Recomendations on first stage

[rileymartin]

Hi,

I'm currently diving with an old Scubapro MK200/G200 first/second stage and I need to buy a new first stage with two HP ports. I was planning on attaching my G200 regulator to the new first stage. Is that OK or are regulators matched to their first stages in some way?

I was told that even though the MK200 & G200 are very old they are still very good and better than some new models by various manufacturers. This would be my new primary setup and wanted to get a replacement that would be at least as good or possibly better depending on the cost. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Riley

 

[halocline]

I'd get a MK5 or MK10 on ebay. You can almost certainly find one in decent shape for $50 or less, and either one would be an excellent match for your G200, actually a better 1st stage than the Mk200. I'm pretty sure you can also upgrade the G200 to a G200B simply by replacing the poppet, seat, and spring, which makes it a cheap upgrade to essentially G250 performance. You can do that at your next rebuild. Let's say you find a MK5 or 10 for $40, then pay another $40 to get it rebuilt (a good idea with an ebay reg) and at the same time get the G200 rebuilt/upgraded to balanced for (I'm guessing) $50. Total cost $130 for a great performing reg set that you'll be very happy with, and you should find to be better breathing than your MK200/G200.

The one thing to avoid would be an older model MK5 with the lighter yoke, and only one HP port. The real oldies have 3/8" HP ports, which means you need an adapter to use a modern SPG. If you're not sure how to tell these apart from the "less old" MK5s, one way is to look and see if there's a LP port on the end of the reg, making 5 total LP ports. Those all have heavy yokes and 2 HP ports. Or, you can simplify the whole thing and just get a MK10. They're all over the place.

I assume you need 2 HP ports for a SPG and a computer transmitter? You can probably find an adapter to get 2 ports out of one.