Mares MR32 Proton Ice Extreme Regulator
- Thread starter McCainiac
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scubafanatic
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why upgrade? I recently had a dive ship install a 1st-stage enviro-sealed 'kit' on an older Mares RUBY, the kit was $ 130, so if you're upgrading because you're diving cold waters, the 'kit' I had installed would be just as effective on your Abyss and a lot cheaper than replacing your whole reg.
Not a lot of difference between the two regs as far as I'm concerned. I'd put a cold kit on what you have and keep on diving. If memory serves, the Abyss has a metal body, doesn't it? That's good enough for me.
Greg Barlow
Contributor
If you are looking for a reg that passed the USN Testing Protocols for cold water diving all the way down to 29 degrees, then look no more...Yeah...You read that right. The Mares Proton Ice Extreme met the challenge at the unbelievable temp of 29 degrees. FYI, that is a common water temp under the ice in the Polar extremes.
I've been diving in 34 degree water, and can attest as to how cold that can be. 29 certainly sets the limit.
Greg Barlow
I've been diving in 34 degree water, and can attest as to how cold that can be. 29 certainly sets the limit.
Greg Barlow
scubafanatic
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...I still am assuming the reason for the 'upgrade' is cold water free-flow resistance, as there isn't a pure 'performance' upgrade between the Abyss vs the Proton ? If so, said dive buddy would still benefit from installation of the 'dry-seal' 1st-stage kit, so either let dive buddy know about the benefit of the upgrade or upgrade it yourself before giving/selling it to him/her as if it were me, I couldn't sleep at night worrying I might be responsible for a future dive accident/fatility.
Never ASS/U/ME is my policy. I was hoping to get more feedback on the Proton and not what I should or shouldn't be doing with my current reg.
scubafanatic
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Never ASS/U/ME is my policy. I was hoping to get more feedback on the Proton and not what I should or shouldn't be doing with my current reg.
Well, it's hard giving feedback without knowing the motives for the upgrade.....upgrade implies your are having one or more 'issues' with the Abyss, so we are trying to guess what issues those might be, because if you are just looking for 'max gas flow' then the Proton isn't an upgrade, it's break-even at best. If it's just a case of 'shiny new toy syndrome' that's fine....just fess up!
if you want to hunt for reg reviews try:
divernet.com (plus their forums)
scubadiving.com (plus their forums)
or search some alternate forums:
thedecostop.com
undercurrent.org
...or to state the obvious, try posting this on the MARES SB manufacturers forum.
LeadTurn_SD
Contributor
Well, it's hard giving feedback without knowing the motives for the upgrade.....upgrade implies your are having one or more 'issues' with the Abyss, so we are trying to guess what issues those might be, because if you are just looking for 'max gas flow' then the Proton isn't an upgrade, it's break-even at best. If it's just a case of 'shiny new toy syndrome' that's fine....just fess up!
if you want to hunt for reg reviews try:
divernet.com (plus their forums)
scubadiving.com (plus their forums)
or search some alternate forums:
thedecostop.com
undercurrent.org
...or to state the obvious, try posting this on the MARES SB manufacturers forum.
I'd actually suggest a PM to Greg Barlow if you want an unbiased answer from an experienced scuba technical writer, long-time Mares owner, and ice diver.
He has a wealth of knowledge and is very generous with his knowledge of all things relating to service and performance of Mares regs.
Best wishes.
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