EDIT-1-11-04 9:48AM: I live in Statesboro, GA, about an hour away from Savannah. Like Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil if you ever saw that.
James Goddard:
I think you need to take a step back again. So far we've compared a low end cheapo reg to a reg that rarely gets imported. Now you are throwing Zeagles into the mix. Zeagle used to be the US distrib for Apex, now they are not.
I compared the Sherwood and Cressi because my local dive shop carries both, and he dives a cressi. He is certified to repair them, and says he can get it done very quickly - and he has loaners while he does. I wanted to know between those brands what would be best to get - as I said in the post about this "Cressi vs Sherwood" that I have only dove with a Scubapro and Dacor set up. I've never even been around anyone with Sherwood, Cressi, or Zeagle. So in terms of first hand, and even second-hand knowlege, I'm 100% ignorant. The guy at the dive shop swore by his cressi, but if it is hard to get them repaired if...say I were some where in Flordia or The Carolinas, then I wouldn't want a reg I couldn't find someone with a realative ease to help me. So maybe you can see why I was comparing Sherwood and Cressi, that is what my local dive shop carries, and repairs/services. I through the Zeagle in because of how much fanfare they seem to get - I want a good set-up, and another dive shop 50 miles away carries Zeagle. So these are all with in easy range, and they are both good dive shops.
James Goddard:
Rather than ask should I get a brand a, brand b, brand c, brand d reg, I think you should be asking: I'm going to be doing x number of dives a year in y conditions, and I want to spend z on a regulator, what should I get.
James
And as for that, I will be doing a pretty heavy load of diving coming up, but the depths won't generally exceed 100ft, and very often will only be around 30ft or so - this will be in rivers and ponds with alot of sediment and other nastyness. Lot's of water moccicines and gators too...not to mention turtles - I hate turtles. So for dives, it's hard to say a number, but I will say over 50 in a year, and conditions are off the coast of GA, Ogeechee River, and lots of ponds, lakes, and other such things. The money isn't so much a factor, I have always lived by the "You get what you pay for" I want a reg that will last, and is as bullet-proof as I can get. I would like it to be able to handle water in the sub-40 degree range, but it won't get that way often - I just want to be able to handle it easily when the need arises. So there - I have answered your questions best I could, I realize now that it is pretty difficult to compare A.Reg to B.Reg without a good idea of what I'm going to be doing, and such. Sorry for the vagueness and such.
Thanks
Will
Another Edit - jeez: If Cressi are such fine Ferraris, then why arn't they more popular, or atleast have more distribs?