Mares Proton 12 Difficulty breathing at 65"

[alexdasilva]

Hello everyone! I'm new to diving and I love it! Bought a Mares Proton 12 and find it difficult to breath after a certain depth. Could be paranoia, but feel sort of a two stage resistance while breathing at depth. It feels like I suck the air in, then I hear a click and the resistance goes away and I can continue with my breath. I'm a smoker and pretty heavy breather although I have been coming out of the water on par on air supply remaining with my more experienced buddys. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, perhaps it's just the design of the regulator. I read everywhere that they are great to breath from.

thanks!

Alex

 

[tfsails]

Does the second stage have an adjustment knob on it? Is that knob set at the lowest resistance (fully counterclockwise)? Does this reg breathe easily on the surface?

It's not uncommon for adjustable regs to breathe harder at depth than on the surface if they're cranked down fairly tight. It happened to me once. Played with my knob in the pool, left it tight, forgot about it, got down 90+' off Hatteras one day, and felt like I couldn't breathe. "Oh yea, ya big dummy--you left the adjustment knob in tight in the swimming pool!!! Duuhhh!" Adjusting the knob CCW loosens it and that action made all the difference in the world in the way mine breathed at depth.

If you don't have an adjustment knob, maybe you need to take it to the shop for them to adjust the cracking pressure on it.

If all else fails, get a Zeagle--they're great breathers.

 

[alexdasilva]

thanks tfsails, no adjustment knob on this one, going to take it to the shop and see what they say.


Alex

 

[tfsails]

Another thing that I hadn't thought of when I posted yesterday--the IP of the first stage may be set too low. It should be in the 140 psig range. It's easily adjustable.