New diver looking for a good regulator

[phoenix31tt]

I have an Abyss 22 (not navy), works great, no issues. The only substantial difference i know of between the Navy and 22 is that the navy has a cold water kit for extreme temps. Personally I find the price in that link to be really expensive, in addition if you have any inclination of servicing your own regs in the future this may not be the best choice.

 

[Kairoos]

I'm a Zeagle fan. Their regs/bcds/accessories have been good to me. I don't know how if they're available in Australia though. If they are, it's a good brand to consider!

 

[stuartv]

The market is Aus is relatively small so servicing of some brands (not mainstream) can be challenging.

Hollis is part of the same company as Oceanic and Aeris. Any place that can service those brands should be able to service Hollis.

 

[diversteve]

Adreeno - the shop both posters above linked to - also sells Hollis and Oceanic. Regulators & Safety Octopus - Scuba Diving Gear | ADRENO Scuba Diving Centre

I'd be more concerned that the single HOG dealer in Melbourne stays in business. Perth or Sydney aren't exactly nearby.

For the same money as the Mares Navy you can get an Aqualung Legend LX paired with that Legend Glacia 2nd stage on sail for $179. The Glacia is probably overkill but at that price you can't touch anything else and it won't likely freeze-up in case you need it.

Or one of the Apeks if OZ is like the U.S. in that your Aqualung dealer is also your Apeks dealer.

 

[Keith.M]

Adreeno - the shop both posters above linked to - also sells Hollis and Oceanic. Regulators & Safety Octopus - Scuba Diving Gear | ADRENO Scuba Diving Centre

I'd be more concerned that the single HOG dealer in Melbourne stays in business. Perth or Sydney aren't exactly nearby.

For the same money as the Mares Navy you can get an Aqualung Legend LX paired with that Legend Glacia 2nd stage on sail for $179. The Glacia is probably overkill but at that price you can't touch anything else and it won't likely freeze-up in case you need it.

Or one of the Apeks if OZ is like the U.S. in that your Aqualung dealer is also your Apeks dealer.

Show me where you can get an Aqualung Legend LX paired with that Legend Glacia 2nd stage on sail for $179. No way.

 

[C P]

I have the Apex XTX 50 and the HOG that Jim brings up and would have no issues with either if my wife finally said I could only have one of them. The big issue is servicing. While you can learn to work on them, if you are not wiling to or are intimidated by it, find one that you can get serviced locally pretty easily. Two weeks before a trip is a short time to find out that your reg needs service and you have to send it off, get it serviced/repaired and shipped back. By your profile it looks like you are reasonably new to diving. The internet is not a bad place to get some gear, other gear you might want to consider having a relationship with someone (LDS) who can support it.

 

[diversteve]

Show me where you can get an Aqualung Legend LX paired with that Legend Glacia 2nd stage on sail for $179. No way.

The Glacia is $179. The Legend LX is $719.

Try checking the linked website next time first. Or reading all the words in the sentence first...

For the same money as the Mares Navy you can get an Aqualung Legend LX paired with that Legend Glacia 2nd stage on sale for $179.

 

[babycover]

Hi all,
thanks you for all the response.
I know scubapro, aqualung, dive rite, etc they all really good regs as well, but too much for a beginner to understand and choose from that wide variety.
i have decide to close 1 eye, and go with either Apeks or HOG.
Also I found a shop that services both the HOG and Apeks ( Scubadoctor) also 1 hour away from me.
Apeks :https://www.scubadoctor.com.au/dive...id=650&zenid=5fa9000f7e80017f2fae51c723191f42
HOG : https://www.scubadoctor.com.au/dive...723191f42&cPath=85_114&sort=20a&filter_id=128

At this point with a price so much different and as far as i understand the performance is not that much different, i would be inclined toward the HOG unless anyone warning me about some serious issue with HOG.
There are still some questions still :
- I do plan to take double in future for a longer dive ( especially wreck dive), a turret is necessary, but as i read on the forum, the turret can annoy "the beejesus" out of some one because all hoses turning around, is there anything to top that?
- For a small different(50$) i do think go with D3 would be a better choice rather than D1 isnt it? since D3 came out later, it would some how improve version of D1? and also in far future if i dive deeper, i would not need to buy a new one. ( even though the future of me diving deeper than 100 meters is quite far away.)
- there are a few second stage, classic/zenith/zenith black, at this point, i have no idea what the different between those?
- I noticed that they did not have an octopus for HOG? Do we purchase 2 of the primary second stage?

thank you again for all your help. and if anyone live in Melbourne and interested to go dive together or coffee to discuss about scuba, you are more than welcome to shoot me an email.

 

[tbone1004]

Dive Rite Regulator XT

That's where I'd go for singles. $150 cheaper than Apeks, but includes the SPG and angle adapter which is nice. Can service yourself if you choose. Has the 5th port, which that DST does not indicate it has. You have to pay more to get it on the Apeks which is annoying. Little more than the Hog, but the brand has much wider service availability, and the regulators are reversible if you're into that.

If you know you're doing doubles in the future,
DiveRite Twin Set Kit

or if you're going sidemount *to use this with singles or doubles all you need is a longer SPG hose, which makes it the best value of the bunch because you have everything you need now*
DiveRite Sidemount XT

Regarding the turret. That guy is an idiot. They do not turn unless you pull on them. They are under pressure and while not "difficult" to turn, they certainly don't move around willy nilly. If you are in a wetsuit, which is more likely for you, then you can run singles with the octo out the bottom of the turret and nothing will turn around.
D3 is better than the D1. Much better overall design, not that the D1 has anything wrong with it, but the D3 is better.
Second stages are basically the same, it's whatever look you like the best. Some think the Zenith is too aggressive looking and prefer the D1, but it is up to you.
Yes, you have matching second stages, which is advantageous for any backmount diving, and basically required for sidemount

 

[runsongas]

looks like they had a sale on the aqualung core that would have been a decent price too, just out of stock

Aqua Lung Core Regulator Set | ADRENO Scuba Diving Centre

the hog regs work well, but if you don't need the regs by next week i would wait for a sale. i picked up some more hog regs over black friday and paid a lot less.