Question on differences between Scubapro c200/c300. Cost vs. benefit

[ams511]

TT, there is a person on the board called DA Aquamaster who is a Scubapro tech. He can explain all things Scubapro. As for the price, Leisurepro has on sale a MK11 S555 for $299.00 which should breath as well as or maybe better than what you are looking at. Also Leisurepro will deal as should your local dive shop. Unlike in the past, Leisurepro is an authorized Scubapro dealer. Remember the dive shop has quite a bit of margin built into the reg prices so they have room to deal. So if you want to go with the LDS tell them you want C300 for the price of the C200.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

TT, there is a person on the board called DA Aquamaster who is a Scubapro tech. He can explain all things Scubapro. As for the price, Leisurepro has on sale a MK11 S555 for $299.00 which should breath as well as or maybe better than what you are looking at. Also Leisurepro will deal as should your local dive shop. Unlike in the past, Leisurepro is an authorized Scubapro dealer. Remember the dive shop has quite a bit of margin built into the reg prices so they have room to deal. So if you want to go with the LDS tell them you want C300 for the price of the C200.

Unless things have changed in the last few months, as far as I know authorized SP dealers are still bound by manufacturers price controls.
The most an authorized dealer can discount is 10% which at that price you pay 100% markup. If you pay full price you pay 110% over wholesale. With tier pricing this percentage is affected but I don't know which way. I'm sure it's in the dealers favor.

 

[TT_Vert]

I'm very mechanically inclined and I have no doubt I could learn to rebuild these but it was my understanding that it was hard for non resellers to get rebuild parts regulators. Am I incorrect?

 

[redacted]

I'm very mechanically inclined and I have no doubt I could learn to rebuild these but it was my understanding that it was hard for non resellers to get rebuild parts regulators. Am I incorrect?

Well, in most cases, you are not going to be able to walk into your LDS and buy the parts you need. You have to develop sources and probably stock up a little so you have the basics on-hand. but when you do not have to pay $25+ every year for service labor per stage, you will find there is no good reason for not having 2 or 3 extra regs on-hand (or 12 or 13). Parts are available, they are just not always easy to find. In some markets, the retailers are required to sell parts by the national consumer protection laws.

There are a few manufacturers now in the USA that support the sale of parts so you always have the option of buy their gear and enjoying above board parts availability.

 

[TT_Vert]

Is the s555 the older model of the c300?

TT, there is a person on the board called DA Aquamaster who is a Scubapro tech. He can explain all things Scubapro. As for the price, Leisurepro has on sale a MK11 S555 for $299.00 which should breath as well as or maybe better than what you are looking at. Also Leisurepro will deal as should your local dive shop. Unlike in the past, Leisurepro is an authorized Scubapro dealer. Remember the dive shop has quite a bit of margin built into the reg prices so they have room to deal. So if you want to go with the LDS tell them you want C300 for the price of the C200.

 

[halocline]

Is the s555 the older model of the c300?

No, they're different. The S555 is basically a S600 without the user adjustment, and the S600 is more-or-less the last of the SP balanced barrel poppet regs that stretch back to the balanced/adjustable. There are various differences in the complexity of the balance chamber and adjustment mechanism, but they all use the same orifice/seat/poppet/lever, with some generational differences in the parts, but they are essentially interchangeable. The C300 is a new reg, unbalanced, with a fancy offset lever that is (a guess) supposed to improve the geometry of the reg.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

As noted above the S555 is balanced and fills the niche the G200B used to fill - a non adjustable G250. In the current generation the S555 is a non adjustable S600.

The C200 and C300 are unbalanced second stages but are an improvement over the R series in a few respects and potentially offer relatively great performance for an unbalanced second stage.

I have a C300 that I dove a few weeks ago on a cave trip to FL and that I am using this week in Mexico on another cave trip. It is proving to be reliable and not sensitive to sand, etc. But on the other hand it is not overly impressing me in overall performance (especially compared to a G250V). It does not seem to have the flow or smoothness of the C300 I played with at BTS in March, so I am not sure if it is variation within the model or if SP has detuned the production versions slightly to meet some moronic CE requirement.

Both of those things ocurred with the R series, and in the R series some of them are superb and some are only average depending on how the parts tolerances stack.

Along with this, Scubapro has been revising their online sales policies and their free parts for life program which have the net effect of making a purchase from an LDS less attractive than getting a grey market reg from Leisure pro. In that regard, if you can get a Mk 11 S555 for the same money as a Mk 11 c300, then do it.

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As an aside, the Mk11 can be upgraded to a Mk 17. It requires the obvious external parts for the sealed portion plus a new mk 17 spring pad and a Mk 17 annual service kit to get the thinner diaphragm and extra washer. Getting a dealer to do it however may prove difficult.

 

[ams511]

Leisure Pro is now an authorized Scubapro dealer, so they are no longer a grey market seller. However, we do not know the status of the inventory they purchased before the deal with Scubapro. You may want to check before purchasing if you want to go the route. That could be why they are selling this model so inexpensively.

 

[TT_Vert]

Forgive my ignorance but what benefit does a balanced second stage provide?

 

[redacted]

They are usually a bit more stable when adjusted to lower cracking efforts so they tend to breath a bit easier. This is accomplished by have a smaller mechanical string augmented by a pneumatic spring which automatically adjusts to any changes in IP. The lighter mechanical spring also reduces the tendency of the orifice to engrave the LP seat during storage when the mechanical spring force is not countered by the force of IP on the seat.

Bottom line is they tend to breath a bit easier.