Not so impressed....

[darylm74]

I bought a brand new Aeris Atmos Sport earlier this year and have been diving it throughout the year. I had it down to 104ft in grand caymen and have had it at Dutch Springs and plenty of cold water....so there is my comparison point....


So I bought an Apex DS4 brand new, added a used US Divers SEA4 2nd stage (that I just had serviced) and an older Cousteau octo that was brand new and bought through a military surplus.....so.....I go to breath through the SEA4 2nd stage and first of all I thought I was going to choke from lack of air, at least in comparison to the Aeris. I knew the Cousteau was going to breath a bit rough, but expected at least comparable breathing from the SEA4. Also, the SEA4 2nd stage had an extremely loud and annoying vibration on exhale. So I put my Aeris 2nd stage back on, in place of the SEA4, and it breathed quite well, but nothing to write home about.

What got me was that I was really expecting a dream out of the DS4 and really was kind of like going on that hot blind date that the date turned out to be the geeky girl in your chem class.

I hope that my diving experience with it will be better than my out of water experience. I have a dive on Sunday and then going for my final (deep) dive for my AOW at Bainbridge. Perhaps I was a bit too psyched about it. Does the TX50 2nd stage really complement the DS4 that well? I am wondering if I should have gone a differen route.

 

[jonnythan]

Um... the DS4 should be factory set for an IP of about 135 psi. Do you know what kind of IP the SEA4 second stage is tuned for? If you just toss a 2nd stage onto a 1st stage, don't do any testing, and expect it to just work great, you're in for a surprise, as you noticed.

The DS4 is more than capable of delivering more air than you could ever breathe. All first stages don't have the same operating low pressure though, and that will drastically affect performance of the second stage. Both the first and second stages can be tuned for each other fairly easily, but if you don't know or can't measure the IP from the first stage, or how to tune the second stage, bring it to your local tech and they'll take care of it.

 

[jonnythan]

BTW, if you're looking for a better low demand breathe, the second stage has a lot more to do with it than the first.

 

[darylm74]

I just had it in the shop to have it tested out, would have expected them to tune it, but perhaps they didn't. I just know the guy there and he is one of the best so would surprise me that it isn't quite tuned together. Perhaps it is more of an equipment age issue where the SEA4 is just too far behind. The Aeris is a micro and though I like it, I miss the older regulator I had that had a bigger 2nd stage. I am going to take both 2nd stages with me on Sunday and try them both out. I wasn't sure what to expect but perhaps I read too much into what people say on here sometimes too....I will say, for a "cheaper" reg, I think scubatoys has the Aeris pinned. It is an awesome regulator, especially for the money. I just haven't seen any other reviews on it from people on here.

 

[jonnythan]

If you want a large second stage, I'll be happy to sell you my Apeks TX40's to go along with the DS4. Definitely a great combination, but I want smaller seconds

 

[keyshunter]

I bought a brand new Aeris Atmos Sport earlier this year and have been diving it throughout the year. I had it down to 104ft in grand caymen and have had it at Dutch Springs and plenty of cold water....so there is my comparison point....


So I bought an Apex DS4 brand new, added a used US Divers SEA4 2nd stage (that I just had serviced) and an older Cousteau octo that was brand new and bought through a military surplus.....so.....I go to breath through the SEA4 2nd stage and first of all I thought I was going to choke from lack of air, at least in comparison to the Aeris. I knew the Cousteau was going to breath a bit rough, but expected at least comparable breathing from the SEA4. Also, the SEA4 2nd stage had an extremely loud and annoying vibration on exhale. So I put my Aeris 2nd stage back on, in place of the SEA4, and it breathed quite well, but nothing to write home about.

What got me was that I was really expecting a dream out of the DS4 and really was kind of like going on that hot blind date that the date turned out to be the geeky girl in your chem class.

I hope that my diving experience with it will be better than my out of water experience. I have a dive on Sunday and then going for my final (deep) dive for my AOW at Bainbridge. Perhaps I was a bit too psyched about it. Does the TX50 2nd stage really complement the DS4 that well? I am wondering if I should have gone a differen route.

I have a Sea 4 with Sea (Cousteau) first stage that I bought with my key man discount when they first hit the market. That reg has at least 1000 dives in depths to ~180 without a lick of trouble. It is a good breathing reg, and the DS4 is at least as good as the Cousteau (probably better). I dived at Dutch Springs many times when I lived in Pa., and there is no way you could get deep enough to tax a properly tuned Sea 4. Something must be wrong in the adjustment of your reg.

 

[darylm74]

I talked to my service guy today and he told me that he set it for minimal free flow, knowing that I was about to do my deep dive for AOW in cold water. He wasn't sure about the vibration but said to get it underwater and see if it isn't that it just vibrates in air. He said he would adjust the cracking pressure if need be after I do some shallow diving tomorrow.........so we'll see.....<cross my fingers>

 

[rescuediver009]

I don't know if you have tried it in the water or not, but the fact the the DS4 is overbalanced will affect it there. Also the Apeks second stages are balanced to accomodate this unlike the Aeris or SEA4. The subject of IP was mentioned. The IP of the regs (Apeks vs. USD are similar... 138). No offence, but I don't know how good this service guy is if he doesn't recognize that a vibrating exhaust diaphragm is absolutely nothing to worry about. I am a little concerned if there was an unknown noice in a reg and he let you go to an AOW with it when you know you are going deep. I think that the regs should just be adjusted and tuned to work with each other if that is their intended use.

 

[Jason B]

jonnythan, rescuediver99,
how does the atx 50 compare in size to the tx 40?

thanks,
jason

 

[jonnythan]

http://www.deepsouthdivers.org/reg.jpg
http://www.deepsouthdivers.org/reg1.jpg
http://www.deepsouthdivers.org/reg2.jpg