Of course they still work at depth, but what about longevity on these budget regs? Who here has done a big number of dives on them or owned one for a very long time, and how has it held up?
My oldest one is 11 years old. In various configurations with me and students, it has close to 600 dives on it. Depths to 170 ft. Temps down to 36 degrees in Lake Erie and under the ice a few times.
Those 600 dives are a combination of me and students. That's on one of my D1's. It doesn't see as much use now because I have switched to sidemount for most everything except pool sessions. So my D3's see the most use.
Edd Sorenson had some (he still uses them now and then but is also using Deep Six which comes out of the same factory) that he used for well over 1000 dives in caves. As I hear, some didn't see rebuilds til around 500+.
I have had customers take them to 300 feet with no issues.
My regs now don't see as much use per unit because depending on what I'm doing, I have a dozen 1st stages and nearly 20 seconds. I'll grab whatever is handy.
These regs have now been around since 2008 or so. The bugs have pretty much been all worked out.
I know for a fact that there are some originals from 2008-2009 that are still going strong for the users. I service them for these people when they need it.
If they are properly cared for, they will last just as long as any reg costing twice as much. Treat them like crap, they will have problems just like any other. And I've seen some of those as well. When they come in, 99% of the time I can still service them and get them back to factory spec performance. Once in a while though, I can't do anything about the one flooded in saltwater and left in a bag for 2 years that has had most of the interior plating eaten away and is now pitted.
