Newly Certified and torn between Regulators for Purchase

[Firedog937]

I am new to diving and am getting ready to purchase my own equipment. I have been looking into Regulators and currently reside in Greece. Most everything I am looking to purchase I have to order online or pay a lot in exchange rate. I have a great dive shop here that is being very honest about prices and they are reccomending three good regulators for me. Any thoughts on the following Regulators:

Cressi Sub-Ellipse Titanium

Sherwood Brut (Used this in my certification course)

Sherwood Oasis

Any advice is welcomed. Thanks

 

[gizmo1972]

as a good all rounder and well priced id look at aqualung legend or mares protons
for me personaly i ve always found the sherwood range hard breathers BUT this is what ive found i may be the odd one out!!
but welcome to the diving world !!
have fun!!

 

[Firedog937]

Thanks will do.

 

[doctormike]

Unless you are diving in very cold water (ice diving, etc..), pretty much any new regulator by a major manufacturer will do the job and be safe. There is a lot to discuss and decide about BCs, computers and exposure suits, but there just isn't much variability in this area. If you buy a new regulator (or a well serviced used regulator), and take good care of it, you should be fine. That having been said, I like Atomic regulators since they don't need to be serviced as often.

 

[gizmo1972]

i personally love my Atomic ST1 and T2 but in greece service and availabilites may be an issue! i think?
i may be wrong

 

[Bob DBF]

I have had great service out of all my Sherwood regs, I still use ones from the '70's and '80's as a backup regs and they still work fine. Since your LDS supports the Sherwoods, you will have less down time than having to ship them elsewhere for adjustment or service should it be needed.

As for hard breathing, that is a function of how the reg is adjusted as well as it's design. Use one and make up your own mind. I'm biased because I started diving back when there were some really hard breathing regs, so if it breathes without a fight I'm good; and I don't care for regs that seem to "anticipate" my needs. Each to his own.

Because of the "dry bleed" on the Sherwood, only soak them when pressurized, the "dry bleed" keeps all water out of the first stage. I usually just rinse them off, and it seems to work as I've only repaired them for normal wear after a lot of use.

In the end, any modern reg will be just fine unless you are heading to very cold water, then use what they are using.



Bob
--------------------------------------------
"No matter what happens, somebody will find a way to take it too seriously" -Dave Barry

 

[phoenix31tt]

Because of the "dry bleed" on the Sherwood, only soak them when pressurized, the "dry bleed" keeps all water out of the first stage. I usually just rinse them off, and it seems to work as I've only repaired them for normal wear after a lot of use.

some of the newer sherwood regs dont seem to have the dry bleed system though, so that may not be an issue...

to echo what everybody has said... at this point pick the reg that falls within your budget (as long as you're not into cold or extra deep diving), you already have the support of the LDS so half your work is done...

i've doved sherwood bruts (training), aqualung and i own mares regs... to be honest i didnt feel any real noticeable difference between any of them

 

[beaverdivers]

Give the Scubapro MK25/S600 a look! It's an excellent reg.

 

[diversteve]

If money's not the question, I'd go with the Oasis over the Brut. It has a balanced 1st stage and:

If you're a warm-water diver who gets that awful feeling of dry mouth, you are going to love the Oasis. Sherwood has exclusively developed two, second-stage moisture-retention fins for the Oasis that keep your mouth cool and comfortable all-dive long.

There's also a 2013 model Oasis available now, it has free parts for life here in the U.S.

While the Brut is a decent regulator, it's more used as a workhorse in rental fleets.

Since your LDS is a Sherwood dealer, you could consider buying one from LeisurePro.com and having it shipped over - depends on your relationship with the LDS. And the price differential I guess. LeisurePro is also an authorized dealer. I don't think Sherwood is one of them but some mfr's have different warranty obligations on gear bought overseas - in either direction. Their rep here could probably check for you on that - http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/members/sherwood-scuba-rep--54709.html

From a U.S. perspective Cressi isn't as popular. But since they're based in Italy, that might be a good option also. Which one - the MC9?

 

[Matt S.]

OP, consider the ongoing costs of service. Some regs have cheaper or even free service parts. Talk to your shop about that, too.