Old age question: Which one?

[Max_Power]

I am a newly qualified diver who is off to Sharm for an AOW course in a couple of weeks and would like to buy some of my own equipment before I travel. I have decided which computer I am going to buy. Now I would like some advice on the old age question of which regulator set up. The choice through trawling these pages and a budget has thrown up two choices: MARES MR12 Proton and SCUBAPRO MK16 R380. I am planning to dive both air and nitrox, salt and fresh, tropical and UK winter (5-10deg C sorry haven't a clue what that is in F). Any pointers would be appriciated.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

5-10C is about 41 to 50 F.

The Mk 16 R390 is a good reg and will work very well for the diving you plan to do. SP has a wide dealer network and consequently SP parts and service can be obtained nearly anywhere.

 

[Diver0001]

I am a newly qualified diver who is off to Sharm for an AOW course in a couple of weeks and would like to buy some of my own equipment before I travel. I have decided which computer I am going to buy. Now I would like some advice on the old age question of which regulator set up. The choice through trawling these pages and a budget has thrown up two choices: MARES MR12 Proton and SCUBAPRO MK16 R380. I am planning to dive both air and nitrox, salt and fresh, tropical and UK winter (5-10deg C sorry haven't a clue what that is in F). Any pointers would be appriciated.

Well....... To be honest I don't think either one of those regulators is suitable for cold water diving. Why don't you look at the Titan LX Glacia (Aqualung)? It's is probably better than either of the regs you mentioned for about the same price.

If you're stuck on price I'd say save a little longer and buy a reg made for cold water. Anything else will leave you wishing you did....especially when you least expect it.

R..

 

[Max_Power]

Thanks so far. How about the MARES V16 PROTON??

 

[Greg Barlow]

I use a Mares V16 Proton as my primary reg on my single hose rig. I have used it in water as cold as 34 degrees, and it has yet to see water warmer than a refreshing 42 degrees. While Mares doesn't advertise it as a "cold water" model, a dive buddy who happens to be an ice diving instructor uses two of them on his doubles. He has several dives and has yet to experience any problems at all from either one. I have over 300 dives in such conditions using Mares MR12 and the V16 first stages. No free flows or any other problems. I would say that ranks as cold water reliability. In fact, I am leaving tomorrow to hit a quarry in nearby Indiana. The bottom temp is most likely at 37 degrees, and my V16 Proton will be my choice. By the way, mine is a standard polymer based body, and not the metal version. The metal version would be even more reliable in such conditions.

Greg

 

[ABQdiver]

The Mk16 is a good first stage. You might want to think of the S550 second as the balanced second is little easier on the spring than the unbalanced R380.

 

[Diver0001]

Thanks so far. How about the MARES V16 PROTON??

If you look here: http://www.mares.com/product.asp?cat=7&prod=tecno&menu=1 you'll see a table with an overview of all the Mares regulators. One of the columns says "cold water diving" and you can see with regulators Mares suggests for cold water. I would take that recommendation to heart and if you click on the column heading you can see more information about why Mares suggests some models and not others.

Hope that helps.

R..

 

[SB23]

Might be worth considering Apex for cold water diving, they just won best product in Diver magazine for the ATX200. Parts might be harder to find in far off places.

 

[Frank Kohler]

I am a newly qualified diver who is off to Sharm for an AOW course in a couple of weeks and would like to buy some of my own equipment before I travel. I have decided which computer I am going to buy. Now I would like some advice on the old age question of which regulator set up. The choice through trawling these pages and a budget has thrown up two choices: MARES MR12 Proton and SCUBAPRO MK16 R380. I am planning to dive both air and nitrox, salt and fresh, tropical and UK winter (5-10deg C sorry haven't a clue what that is in F). Any pointers would be appriciated.

i know this is not one of your two but i like the Jetstream/Odin made by poseidon, i got one and its great.

 

[scubatoys]

Actually, we're sending back 50 ScubaPro 380 regs. We got these for our training gear - and could not believe how bad they were. In all honesty, the cheap 190 breaths better - but when we complained, ScubaPro swapped out our 380 second stages for 550 second stages. Really didn't want us complaining to all our students about the regs they were using!

Really based on what you're trying to do - if you want to stay in a low price range I'd say the V16 Proton for under $200 is the way to go. The V16 First stage is great with their spherical core seat.

The MR12 proton is a "seat eater" and you will constantly suffer IP Creeping and free flow after only a few dives... at least that what we saw when we were using them for rentals... that's why we got rid of all of those and went with the Scubapro - only to be dissapointed in the 2nd stages - but now with 550 seconds - I've got some training gear I'm happy with.