Oceanic vs. ScubaPro vs. Atomic vs. ??

[orenshiv]

Hi,
I'm a student at NYU and also an occasional diver. I'm working on a project to study different SCUBA brands and was wondering if anyone has impressions of these three, overall - or maybe other leading brands? These three seem to be the market leaders in offering a wide variety, but maybe I'm missing some?

Any thoughts on which ones are more innovative/progressive? Better-designed? More expensive, overall? Best quality? General brand perceptions??

Thanks a lot for your help - seems to be a tough subject to find a lot written about!

Jeff

 

[fnfalman]

If you want more expensive, it's pretty hard to beat Atomic. I think that their titanium version are probably the most expensive regulator available. As far as best quality goes, who knows. ScubaPro and Atomic charge princely sums for their products and I hope that the respective qualities are high. I have been using Atomic for a year and a half now and ain't dead yet. ScubaPro is definitely the leader in brand name recognition. It's known world wide while Atomic is probably the least - it's more popular in the USA though supposedly they're starting to get recognition in Europe.

 

[drrich2]

I bought an Atomic B2 awhile back; it's what one of our local dive shops services, and a highly reputable name brand. Here's a thread discussing that model.

It's my understanding from discussions on the forum and elsewhere that Atomic's recommended service interval is every 2 years or 300 dives, whichever comes first, whereas many other reg.s are to be serviced annually. On the other hand, finding dealers who service Atomics can be fewer and further between than Scuba Pro, if I understand correctly. And some reg.s are easier to acquire the means to 'service yourself' if so inclined, vs. Atomic.

Here is another thread that does some comparison that might be of some help.

And this regulator brand poll might be interesting; Atomic was left off, but mentioned in postings.

Richard.

 

[KennyG-String]

Hey there,
I work in a Dive Shop, and I service both Scuba Pro and Atomic Regs. You are correct, for Atomic it is 2 years or 300 dives. I also service and dive both Atomic and Scuba Pro. Both have excellent quality in my opinion, though I prefer my Scuba Pro Mk25 S600's to my Z2....for no other reason then I like the S600. Scuba Pro offers in North America a parts for life program on all there regulators as long as you have them serviced once a year. Though that is only offered on the North America Regs, which are not always the ones that are offered on line, that is something that needs to researched.

Just thought I would add that.

Cheers

KennyG

 

[fnfalman]

And you can always send the Atomic regs directly back to the manufacturer for servicing as well. If so inclined, Atomic would replace all of the plastic covers and other cosmetic pieces during the service for an extra nominal charge and you get back pretty much a near brand new unit.