Mares MK22/Ruby and Tech Dives

[Dr. Bones]

Has any one used Mares Ruby's as their primary, secondary and deco regs all at the same time? I am thinking of setting it up this way so that I can service them myself with ease, but they are such easy breathers that I wonder about free flow at the surface and trying to control 3 or 4 regs w flow when jumping in?

Or is it easier to go with a Scubapro that has a valve preset and the Ruby as my primary only?

Thanks

 

[Bobby]

I have a Mares Ruby that I have used for tech diving for about 5 or 6 years. I also cave dive and have some fairly high pressures in my cylinders. The ruby will not take the high pressures resulting in 4 or 5 cracked seats. I changed the reg over to a standard MR22 seat and poppet with much better results. The second stage is also very touchy resulting in free flows and buble leaks unless maintained regularly. I have used it for a deco reg for the last couple of years because of this. The last exploration dive I did the first stage failed completly requiring me to replace it with one of my stage cylinder regs to finish deco. They are good recreational regs but not one of my first choices for tech diving from my experience.

Bobby

 

[do it easy]

I use the standard Abyss on my doubles and deco bottles. I rarely see current, so I can't comment on the surface freeflows. I wouldn't say they are prone to gushing and bubbling at the surface, although I think that most regs will purge when placed face down/mouth piece up into the water.

 

[Dr. Bones]

So are your high pressure cave fills (4500psi)? What regs do you use for tech or what have seen that does well and is not $$$$$?