New Regulator Advice

[tbone1004]

Hog is currently the only brand that will train you to repair their regulators without being associated with a dealer. You can officially buy parts for Dive Rite regs, and a handful of others.

For technical diving, being able to repair our own gear is a requirement and is non-negotiable for most of us. Example. I had a HP seat failure on a Hog reg during cave training. Was brand new, no dealers anywhere near where I was diving. I had a spare parts kit and swapped the HP seat out in less than 10 minutes. Quick IP adjustment and I was back in business. Not a prayer of paying someone else to do that if I could have found someone, and the fix was done at the dive site before the next dive. If I was on a boat in the ocean, I'm not calling a dive because of a stupid HP seat failure, I'll fix it, then get in the water. Any regulator company that refuses to sell me parts on those conditions is one that I will not support. Hence selling all of my Apeks regs... The parts kit policy is there for one reason, and one reason only. Money in the dive shops pocket. That's it, no other reason at all, and that greed is inexcusable.

 

[victorzamora]

They had the books and the schematic but still needed lots of help. Most just let me do it after the class was over.

It was honestly good of you to provide that training, I found my training invaluable. I'm a certified reg technician for quite a few regs, and have been inside of most major brands and one thing was common to all of them: A bit of base knowledge and a mechanically-inclined mind is all you need to diagnose the reg and/or swap some parts around.

I see why you guys want to repair you own stuff (when I was doing it I charged $25 plus parts and if it was a Scubapro the parts were free). Today the cost of repair is out of hand.....its got divers repairing there own life support machines (which for most is a bad idea).

Price aside, there are plenty of reasons to do my own stuff. Firstly, the only reg problems I've ever had were either due to recalls, poor maintenance, or being fresh out of service. On my honeymoon I had a first stage issue. There wasn't a dealer anywhere around for my brand, and I was told that a first stage repair for a tourist would've cost >$100 if they could do it at all. I had some repair kits with me, so I talked a guy into loaning me some basic tools to supplement my own little kit. I did it between dives. Otherwise, I would've been optimistically out for a few days or renting regs in the mean time....and I had a few days of cave diving paid for already, so that wasn't an option.

 

[Ghosty]

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.

Probably not for many years, but who knows. Also don't expect to have just "one reg. setup for life" with this first buy, so I'm not worried about servicing them myself. Colorado actually has a ton of reputable Scuba shops for any landlocked state. Now if there was a low-cost regulator servicing class offered locally, then I might reconsider that.

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!

It's all good. Thanks Tbone & Tribes for your thoughtful discourse. Keep it polite, and I add all that to my info. Looking at a ScubaPro MK11/R295, Oceanic FDX10/Delta4.x, HOG Dx/Zenith, Atomic Z2 sealed, and a few other setups. Obviously I'm not in a rush since my list keeps changing as the more I read here and elsewhere, and I upped my budget a tad, lol.

 

[tbone1004]

low cost reg servicing class, I believe John Adsit can and does teach the Hog repair class... I could be wrong, but I believe they teach it out there and it is fairly inexpensive.

 

[divad]

or the middle ones mfg'd by apeks

The first ones were made by Apeks, the "middle" ones were made by Zeagle, and now they are made by Atomic..

 

[diverrex]

If I was starting out and looking for a reg I'd buy something like this used.

http://www.scubaboard.com/community/threads/hog-d1-first-and-second.521124/

I have no idea who the seller is, just looks like a decent deal to me. If you search more you may find the same thing a little cheaper but I don't expect much less.

 

[tbone1004]

not a good deal, that's new pricing, granted without the face plates....

 

[diverrex]

not a good deal, that's new pricing, granted without the face plates....

My mistake, you are correct that is not a good price. Basically the same price as new from a dealer. I hadn't looked at new HOG prices recently, I should have before I posted. I'm so used to ScubaPro prices I'd forgotten how much less Hog regs are relative to ScubaPro and Atomic. Reinforces that if I was doing it all over I'd look at Hog or one of the other similar regs. Also shows me how low a price I'll need to go once I get around to selling off an older Oceanic reg I no longer use.

 

[Yuri_RP]

The upcoming Deep Six Gear looks great. Will definitely buy an try them. Also the Argonaut Kraken.

 

[Ghosty]

Yep, the HOG D1 set is on my list, would only buy new though. Also, my dive outfit is offering $70 off a new (3rd gen) AquaLung Titan setup which is very tempting. 2 HP ports, adjust. 2nd?, env. sealed?, good reviews, high quality, trusted company, under $300 after deal.