How is a beginner to choose a reg?

[nwdiver2]

Pick a brand you can get serviced locally. Pick the mid range reg; you really can’t go wrong. Stay away from great deals on regs you have never heard of.

I have used Scuba Pro, Aqualung, Sherwood, TUSA and APEKS regularly along with some brands many people will not recognize because they went out of business 20+ years ago.

I use Aqualung Micra Ajds and Apeks AXT50s now. One is an old model that was top of the line then and is still made the other a relatively new design and not the top of the line today. They are both good, but many other regs are just as good or better.

Regs are not like skis where type, flex and length are all important hate Atomic love K2. In regs the lowest end are sometimes bomb proof as they are made for rentals and classes. The top end regs are sometime temperamental due to the various adjustments.

I have said this to many students pick a line and buy the middle of that line, if you get a deal great. You may upgrade to something else in the future.

I have friend traveling the south Pacific on his sail boat which is equipped with a compressor. His choice of a reg that he and company dive daily and work hard is the Sherwood Brut; after several years of high end problems, no service, poor service, customs payments for sending the regs out to be serviced, he bought 4 Bruts and parts for rebuilds. If one really goes off he deep sixes it and replaces it. So pick a line don’t over analyze it and buy the middle of the line and go diving.

 

[hex92]

My best advice- Whatever you buy make sure it has a swivel on the first stage and the more ports it has the better. Makes your hose routing much easier. And I hate to mention it on this board (due to some who have preconceived notions), but check http://www.scubadiving.com/ They have a ton of reviews.

And as one or two others mentioned make sure there is a reputable local shop that can service your regs because you don't want to have to ship them off once a year or so.

 

[SDAnderson]

How should a beginner choose a regulator?...I don't want to start a "My reg is better than your reg" war here. I'm not asking "Which is best?" I'm asking "How to determine which is best?"

Ultimately, you're faced with a fairly simple decision: play follow the leader or learn enough so that you can make your own decisions. Swivel or not? One guy will tell you it's a good idea because it makes hose routing easier. Another will tell you that the swivel is unnecessary and an additional failure point. Piston or diaphragm? Sealed or not? You'll get all the opinions you can stand, many of them from folks that couldn't explain what they're talking about if they had to.

Better if you start by learning about regulators - how they work, what some of the different engineering solutions are, what features are available and which of them are important to you, etc. In essence, you move past the beginner phase and become a knowledgeable diver, and then you buy.

A good source for entry level knowledge is the PADI Encyclopedia of Recreational Diving. It's got a dozen or so pages devoted to regulators and serves as an excellent primer. From there you can go on to Vance Harlow's Scuba Regulator Maintenance and Repair, a more advanced tome that delves into the details of how a wide range of regulators are assembled and operate.

One final bit of free advice regarding the value of free advice: something nearing a dozen folks that have responded to your question. I've been on this board for awhile and if I could only pick one voice from amongst the many to listen to, my hands-down choice would be DA Aquamaster. No offense to the other folks but he really knows his regulator stuff.