jeelan:
That said, on 2 occasions, this has turned into a freeflow - ie instead of hissing and settling in, the 2nd stage (the one on the short hose) has continued to blow air out without sealing properly. The first time it happened, i had to cancel the dive because there wasnt a replacement reg set on board the vessel. I took it to the LDS (where i bought it from) and was advised that the 2nd stage just had to be tuned up properly so the seat would settle into place just right....a few uses later it happened again (this time i had a spare set of regs, the SPs)
so basically my confidence in type of reg is shot to bits - i hesitate taking them out because i really dont know if they're gonna act up again. As well, when this DOES happen, most of time, ppl are so unfamiliar with how it works that no one is able to assist me in fixing it (if indeed it is something that can be sorted on the spot). Finally, POseidon have changed Aust. distributors from Tabata to AquaTech and so former Aquatec stores are in the process of getting their training/accreditation done so my LDS owner is half unsure about how to service the regs himself - all this has sort of got me thinking about selling these to someone who can better appreciate them and staying with the SP combinations.
The limited dealer network, and decidely different features of the poseiden second stage designs has always been a weakness. They work well - in a remove your tonsils sort of way - if you can find an experienced Poseiden tech to work on them. Most other regs are common enough in design that a competent tech trained by one company can work successfully on regs made by other companies. that just does not apply to Poseiden second stages.
My recently deceased technical diving buddy swore by poseiden regs (although he readily admitted my Mk 17 D400 regulators breathed much better.) but he had to mail them off for service and that was occassionally problematic.
SangP:
If you have been reading the posts of DA you'll know how much he likes SP regs but at the same time he isn't that pleased with their marketing tactics especially with regards to replacing regs with new models instead of just making changes to the regs with upgrade kits.
That's true enough, although the fact remains that model number changes aside, the "new" second stages are in effect the same very reliable and excellent perfroming older second stages they "replaced". I just object to SP using new second stage model numbers to pressure divers into thinking they need a new reg.
Over all I am miffed at the industry wide move to all plastic second stages whihc are not cold water friendly, create dry mouth problems, and offer no real improvement over older designs like the original metal air barrelled G250 or it's all metal R156 predecessor. I fault SP for what SP did, but what they did was no different than the rest of the industry. The entire industry saved a bunch on cheaper production costs for plastic second stages and then increased their profits by charging us more for the new technology and design "improvement".
Recall wise the X650 had one due to being introduced prematurely with a lever issue and had another limited to about 600 units as the contract manufacturer used the wrong plastic in the case. The design is otherwise quite good. My main problem with it is that they replaced the excellent D400 with the X650 and as good as it may be, it will never be a D400.
Much was made over the Mk 20 yoke retainer issue, but the problem was due to improper torquing (by a NOAA tech in the case of the NOAA regs). As for saying it was still a faulty design - that's hard to argue when the same retainer design is still in use on the Mk 5 (some of which date back to the 60's) and Mk10 (all of which are 15 to 25 years old) with no problems.
And SP replaced all the retainers with a new (idiot prooofed) design for free, which is not something many companies would have even considered doing on a discontined model. In large part because many companies do not even provide service parts for older discontinued models so they are obsolete before they can aquire a problem.
SangP:
For my money I would go with Apeks anyday. Proven performance in cold and warm waters, go as deep as you need, breaths fine if not excellent, simple and cheap to service compared to some other regs and most importantly, they don't keep changing their mind like SP (just see the no of recalls SP vs Apeks).
Recent reports indicate a serious design flaw in Apeks second stages where their is inadequate downstream bias in the shuttle valve to ensure that excess pressure is vented. The result is that a leaking HP seat on a reg that is not being breathed from will potentially cause the intermediate pressure to increase to the point that the low pressure power inflator on a BC, wing or dry suit will fail and auto inflate the device.
Given that this situation will most likely occur on the currently unused regulator in a technical diving situation - which pretty much by definition means the diver is in either a soft or hard overhead environment and absolutely cannot afford an out of control ascent - especially with a significant deco obligation, Apeks would be my absolute last choice for a technical dive.
I much prefer diving with a reg made by a company that is willing to admit their mistakes and fix them than to dive with a reg made by a company that does not. Fewer recalls is not always better, and this is especially true with companies that do voluntary recalls before someone gets hurt.
