Reg Advice: SP MK2 Plus/R380 or Mares MR12 Axis Reg?

[taylorm007]

Hello,
I am new to scuba diving and I am considering purchasing a regulator. I won't be doing anything fancy, just warm water o/w stuff and I will probably only be able to use it a couple of times a year since I live in central Illinois. I want a dependable entry level regulator that I won't pay a fortune for. I've done some research on Rodale's and various other websites and I've narrowed it down to the following two regulators. The ScubaPro MK2 Plus/R380 or Mares MR12 Axis Reg. The SP reg is a little more expensive, is it worth the extra cost? I would appreciate your comments as to whether I have made a decent choice of regs.

Thank you,
Matt

 

[DeepScuba]

My 2 cents........

I own both Mares and ScubaPro regs...........(Quite the combination)

I dive in cold Canadian waters, mainly.

Contrary to what a lot of what I read here about Piston 1st's, I've never had my ScubaPro piston go wonky, and most of my dives are from 32 to 45 degrees!!

What I have seen, is a lot of Axis Reg's go into freeflow......big time. I guess it has something to do with the seat material, and the reg quickly gets out-of-tune, unless of course you de-tune it quite a bit, which is what i would do if I had the continual problem that I have seen with them. Mares denys the problem.......Uhhh OK. Corporate denial.....go figure. Good company PR, dorks.

My vote would be for the Mk2/R380.

I have a Mk2/R190 for a Deco Reg, and besides the "clunking" noise I hear when it cycles, it seems fine to me!!! It keeps me company during those boring "hangs". You could retire it on a deco bottle when you "Trade-up" easily.

For all that you seem to do (for now), I guess either would suffice.

 

[ElectricZombie]

I'm not familiar with Mares...

However, the ScubaPro Mk2/R380 is a good performing reg that will not cost a fortune. It's very reliable and should be more than adequate for your needs. I've used this setup before and it works fine by me.

 

[taylorm007]

Thanks for the input, I'm leaning heavily on shelling out a few more bucks for the SP reg. I have heard of allot of dive shops and instructors that use SP regs because they are solid performers and they hold up well.

 

[Glub]

Have you checked out Oceanic's Alpha 7 SP4 reg?

Not only do Rodales and Divernet rave about it, I have dived with it and, IMHO, it's probably the best bang for your buck available in regulators.