Help With Terms - Opinion on Equipment

[kricketstoe]

I'm new to some diving equip. terms and was wondering if there is some place to find out information on them.

Example I'm looking at purchasing my 1st regulator, and I am unfamiliar with:
- piston vs. diaphram,
-balanced vs unbalanced for 1st and 2nd stages.
I'm not sure what they mean nor the advantages/ disadvantages.
If I have a balanced 1st stage do I need a balanced 2nd stage?

Also is there an advantage/disadvantage to having an air resistance knob?

Warm water, rec. diver no deeper than 100ft

Here is the equip. I'm looking at , please give your input:
BCD- Genesis phantom
Regulators-Genesis GS2000, Genesis Atlas, Sherwood Oasis, Sherwood Maximus

Any and all help would be appreciated
J

 

[brssmnky]

You should try the search button. For warm water recreational... piston or diapram are fine (actually I don't know too much about the differences). Piston is simpler in design, though. As far as your choices, if that's all you're looking at, I would go with a Sherwood... aparently very durable and reliable. Many rental co.s use the Maximus because of durability. My uncle has an Oasis and loves it. Sherwoods are not great for past 100 ft. (if you're plans change). I use Scubapro and swear by it. Many other people in this forum will say Apeks is the cat's meow. They are both top of the line and you will pay for the quality. :scubadive I'm as much of a bargain hunter as the next guy, but when regarding things that I rely on to keep me alive... I go for the best. :LIFSAVR:

 

[headhunter]

Welcome to ScubaBoard!

While the search function will probably yield more information in a shorter period of time for you, I'm sure you will get some answers to put you on the right track for your research here shortly.

You may want to start putting together a description of what kind if diving you think you'll be doing in the future. A lot of your gear choices will be based on that. For example, if you are going to be diving in the warm waters of the Carribean and know you probably won't be going deeper than about 60 ft. the answers may be very different than if you know that you will be diving wrecks at 200 ft in winter in the great lakes.

Don't forget to fill out your profile, so that we can add context to your future posts. Also, once we know where you are geographically, you may find that you'll have a whole bunch of new dive buddies to choose from locally.

Dive safe!

Christian

 

[scubatoys]

Here's a little write up - complete with a diagram of what makes a regulator balanced.

What is a Balanced Regulator mean??

Hope that helps a bit!

 

[kricketstoe]

Thanks for the help. It was appreciated

 

[rescuediver009]

Out of the regs thatyou mentioned I think that the Sherwood Maximus is the best bang for your buck It has the adjustment mentioned by larry and you can make a zero work of breathing on it if you like. It is also, like the rest of the sherwoods a very robust and reliable regulator. the parts are free for the first two years, and even then after that, they are dirt cheap. Sherwood is also very wide spread and is easy to service. If you want to wait a bit, an LDS may be trying to get rid of some as sherwood has come out with a new casing (look) for their regs and you may get one cheap...

 

[scubatoys]

Yea, we actually got the new Maximus in - cool looking - and comes with 2 different exhausts - you can switch between them. They are in the $375 range - but I've one of last years left for $275.