General regulator question

[TSandM]

I'm going to be buying new regulators this spring to put together a set of doubles. I'm suffering from a bit of paralysis by analysis . . . I'm worried that there is something I don't know that is going to turn around and bite me. Specifically, I'm beginning to wonder if there is enough difference between the regulators made by the better brands to worry about?

I understand: Upstream and downstream regulators; balanced v. unbalanced; piston v. diaphragm; environmentally sealed v. unsealed. I also know that the arrangement of ports on the first stage can affect hose routing and how you have to mount the first stage. I know that second stages can have adjustments on them to change the flow rate or work of breathing. Some can be easily taken apart, and others cannot (eg. underwater).

Is there anything else I need to know to make good decisions? At the moment, I'm having a hard time seeing why I would spend the money to buy the top end regulators from any of the major brands.

 

[spacemanspiff1974]

I'm sure you already remembered this, but yolk versus DIN. DIN for doubles and a yolk adapter when you want to travel without your tank.

 

[TSandM]

Of course, although I sort of assumed DIN for technical applications.

 

[do it easy]

Consider what you can service locally, what your buddies are diving and have experience with.

Within reasonable ranges, I don't think that there are huge differences between regs. I prefer the simpler (cheaper) ones versus the ones with all the adjustments and features (more expensive).

 

[Web Monkey]

You can probably narrow down the selection a lot by first starting with something that won't freeflow in very cold water (I assume you'll be diving locally).

That should knock out a bunch of regs. Then you can dump the brands that you can't get great service on locally.

Out of what's left, you can choose by performance and reliabilty.

This will probably narrow it down to only a few regs.

Terry

I'm going to be buying new regulators this spring to put together a set of doubles. I'm suffering from a bit of paralysis by analysis . . . I'm worried that there is something I don't know that is going to turn around and bite me. Specifically, I'm beginning to wonder if there is enough difference between the regulators made by the better brands to worry about?

 

[Mark Vlahos]

I was in a similar position about a year ago, and I ended up with Apeks DS4 first stages with TX50 second stages. I finally boiled it down to the cost of the initial purchase. The cost of yearly maintenance. And, finally the largest single factor... I made an extremely conservative choice, these regs have been working well for years. The design is solid. They have a proven track record of working deep, cold, in dirty environments, and for long duration dives. The only thing I would do differently would be to get an ATX50 for the backup, the TX is a little large under my chin.

I am not a DIR trained diver but I believe that DIR would encourage the (A)TX40 as a better backup since it does not have the adjustment knob. I chose the exact same regulator for my backup since it is the exact same regulator.

The DS4 is compact and straight forward, it is sealed for better durability and service in cold environments. Hoses route fairly well for doubles.

Having read your posts for a while about general gear configuration issues it seems to me like a no brainer that this is probably the setup you will choose. The only question is how long will you think about it.

Mark Vlahos

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Ease of brething is a subjective thing, amd some divers do not value it while other do.

Personally when I breathe of a average performing reg, I notice it and miss my higher performance regs.

What ever the brand, focus on what you need rather than what they market as their top of the line reg.

For example, a Scubapro Mk 25 S600 or X650 is their top end reg (without getting into titanium, lightweight materials etc.) But in my opinon the Mk 17 is a much better reg for technical and/or cold water diving and G250 second stage offers all the performance of either the S600 or X650.