Need advice

[Gayter]

I am getting back into scuba after a long break. Should have have my old scuba pro regs rebuilt or just buy new equipment? they are 1st stage MK10 and 2nd G250 Graphite and they look and work as good as new. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[herman]

Welcome to the board.
Had laugh, your equipment is no where near old enough to be considered vintage. If it's later than the early 70s we consider it seasoned but not vintage, a 1960 reg, now that is vintage and for the most of us it's not vintage if it's not a double hose reg.

But to answer your question, there have been little real gains in performance of regs in the last 30 years or so and your Mk-10 falls well within that time frame, esp with a G250 on it. They are good quality and good performers, I would rebuild them and dive them, no reason to spend money on new and shinny if it does not do the job any better.

 

[JamesBon92007]

I was taken back by those who even consider my Sherwood Magnums to be "Vintage." To me they are my "new" regulators.

 

[Gayter]

Thanks very much. I appreciate advice from someone who knows. Maybe now I can cough up enough for a new computer!!

 

[MattCrunk]

Call me old school, but I have never in my life used a dive computer. Back in the early 80's when I got certified, we were advised not to trust them. I know they have improved a lot since then, but old habits die hard. Now that I find myself returning to diving after about a 15 year absence, I see no reason why I should get one. The tables were good enough for me then. They should be good enough for me now.

Do they even teach the tables anymore?

 

[herman]

Call me old school, but I have never in my life used a dive computer. Back in the early 80's when I got certified, we were advised not to trust them. I know they have improved a lot since then, but old habits die hard. Now that I find myself returning to diving after about a 15 year absence, I see no reason why I should get one. The tables were good enough for me then. They should be good enough for me now.

Do they even teach the tables anymore?

For square profiles- go to bottom, stay at same depth and come up- I agree, esp if its only a dive or 2 or the dives are less than 30 ft. On the other hand if your profiles are like mine, go deep,stay for a while, then go shallower and do 4 or 5 in a day, things change a lot. Its not uncommon for me to do dives where the actual bottom time is over an hour and at the same time the max depth is around 100ft. Totally acceptable on a computer because it takes into account that I am staying at max depth for a few minutes then going to a shallower depth but way off the tables unless you do multilevel sideways reading of the tables, something most people don't know how to do.

 

[Zung]

I had a 10 year break watching the kids grow. They got certified last year, so I thought about servicing my "old" gears (MK20/G250); I took them for a quick test in the lake, they worked flawlessly. So we went to the Mediterranean, then to the Red Sea, and they still work flawlessly. Maybe I do them next year.

 

[JamesBon92007]

Call me old school, but I have never in my life used a dive computer. Back in the early 80's when I got certified, we were advised not to trust them. I know they have improved a lot since then, but old habits die hard. Now that I find myself returning to diving after about a 15 year absence, I see no reason why I should get one. The tables were good enough for me then. They should be good enough for me now.

Do they even teach the tables anymore?

My local LDS which is PADI says they'll teach the tables if requested.

I've never used a dive computer either but when you consider herman's scenerio then they could be a great benefit. I was thinking what happens if I go multi-level diving with someone who HAS a computer--I'll be doing a safety stop while they are still swimming around.

But, alas, most of my diving has always been one-tank-a-day beach diving in 30-40 feet of water. There's a lot of equipment that I don't really need.

 

[knowone]

Theyre rubbish. I'll PM you my address.
My main singles reg is a Mk 10 with various seconds.
One of my doubles set up's are Mk 10s with a 250 and Apeks ATX.
Buy a SH grey Aladdin Pro to match the vintage.

 

[Gayter]

You guys are great! Thanks for the advise. I got a Aladin Z nitrox cheap on ebay. It still has 70% battery. Then I guess when they die I'll try to find someone to replace them. I hear Scubapro charges an arm and a leg to do it if you arent the original owner. Ebay England has someone who will do it for 28 pounds. I wish someone in the US could do it.