Pony Reg Suggestions

[scmedic]

Hello Everyone,
My Question is about my Pony reg setup. For my birthday I recieved a 19cf AL pony bottle which has the combination DIN/Yoke valve. I am looking to purchase a DIN 1st stage and using a spare Octo I have to set this up. I was wondering about people's preferences/suggestions. Most of my diving is Spearfishing 60-120fsw and i'm using 80cf AL as primary tank (wishes for a pair of steel HP120 0r 130's but can't justify with 4 good AL80's sitting around that are pretty new). I had thought about converting my current Genesis GS2000 reg to DIN and replacing the valves on my tanks with the combination valve's... Comments, suggestions, concerns welcome..... Also looks forward to taking Nitrox class so take upgrades into considerations.

 

[NorthWoodsDiver]

since you are hoping for double tanks sometime I would suggest you get a first stage that is identical to your primary. Of course I would have suggested that anyway but especially if you plan to dive double tanks eventually. Then when you move to doubles you need only change some hoses around and you will have a good duals setup.

 

[halocline]

It's a good suggestion, except I'm not nuts about the Genesis DAD 1st stage. Also I don't see where the OP said he was heading towards doubles, just a reference to a pair of tanks. Maybe that's what he meant. So, to the OP, if you're planning on staying with single tanks and just want a pony reg, I think the SP MK2 would be ideal, as it's totally bulletproof, can stand being flooded, and it's unbalanced which means it will give you a warning if your pony is close to empty.

Actually, your genesis is fairly similar in that it's an unbalanced piston design but has two added devices; one is a floating orifice just like the sherwood NBP, which compensates for the change in downstream pressure on the HP seat, stabilizing IP like a true air balanced 1st stage, and it has a schrader (tire-type) valve which pumps air into the ambient chamber for depth compensation. The thing I don't like about them is that they're a real PITA to service properly; it takes a special genesis tool to test the schrader valve, which is supposed to be replaced at each service. If you're paying for annual service, you probably know this already.

Other people really like those regs, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.

 

[scmedic]

Actually Haven't been so good about having this reg serviced, however also haven't done much diving with it until this year. My last dive did notice some water in my reg the last time I dove, might this be the reason?(totally off of the discussion). And yea i was referencing to a pair of tanks, not doubles. I have really enjoyed diving this reg and has been good to me so far, and I know everyone has their own opinions, I also don't have any experience with doing any annual servicing of regs, will just send them off, however I probably should have thought of this before my local season started heating up again.