Great Breathing Regs

[JediCheese]

I will say that your Expedition Series regs breath really well even on a low tank. My dive buddy didn't realize she got to 200 PSI at 60-70ft when I asked her how much air she had left! She said it was breathing just fine and she didn't notice anything until I asked her (and we were swimming pretty hard back to the boat).

 

[rsingler]

This is a great opening for my favorite subject: Regulator Theory!

IF you have a well-designed and well-manufactured regulator (Deep6 Signature? Check!), then a balanced diaphragm first stage will continue to provide design IP (or a few psi higher) down to about your quoted 200psi tank pressure.

However, although static IP may still be 135psi, dynamic IP during the breath will wildly fluctuate depending upon breath size, gas density (depth) and speed of inhalation. This is because no matter how perfect the mechanism, the upstream pressure that helps drive the valve action has fallen so much.

Second stage performance is utterly dependent upon delivered IP, and the quality of balancing in the second stage will determine breathing resistance (the dynamic part of WOB) as IP falls during a single breath. Once again, the Signature second stage shines in this regard, in no small measure due to the ridiculously well designed poppet and balance chamber, whose friction is extremely low. Try the "Bounce Test" in the Deep6 service manual on your brand regulator. If it doesn't pop right back up like the Signature, I suspect you'll notice hitting 200psi quite easily.

Of course, this diver's buddy getting to 200 in the first place is a subject for a whole 'nother off-topic thread diversion, but let's give the OP a pass on that, okay?

 

[JediCheese]

Of course, this diver's buddy getting to 200 in the first place is a subject for a whole 'nother off-topic thread diversion, but let's give the OP a pass on that, okay?

Let's not talk about my buddy on that dive I love her, but the convo when we got on the boat wasn't super friendly. Very glad I asked about tank pressure when I did!

Definitely pulled a bit out of the lucky bag and *hopefully* put something into the experience bag on that dive.

 

[JediCheese]

But I will say the regs have been amazing! They're the first ones I've owned and thus far I've been very impressed.

Got them used, so I sent them in and had them serviced which had VERY fast turnaround. Even with getting a color kit, it was about half what I would have paid to get two sets of regulators serviced locally at a dive shop.

When diving, they've breathed REALLY well. Sometimes rental sets will get hard to use if I suck REALLY hard on the surface as a predive check, but these have been perfect. Even down to 78ft (deepest I've gone with these), I've had zero issues. After my dive buddies experience, I suspect they'll do well in even the roughest conditions.

 

[happy-diver]

Wow so much stuff I don't understand, I just opened the curtains, on such a glorious day