First Reg Choice Apeks XL4+ vs Deep6 Signature

[Zadori]

Hi all,

I have been lurking these boards for a few months now. I've pretty much seen all of the threads talking about either of these regulators. This is my first post here, I am an OWD who is just starting to buy my equipment. Aiming to do AOW next summer, I am diving in local waters in Canada but also plan to do some travel dives!

I am not aiming to go into technical diving or whatsoever at this point, and if it becomes a possibility I will be open to change gear at that moment. I dive with my girlfriend and one good buddy, the 3 of us did all our classes together and all the dives since also. We are all in the process of purchasing gear, and being someone that is curious and researches a lot before buying, they pretty much will buy whatever I buy.

The two regulators I am currently debating on are the Apeks XL4+ and the Deep6 Signature, from what I have seen both are pretty good in Cold Water, the Apeks is lighter than the Deep6 (which I am unable to find Weight specs on). The purchase cost for both of these is pretty much equivalent on my end since the LDS is offering 20% off of the Apeks since we would be purchasing 3 sets. Being in Canada, the Apeks would come with Parts for Life if I service it every year, an average of 105$/year at my LDS. While with the Signature the first service (which is after 2 years) is free, I simply need to pay the shipping, and after that services include the parts.

All in all, both of these regs seem pretty solid choices, but I would like to have your guys' input on which you would recommend?

 

[flyboy08]

Buy both! one as your primary, the other your octopus? I have the Deep6 as my Octo with a HOG primary...works just fine.

 

[loosenit2]

There is no right answer from a performance perspective...they are both good regs.

Only you can evaluate whether you are more comfortable with a brand you can get worked on locally but has a proprietary supply and service chain or one that supports right to service but does not have a robust service network that you can get it worked on locally.

I chose d6 because I support what they are trying to do, but that does not mean it is the right choice for everyone.

 

[NothingClever]

I’m partial to the D6G Sig series which is what I use for my technical rig.

Just took a 1st and 2nd apart a month ago. Very happy with the quality of components and machining.

I use the 1st gen Excursion for decompression bottles. They breathe better than my rec kit from DR.

A British technical diver I was diving with for a couple of years in the Red Sea enthusiastically oriented me to D6G when I told him I was moving back home to Florida. He had his choice of kit but D6G was what lit up his eyes. I had (well, still have) a lot of respect for him so I took his advice at face value. Based on @cerich experience with reg design, I didn’t fel the need to conduct a thorough comparative analysis with other manufacturers.

How much difference will the weight of the regs really make?

 

[scubadada]

Hi @Zadori

What are your plans for service? Mail in for the Deep 6, LDS for the Apeks? What if you have problems away from home on one of your trips?

 

[Zadori]

Hi @Zadori

What are your plans for service? Mail in for the Deep 6, LDS for the Apeks? What if you have problems away from home on one of your trips?

For the Apeks it would for sure be serviced at my LDS with the FPL. But for Deep6 since we would have 3 sets and the fact that I'm a handy person, I was considering taking the service class and have them ship service kits every 2 years.

Btw thanks all for the feedback. I'm seeing a lot of love for Deep6!

As for weight, it's not much of a major factor for travel in our case, but more of one for jaw fatigue and overall comfort. The comfo bite of the Apeks with the small form factor was a plus for them in my opinion. But if I understand correctly, I could install a comfo bite on the Deep6

 

[formernuke]

Others have mentioned the service thing already so it's up to you self service (deep 6), local ( apeks) mail in (either one) unlikely when traveling you can get kits for deep 6 but chance destination shop won't touch them.

If going apeks I'd go for the xtx 50 with dst first. Very tried and true reg.

 

[Bald Wookie]

I previously sold the XL4 at my old shop.
This is a bit of an outlier as our shop was in *extremely cold* water (read, -2 to 4*C 6 months of the year), but the XL4 reg sets did not stand up to the same cold tolerance that the rest of the apeks lineup was capable of. This was no matter how new or tuned they were, nor if we put new kits into them. A new 2nd stage diaphragm helped slightly, but overall they were much more prone to cold-induced free flows. Interestingly, a chat with Aqualung made it seem like these were initially designed to be deco regs.
FYI, the only difference (as far as I remember) between the XL4 and the XL4+ is an additional HP port, so don't let the + fool you into better performance or something.

As far as the Deep6 goes, the regs are well priced and appear to be well recieved by the community.
Being able to service yourself is nice, but again I do recommend having some training as often things go deeper than swapping o-rings, and I have seen too many scratched regs from non-suitable tools being used, which cause leaks or IP creeps. One of the downsides I do see with Deep6 is the chroming is thinner than some other regs. This also makes me a little concerned about the 2nd stage plastics. I have personally seen a few brands of regs commonly fail when cold and dropped (Sorry DiveRite).
IF you are good at washing your gear and are somewhat gentle with your regs this shouldn't be a problem.

Honestly though, what does your local shop sell and service?
Most issues with gear arise as you are about to use it, and its nice to pop down to a local shop to get them fixed. I can see that being an issue with Deep6, whether you need to send it back or they need to send you a part. Your local shop will more likely appreciate you buying the regs from them and will likely give you a rental reg (or they should) while they hold onto yours to be fixed.

 

[cerich]

As far as the Deep6 goes, the regs are well priced and appear to be well recieved by the community.
Being able to service yourself is nice, but again I do recommend having some training as often things go deeper than swapping o-rings, and I have seen too many scratched regs from non-suitable tools being used, which cause leaks or IP creeps. One of the downsides I do see with Deep6 is the chroming is thinner than some other regs. This also makes me a little concerned about the 2nd stage plastics. I have personally seen a few brands of regs commonly fail when cold and dropped (Sorry DiveRite).
IF you are good at washing your gear and are somewhat gentle with your regs this shouldn't be a problem.

Honestly though, what does your local shop sell and service?
Most issues with gear arise as you are about to use it, and its nice to pop down to a local shop to get them fixed. I can see that being an issue with Deep6, whether you need to send it back or they need to send you a part. Your local shop will more likely appreciate you buying the regs from them and will likely give you a rental reg (or they should) while they hold onto yours to be fixed.

The signature are PVD over chrome and hold up better than chrome only. Not sure how you connected that with second stage plastic, then connected further to Dive Rite regs, but all our seconds are different plastic than Dive Rite seconds. You won't break our seconds dropping when cold, unless you dipped them in liquid nitrogen first.

 

[Jeremy Williams]

Interestingly, a chat with Aqualung made it seem like these were initially designed to be deco regs.

It's interesting that they said that.. because they are really good at that. I have a couple of sets that I use on bailout and they are really good. The thing that would make them perfect is if the second stage was reversible.