identify this reg?

[oldschoolto]

Brand New hoses fail... Some fail after a hundred dives... Some get so old you finally say, I should maybe replace it..

Owning your gear is good.. but does nothing to stop stuff from happening..

Jim..

 

[rscott9399]

that wasn't so much a point to say not to own your own regs, I heavily advocate for that, it was more to say that it isn't fair to fault Aqualung because it happened to them and even owning your own won't prevent it. Couple examples of it happening below. Doesn't happen often, but it's certainly exciting when it does. The bottom one is basically a brand new hose fwiw

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I guess to be more exacty and explain what i mean is to say that buy owning my own regs at least i know where they have been, what there maintenance has been like and can keep track of there age care and feeding. even if you rent nice regs you never know what they ahve been through before.

Im still debating if i should splurge or not.... Can you tell?

 

[tursiops]

I guess to be more exacty and explain what i mean is to say that buy owning my own regs at least i know where they have been, what there maintenance has been like and can keep track of there age care and feeding. even if you rent nice regs you never know what they ahve been through before.

Im still debating if i should splurge or not.... Can you tell?

Get certified first. If you like it, then splurge.

 

[rscott9399]

Get certified first. If you like it, then splurge.

lol i know you guys are right but that doesn't mean i can control myself or my spending habits

 

[george_austin]

I think most people replace their hoses and o rings when champagne bubbles indicate a future problem if left uncorrected. I have only seen one catastrophic hose blowout in my life and I told her to replace that hose when a big blister appeared about 10 dives prior.
Of course she knew better and thought I was exhibiting "toxic masculinity"

 

[84CJ7]

If you mean to seriously stick with diving you will want to own everything except possibly your own tanks (I do) because the alternative is mostly renting adequately maintained, adequate quality gear that fits you adequately. That's assuming its a reputable shop that follows proper service intervals and inspects gear when it gets returned. I have yet to see a shop that is perfect about that especially in places that are warm and sunny.
Having your own standardized set of gear is really essential to getting good at diving as well in my opinion.

However if you buy gear you are required to buy every piece of gear at least twice because the first time you didn't know what you really needed and bought the wrong stuff for a long list of different reasons.
All I can give for advice is read A LOT on here and look at why people chose things rather than just looking at what they chose.

 

[Bob DBF]

However if you buy gear you are required to buy every piece of gear at least twice because the first time you didn't know what you really needed and bought the wrong stuff for a long list of different reasons.

As long as you keep diving, the cost averages out over time. Once you have gear you can dive, improve your skills, and decide what kind of diving you want to do and plan your future purchases accordingly.

I've been diving on a tight budget, most of the time, since the '60's and replacing gear may have taken longer than I like, but I'm in the rig I want now, as I have been before, and got to wear out a number of configurations along the way. Instant gratification may be fun, however it is expensive.

Any choice that gets you in the water and diving regularly is a good one in, the long run, just don't break the bank getting it done. A lot of folks decide to hang up their fins long before the gear wears out and there is no way to predict who will quit.



Bob

 

[84CJ7]

I think I will ramble on about this topic a bit more (or a lot).
If you find you have a gear addiction and want to satisfy it get a generic book on rebuilding regulators along with specific documentation from the manufacturers (annoying to find but its out there online) and start hunting down stuff on ebay.
Just go to the "scuba and snorkeling" section, adjust the view to show "ending soonest" and then select "used" for search criteria but don't enter any search words. Its like a conveyer belt of used scuba equipment for sale, I keep that option combo as a bookmark.

Unless you are a totally technically inept person you will find its super easy to rebuild a regulator correctly and tune it to be "safe" which is pretty much what the factory instructions tell you how to do. The difficult part is learning to tune it to its maximum breathing potential without having it free flow easily when stressed. That takes experimenting and experience (and a pony bottle is nice if you are testing at depth).

There is a crap ton of used scuba gear out there that is going for dirt cheap. I think part of the issue is people don't trust used scuba stuff when starting out and part of it is the sheer amount of it out there from all the people who jumped in and then quit. Just ignore the idiots that think they can get even 50% of what they paid new, they only get that on highly desirable stuff in ready to use condition.
Stuff to look for to buy would be quality vintage (old stuff that was great and is still good) or less than top of the line stuff that can work excellent but isn't the high dollar stuff people chase down.
An example for regulators would be the aqualung conshelf line. The XIV (or 14 if its a later one) is a popular model because the chromed metal second stage could double as a hammer and still be used to dive with afterwards. Aqualung makes much better stuff now but their old stuff rates as a solid "good" in every way.
There are a large number of models and strange 1st/2nd stage combos out there from them that make it a bit confusing to shop for, especially since you will get different named first stages that are identical but were sold with different seconds so got different stickers. I personally like some of the other 1st stages for more or better located ports combined with the later "14" models second stage which got a more v shaped exhaust tee and a side port plug (plug on opposite side from where hose goes in) which makes me oh so happy when it comes time to adjust them after a rebuild. Anything "supreme" (or with a rubber seal over where the flat blade screw plug on the bottom would be) is the environmentally sealed first stage and is a nice feature (extra bother to rebuild).
Parts are super cheap and easy to get for that stuff too, with some companies its not so easy.

Scuba pro also has a ton of proven good vintage models out there cheap used you could learn to work on, but piston regs aren't really my thing and that's what they specialize in so I never worked with them much.

There are a lot of cheap used bcd's out there. You can find reasonably cheap backplates and harnesses, and cheap double tank wings for them, but cheap used single wings are somewhat few and far between as so many people seem to be getting into a BP&W setup for single tank diving and much fewer wings are made that way since its primarily a technical diving setup intended for twin tanks.

And get a computer since you need to be familiar with what its telling you at a glance. The market for decent non air integrated ones is pretty cheap in general but get a good one.