New Regulator Advice

[toby43]

So I've done a ton of reading from about four different "Regulator Buying Guides" for 2015, along with reviews of the top models, trying to stay around $300, or less. I'd like some of the special features without sacrificing quality. Like solid manufacturer, good reputation, adjust. 2nd stage, swivel connect, 2 HP ports (I have an AI transmitter and want to allow for a backup hosed SPG). Don't wanna skimp, but aint rich either, heh.

What do you guys think of the Oceanic Delta 4 or 4.2 FDX10? Other options include the Zeagle Envoy II, Scubapro MK2-Evo, one of the Sherwoods maybe, etc.

If it was me buying now, Apeks right hand side of the pond, Scubapro left hand side. Not exclusively by any means though. You won't make a mistake.

 

[Tribes]

Ghosty...Ok lets start over, some of the regulars from WHAMO will work fine.
This fall I wanted to buy a new regulator (I didn't really need one, we were going on a dive trip and I just wanted something new). I went to my local shop and asked the "shop monkey" what would be a good buy she sold me on a Scubapro Mk21 first stage and a G260 second (simple balanced first stage, and a classic balanced second stage). Im a PADI instructor and NAUI instructor, I owned a dive shop for 27 years, and did lots of repairs. I seen lots of dive manufactures go in and out of business and leave there customers hanging. Save your money and buy a Scubapro, Apeks, or Atomic you will be better off in the long run.
Tbone a SCUBA unit may not be life support to you (since your a fish) but to everyone else it is. I was proud to be a "shop monkey" . For 27 years I filled tanks (air, nitrox, tri-mix), sold gear, repair regulators, taught classes, did the books, and cleaned the heads. Made a living for my family and retired at 56.
Im going back and play Tanks now, you guys are not coachable and boring.

 

[divad]

Harumph.

 

[Zeagle Eagle]

I dive a ScubaPro S600/MK25 and love it. My wife dives a Mares Proton and likes it.

 

[tbone1004]

oh it's certainly life support when I'm a few thousand feet from the surface, but that has no bearing on whether I trust a CNC machine in California, over one in Italy, over one in England, over one in Taiwan. It's a CNC machine regardless of where it is located. If the CAD files are good, which we have proof they are, and if the soft parts are good, which we had some rocky starts with Hog in the beginning *including a HP seat failure I experienced inside of a cave, but Apeks had the same issues a few years ago, and Scubapro has had their fair share of soft parts issues as well*, then the reg is certainly good enough.

You want to talk about life support?

Those are all going over a mile back into a deep cave system, as bailout bottles for rebreather exploration. Guess where they were made? I'll give you a hint, it wasn't Europe or North America

 

[BoltSnap]

that really doesn't mean anything. They will train any shop monkey to be a repair tech and same with an OW instructor. Start doing dives where if the regs fail you die, and then we can have a discussion, but if all you are doing is recreational OW profiles, "life support" is not an applicable term for what a regulator does for you.

You are sooo freaking rude.

 

[undrwater]

Another thing to consider; do you eventually (or now?) want to service your own regs? Certain manufacturers will make it easy to get the parts necessary, others will go out of their way to block you from doing so.

 

[runsongas]

depends on the country too. getting parts in europe is easier than the US i've heard due to consumer protection laws.

 

[tbone1004]

no, just commenting that holding those cards has minimal bearing on your qualifications to judge regulators. You clearly have not taken them apart next to each other, and you clearly have no actual expert opinions on the matter that truly qualify you to judge them, otherwise you would not have that opinion. If your opinion was "I don't want to support the cheap manufacturing, potential exploitation, etc etc that goes on in Asia so I choose to spend money locally" then fine, but saying you won't judge something that is made by a computer *because yes, all regulators are made by computers, not by hand*, because the computer is located in Taiwan instead of Europe is just plain ignorant and racist. I'm sorry, but you really are not qualified to go out and say you aren't going to trust regulators that are built and designed by engineers to equal if not higher quality than other regulators on the market *yes, the chrome plating on the regulators in ODS is in fact higher quality than that used by Apeks which has been proven time and time again in the caves*, just because they are built in Taiwan.

 

[diverrex]

Poor OP just wanted some simple advice on what regulator to buy. I bet he never imagined this thread of posts happening. Welcome to ScubaBoard!