Help me pick a regulator set for my 11 year old son, please

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IMHO, the Mk2 and G260 are a good match. Yes the G260 is a full size reg, but a mouthpiece change and a reg he will grow into. A S270 will work, but you will replace it as he grows. A pair of G260 will last him forever. If he were to contemplate cold water than I would suggest the Mk25 instead of the Mk2. I dive both, one for cold and one for travel. New or used, your choice, can't go wrong. I will add that the key is a good service shop regardless of what you get, make sure you can get them serviced, either mailed or local.
 
We are far OT here, but I'm not sure that matters, as I'm not sure there is really much more for the OP to get from this thread.

Personally, I have no problem buying and using used dive gear. Heck, I have bought 3 used CCRs and put hundreds of hours on them.

For ME (just me and only me), when I'm buying something for someone else (family or not), there is just something about doing for others that makes me strongly prefer to gift "new" versus "used". So, while I might buy a used reg for myself, I would not for my wife or child. I don't feel inconsistent in that. I feel like I am willing to take the personal responsibility of buying used on myself. I'm not inclined to "gift" that responsibility to someone else.
 
If I were buying regs for any loved one, they would be new and as good or better than what I use for myself.

I don't think that's what is happening here, but I definitely don't understand some people who buy top shelf for themselves and then would buy regs for their wife or children that are not as good as what they are using.
I am still catching up on the thread (only on page 3), but I wanted to note that my intent is to buy him new gear of at least the quality as what I have (although right now I'm not thrilled with my own reg set). What I have been looking at before starting this thread are Dive Rite, Scubapro, Halcyon (Scubapro in disguise), and Atomic.
He did get my VT3 as a hand me down. My vision has gotten worse over the years and I wanted something easier to read, so I upgraded.
 
The reality is, whatever you buy from a reputable brand (Deep 6, ScubaPro, Atomic, etc.), it is going provide years of excellent service if it is serviced properly by a competent and conscientious technician.

So I would suggest is finding a dart board, mark the sections randomly with different companies, close your eyes and let that dart fly. That's the regulator you should buy.

This method is as good as some of the comments here.
 


A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

Hello, there is a relevant question at hand here on the safety of used gear vs new gear. I've left that in as best I can, but have deleted a few posts that strayed outside of that and into personal insults. Play the ball and not the man, folks. Thanks.
 
First off, let me thank everyone that replied. Even if things got off topic, I learn a lot on here often as a result of threads going off topic.

Thank you for all of the great advice. I'm going to sit down with my son and give him some ideas and let him mull them over. While he makes better money than I did at age 11 ($2 per week seemed like fair wage back then), he obviously does not make enough money to afford to buy all of his own gear. Nor would I expect him to. I'm excited that he has expressed a strong interest in investing his money into scuba gear, at a cost of not spending it on video games (I'm looking at you, Modern Warfare III!). I'll find some way to make it equitable for him, even if it means I buy the regs and he buys the hoses!

Having had 2 regulator failures in the past month, I'm a bit leery of encouraging him to buy a used regulator when neither of us are trained or skilled at servicing it. Like others here, I have bought a lot of used scuba gear for my own use (and some for my wife's use) and don't generally have an issue with it, but the difference between buying used fins or a used wetsuit and a used regulator is that I am qualified to inspect fins or a wetsuit, I'm totally new to the DIY regulator servicing and have never spent enough time taking one apart to understand how they work. That is my failing, not his, and I may buy some vintage gear so that we can both learn more about it. His goal in life is to work for SpaceX, and he's inquisitive by nature.

As for the long hose.... he's a kid and I dive a long hose. Is long hose better? That's another thread. Should you use a long hose when rec diving? That's another thread. Either way, I know it would make him feel good diving the same type gear that I dive, configured in the same way. It might not be perfect, but what really is? I am hoping that in the next few years he and I can take GUE fundies together, as I know my wife isn't really interested in it. She's been my dive buddy for 200+ dives, but she has zero interest in DIR or GUE or tec or overhead environments or anything outside of relaxing open water fun dives. She did manage to put up with me and get every non-professional PADI cert available before our son was born.

I have an opportunity to get a very sizable discount on regulators made by the following brands (it's a one time offer personal from a shop). If you have any recommendations within these brands, I can buy them new at a discount that puts them a bit under what I see used pricing going for here or on eBay. Brand list: Halcyon, Dive Rite, Atomic, Scubapro, Hollis, Oceanic, OMS, Zeagle, Apeks, and Aqualung.

Lastly, to those that suggested vintage gear - one of my bucket list items is to dive a vintage double hose rig.
 
Lastly, to those that suggested vintage gear - one of my bucket list items is to dive a vintage double hose rig.
If you're ever in the lower Alabama/Florida panhandle area hit me up, that one is an easy fix!
 
Long hoses are appropriate for recreational diving when you need to share gas and you have boats overhead and therefore have to swim horizontally a bit. The surface isn't always an option.

At least if you have yahoos like we have in this state. And it is even worse when Florida Man is operating the boat.
 
If you're ever in the lower Alabama/Florida panhandle area hit me up, that one is an easy fix!

I'm in Nashville and had been thinking about a gulf coast trip to change things up (quarries get boring easily). Let me know a weekend that works for you and we may be able to make this happen!
 
I live 2 hours north of Panama city beach (my close freshwater dives are Vortex and Morrison Springs an hour from me, or I'll shore dive the St. Andrews jetty). I usually don't plan too far ahead, so most any weekend works (except next weekend, going to be out of town).
I'm in Nashville and had been thinking about a gulf coast trip to change things up (quarries get boring easily). Let me know a weekend that works for you and we may be able to make this happen!
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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