How old is Your Regulator & Oldest lasting Regulator ??

[scubapro50]

Just used my trusty Scubapro MK5 on a dive last weekend ........ 30 years plus on that regulator and it's still going strong ....... many not be the newest horse in the stable but it can still run with the best of them.

 

[mksmith713]

Ditto here scubapro50......my primary rig is a MkV with upgraded R 109 2nd and OMS workhorse octo.
My back up set is the same except I have R 108 as an octo.

I'm pretty sure at least some of my equipment is 40 years old.............I mean my DIVE equipment is 40 years old.........:0

 

[scubapro50]

Ditto here scubapro50......my primary rig is a MkV with upgraded R 109 2nd and OMS workhorse octo.
My back up set is the same except I have R 108 as an octo.

I'm pretty sure at least some of my equipment is 40 years old.............I mean my DIVE equipment is 40 years old.........:0

That's what great about Scubapro equipment ..... if you maintain it then it may last forever ....... think about all the other regulators made by Sportways, Healthways, Voit, Nemrod, U.S. Divers that were made back in the 70's and now you can't find parts for. I have never had a problem getting parts or service for my Mk5.

 

[mksmith713]

Oddly, my wife dives Cressi regs.....and her first stage is identical to my MkV.
How nice is it that she can get a rebuild at any shop that does SP rebuilds.
Her old Cressi regs are now doorstops because we couldn't find parts for them.

 

[mksmith713]

You would think someone whould find a way to make a limited run of replacement parts for these vintage regs.
With as many as there are laying around, they'd make a fortune.

 

[halocline]

My oldest reg is a 64-65 USD DA Aquamaster, my newest one is a MK15/G250. Most of my diving is with either my MK5s or 10s, and either D300 or 109 2nd stages.

 

[Big G]

OK, I'll sign in here. My main reg is a Sherwood Brut purchased new in 1990. I basically have had it serviced every other year, rather than annually, with never a problem. The hundreds of dives I have logged with that reg in my mouth have been good ones.

 

[scubapro50]

You would think someone whould find a way to make a limited run of replacement parts for these vintage regs.
With as many as there are laying around, they'd make a fortune.

I have discussed that with several people and the cost to retool the parts would just be too high to justify the expense. There are a lot of parts that can cross over and be used on different brands ...... many old Voit doublehose regulators were really U.S. Divers doublehoses inside ....... also several of the Dacor Pacer models will use the same parts as Aqualungs' Conshelf series of regulators. There was a guy on Ebay awhile back that was selling generic rebuild kits for many older regulators. I wonder if he made any money on the deal?

 

[Nemrod]

Single hose regulators are problematic because so many were made for only short periods of time. However certain ones went on for years and as a result have cult followings. Examples are the Voit MR12 series, Conshelf series, Scuba Pro MkV, maybe a few others. Often parts can be adapted from other regulators. You would be surprised how many seemingly share parts or design features as if they copied one another or more likely came from the same plant. Now, when you get to double hose regs, Voit and USD models in some cases are identical with some exceptions. So many were made over a long period of time that parts are still available and even something of a cottage industry has sprung up to support them with hoses, valves, diaphragms, metal parts, re-chrome etc.

"Slonda" has some parts and a rebuild service. I used to have tons of parts for Tekna, Scuba Pro and MR12s but alas I have given it all away and have NO MORE parts.

N

 

[mksmith713]

Too bad all regs aren't like ScubaPros.
My old MkV and 109's were just rebuilt using rebuild kits from contemporary ScubaPro regs.
I think the 2nd stage used a G250V kit which is a reg that I think is still in production or was produced until recently.