Lightest Reg for Travel

[BlueDevil]

The lightest reg for travel by far is a rental reg at your destination. Other than that, I'd be curious to see the weight difference between various regs; I bet it's less than a pound. Hard to believe that would make much difference in luggage, but I guess it's possible.

For life support equipment I do not want to trust hire equipment unless there is absolutely no alternative.

Just as an example of reg weights the Mares Abyss MR22 weighs 1392g (without hose) and the Mikron weighs 830g (with hose). So the weight difference is just over half a kilogram (a little over a pound for those who are still in the dark ages ). This all helps when travelling. The entire weight of the Mikron reg complete is less than the weight of the Abyss 1st stage alone.

As mentioned before my new fins are 200g lighter than my old ones, I have saved 300g by using Miflex hoses on my reg and if I were to take a Mikron reg instead of my Abyss I would save another 500g. So I have a weight saving of 1000g or 1 kg. Thats about 2lb 4oz in old fashioned units.

(Note that I didn't buy new fins just to save weight - my old ones developed a crack and I bought the new ones without knowing what the weight comparison was with my old ones)

Those who have not travelled on small aircraft with dive gear may not realize just how important it is to consider the weight of everything you take. We go to the extent of things like buying the smallest tube of toothpaste available and then using half of it before we go on the trip - this means we have just enough for the trip without carrying the extra weight of a large full tube. We do much the same for things such as shampoo, sun cream etc.

 

[squidster]

For life support equipment I do not want to trust hire equipment unless there is absolutely no alternative.

Just as an example of reg weights the Mares Abyss MR22 weighs 1392g (without hose) and the Mikron weighs 830g (with hose). So the weight difference is just over half a kilogram (a little over a pound for those who are still in the dark ages ). This all helps when travelling. The entire weight of the Mikron reg complete is less than the weight of the Abyss 1st stage alone.

As mentioned before my new fins are 200g lighter than my old ones, I have saved 300g by using Miflex hoses on my reg and if I were to take a Mikron reg instead of my Abyss I would save another 500g. So I have a weight saving of 1000g or 1 kg. Thats about 2lb 4oz in old fashioned units.

(Note that I didn't buy new fins just to save weight - my old ones developed a crack and I bought the new ones without knowing what the weight comparison was with my old ones)

Those who have not travelled on small aircraft with dive gear may not realize just how important it is to consider the weight of everything you take.( I have and i did) We go to the extent of things like buying the smallest tube of toothpast available and then using half of it before we go on the trip - this means we have just enough for the trip without carrying the extra weight of a lerge full tube. We do much the same for things such as shampoo, sun cream etc.

If you want the best of both worlds ,Get titanium scubapro MK25 T

 

[BlueDevil]

I know where your comming from but there are alot of high perfomance mid wt regs.
scubapro,oceanic,Aqualung just to name a few.

Quite true. Don't get the impression that I am a great advocate for the Mikron over other possible light or medium weight regs. I have actually never even laid eyes upon one, let alone tried one on a dive. Nor have I seen any independent reviews. I have however heard some positive comments from a few people who have tried them.

I own two Mares MR 12 regs which are relatively light and compact 1st stages ,and the 2nd stages I am using are lightweight plastic ones (the now superseded Akros and Epos). These are great regs which I have used to depths of 60m (200ft) with no problems at all. I could simply get another Mares reg such as the Proton and it would fit the bill quite well. However the Proton that I have tried did not particularly impress me and I have had a couple of independent service techs express a little doubt about their performance. I say this as a devoted Mares user (I own 3 Mares 1st stages and 5 Mares 2nd stages)!

I need a 3rd reg for an upcoming trip since I don't want to carry the weight of my Mares Abyss. Of the options for lightweight regs I have seen the Mikron for some reason seems to take my interest more than the others. I could stick with Mares and get a Proton 12 but I just fancy trying something different. Since my 14 yo daughter will be using it a compact 2nd stage with Miflex hose would hopefully help with the problem she has of regs dragging down in her mouth creating jaw fatigue. The Mikron seems to fit the bill - but I concede that there are other possible choices that could be just as suitable. I would never buy any reg on weight alone - I just want a high performance reg that happens to be lightweight.

 

[BlueDevil]

If you want the best of both worlds ,Get titanium scubapro MK25 T

Yes! I would love one of those. Scubapro make great regs, was just looking at some Scubapro regs the other day and noted how light the 2nd stages were. This would be a great reg but unfortunately beyond my price range.

Approx price comparison shopping online:
Mikron = $US 445
Scubapro MK 25T = $US 1085

 

[squidster]

Yes! I would love one of those. Scubapro make great regs, was just looking at some Scubapro regs the other day and noted how light the 2nd stages were. This would be a great reg but unfortunately beyond my price range. ( I know , i just ordered a Oceanic GT3 from Scubatoys,High performance Enviromentaly sealed reg 299.00)

Approx price comparison shopping online:
Mikron = $US 445
Scubapro MK 25T = $US 1085

The oceanic has all the features you could want in a reg,Check it out .
Its not as lite as Mikron But it is enviro sealed and balanced.
Mikron is not enviro sealed.
the GT3 also has a feature where you can set cracking effort and it stays at that rate no matter the depth change.
Scuba pros enviro sealed MK 17 is about 280.00 more then scubtoys price on the GT3/CDX 5
Mk 17 is a really good reg but the oceanic will work as well.The list price on the GT3 is about 430.00.