcyon regs as rebranded Scubapro sold at a markup...
I'm in Cali, so I'd be mostly doing regular cold-water dives, but I want to check out a few dives in Alaska soon (and ideally somewhat often).
Are you in Kona?
The Halcyon regulators are not the latest models from Scubapro. The Halcyon Halo is a G250 under the lid. The first stages are not the Evo line. This takes nothing away from Halcyon as the G250 is among the best second stages ever developed and arguably the most copied of which the G260 is just an updated G250 with Micro Adjust and a trimmer case housing the same full size diaphragm. The H50 is a Mark 17, not a Mark 17 Evo which has been dropped from the Scubapro line in favor of the Mark 19 Evo. The H75 is a Mark 25 sans the Evo treatment. I would feel completely fine using Halcyon regulators, they are hardly second rate. I have not shopped either line in a while but I think, last I checked, the brand H is less $ than the newer versions from Scubapro? For example, a quick check shows the G260 at $549 and the Halcyon Halo at $385. Which makes complete sense as it is the older legacy model G250 no longer sold under the Scubapro brand
. The Halcyons are not copies or clones, they are rebranded and are the real deal.
I have a Mark 17 Evo and wish I had gotten the Mark 25 Evo. I like the fewer parts count, piston vs diaphragm, pick your poison, I prefer piston. The Mark 17 Evo has a few changes over the Mark 17 (and H50), port arrangement and some internal improvements to increase flow to 242 cfm at 200 Bar. The Mark 25 in any guise has a flow rate greater than 300 cfm. Either of which could support a team of divers and neither would be the weak link.
You guys may need to update your respective knowledgebases.
A Halcyon H75P/Halo is $799. The ScubaPro equivalent is the Mk25 EVO/G260, which is $999.
Halcyon is re-branded and LESS expensive, not marked up. (I, too, was very surprised when I realized this)
I did my Adv Trimix class few years ago with another student who is a GUE guy on the WKPP and also an engineer (or was) at Halcyon. He told me that the H75P was updated and has the same internals as the Mk25 EVO. However, I do believe it is correct that the Halcyon Halo 2nd stage is a re-badged G250, not a G260.
Personally, my current sets of regs are:
ScubaPro Mk25 EVO/G260 (doubles and/or bail out)
Atomic M1 (doubles)
Halcyon H75P/Halo (single tank)
Dive Rite XT1/XT2 (deco)
Dive Rite XT1/XT4 (side mount)
If I had to cut back to only one reg set, I would keep the Atomic M1 set.
If I had to cut back to only two sets, I would keep the Atomic M1 and the Dive Rite XT1/XT4 sets.
The Atomic and Dive Rite regs are environmentally sealed. The ScubaPro and Halcyon are not. That is not a BIG deal - but all else equal, I'd rather have sealed than unsealed. And, in my opinion, the Atomic M1 is just as good as the ScubaPro and Halcyon regs in every way and better in some ways.
The Dive Rite regs are also really nice and I cannot point to anything about them that I would say is inferior to the ScubaPro or Halcyon regs. And they, too, are better at least in being environmentally sealed.
