Poseidon regulators

[conallmeehan44]

Hello everyone, I’m looking to get into diving the long hose setup. Therefore I’ll probably need to buy my own regulators. I was looking at the Poseidon c stream but there aren’t many reviews and I’m not sure how they would fare in a long hose setup. My biggest concern is the fact that I would most like have to self service them and people have been talking about it being difficult at first to get used to its breathing rythm and purge function. Any advice?

 

[jborg]

Long hose is not an issue (for any regulator, really). They do breathe a little differently and some people are sensitive to it. I'm not particularly, I can feel differences between my Poseidon, Apeks, SP regs, but I'd be hard pressed to consider any "better" than the other and certainly couldn't tell which was which in a blind test. Servicing them is not that hard, but they are different from most other regulators.

All that said, the difference in purge function is real. On the one hand this doesn't matter at all -- for me, as the owner and user, I know how it works and I anyway never purge them. The internal volume is so small that it's pretty much not required.

On the other hand, there are other people. I don't know the specifics behind you going to the long hose, but if you're in any way looking at DIR, these may not be the regulators for you. Not because there's anything wrong with them per se (the upstream valve thing is irrelevant), but because of standardisation and buddy familiarity. In a crisis, handing someone who's out of gas for whatever reason a weird reg that they don't see how to purge and that doesn't have the usual shape isn't awesome.

I love my Xstreams, maybe the first stages more than the second stages, but I wouldn't put one of the second stages on my long hose for this reason. The long hose gets a G250 or an MTX/XTX. The Xstream is perfect on a necklace, though...

 

[conallmeehan44]

Long hose is not an issue (for any regulator, really). They do breathe a little differently and some people are sensitive to it. I'm not particularly, I can feel differences between my Poseidon, Apeks, SP regs, but I'd be hard pressed to consider any "better" than the other and certainly couldn't tell which was which in a blind test. Servicing them is not that hard, but they are different from most other regulators.

All that said, the difference in purge function is real. On the one hand this doesn't matter at all -- for me, as the owner and user, I know how it works and I anyway never purge them. The internal volume is so small that it's pretty much not required.

On the other hand, there are other people. I don't know the specifics behind you going to the long hose, but if you're in any way looking at DIR, these may not be the regulators for you. Not because there's anything wrong with them per se (the upstream valve thing is irrelevant), but because of standardisation and buddy familiarity. In a crisis, handing someone who's out of gas for whatever reason a weird reg that they don't see how to purge and that doesn't have the usual shape isn't awesome.

I love my Xstreams, maybe the first stages more than the second stages, but I wouldn't put one of the second stages on my long hose for this reason. The long hose gets a G250 or an MTX/XTX. The Xstream is perfect on a necklace, though...

Thank you very much for the info. Just a few questions if you don't mind: Originally I thought you could't mix and match regulators and hoses with the Poseidon first stage, is this true? An what is the purpose of the strong purge function?

 

[jborg]

The older regulators had over pressure valves built into the hoses. The Xstream series is newer and will take regular hoses. There was also a difference in intermediate pressure, but the Xstream, again, is more or less standard compared to other regulators, 8.5 bar specified compared to 9-10 for most others, and adjustable. So there is no issue using them with different first or second stages, possibly some slight tuning is optimal. I don't know that there's a specific purpose to a stronger purge, I suspect it's just a natural effect of how the servo valve works.

 

[rhwestfall]

The Xstream series is newer and will take regular hoses.

Earlier versions of the XStream used the OPV in the hose, current production models have it in the first stage body. Both exist...

 

[jborg]

Indeed, sorry. If looking to buy, I would get the first stages with OPV. According to Poseidon,

Xstream first stages that has a serial number that starts with 9NNNNN or higher i.e 10NNNNN have a built in over-pressure valve. Built in OPV in Xstream first stages was introduced in 2009.

 

[runsongas]

long hose not an issue with the newer poseidons that use mk3 or 39xx series first stage as you aren't required to use the OPV 2nd stage hose. it only is a problem for older ones where it is harder to get a 7ft OPV hose. the workaround is to sometimes join two 40 inch hoses together instead if you can't get one.

you can mix/match as long as you tune everything together to work at 125 psi or 8.5 bar and have OPV covered either through a hose or the newer first stages with integrated OPV. but you firmly would be then having to work on it yourself for your frankenreg.

side exhaust has advantages for where the bubbles go and freeflow resistance into current/on a dpv. poseidon also has really good performance for deep/cold dives, so the decision has to be made whether the juice is worth the squeeze over apeks or similar. i would not go with poseidon as a first reg set unless if you absolutely have someone you trust to service them.

 

[happy-diver]

But the earlier Poseidons had the opv in the first stage, and the hose too

 

[Frogman82]

You only need one OPV on the system, so you can use a regular lp hose with a built in OPV (for wing inflation) and a normal 7ft hose for the reg itself, with an adapter to fit the 2. stage.

 

[Alex Ouroboros]

Nothing is better than a well set up xstream..
Look after them and they’re fabulous