Reg for a woman?

[lamont]

IMO, buy a really good regulator. You're not buying it for the every-day circumstances. You're buying it for the time that she's at 100 fsw, narced, something is going wrong or there's a lot of current, and she's hyperventilating. You want to deliver a lot of air with not a lot of breathing resistance and not contribute to CO2 buildup. I could get along with a worse reg than my ATX200 most of the time, but in a couple of circumstances I've been very happy I had it (along with the overbalanced DS4 first stage). I'm seriously considering switching my backup reg from an ATX40 to an ATX200 because my ATX40 doesn't breathe as well.

 

[bcsean]

doens't matter how much air you breathe. A nicer reg is just way nicer to use. I'm also a big apekx fan. I'll be doing DS4/ATX50 combo for twins soon. I'm currenlty diving the black pearl, but it's just way more money and basically the same reg but prettied up.

 

[SubMariner]

I'm buying my girlfriend a regulator setup and I'm wondering if any of you have any advice here. My LDS says that women (and smaller men) don't suck as much air so its not crucial to get the top performing regulator. I want to get her something dependable and well constructed, without spending an arm and a leg on something she may not use that much. I'm thinking of getting her a Scubapro MK25 with a R390 2nd stage. What do you guys think? According to the LDS she will not be able to tell the difference between the R390 primary 2nd stage and an S550.

Find a new LDS. They are clueless.

EVERY diver wants the best-breathing reg they can get. Anything less is a disservice to that diver.

 

[Kestrell]

I know you don't want to spend an arm and a leg, but I would suggest the Atomic B2. My wife has one and she loves it. The swivel down by the 2nd stage makes it extremely comfortable. It is pretty light-weight too. Finally, it has a very good exhaust tee which routes bubbles away from the face quite efficiently.

I know you were concerned that she may not use it much, however if you get her a great breathing, comfortable regulator, that shouldn't be a problem.

 

[El Orans]

Her regulator should be as good as yours...

 

[tangfish]

I've heard that the Atomics are nice, but again, I think there are benefits to having both my and her regulators from the same manufacturer, also from what I've heard spare parts are not as widely available for atomics. As far as every diver getting the best reg possible, that would be nice in a perfect world but there has to be some sort of balance in terms of $$ and performance. I mean, she has not even tried diving yet, for all I know I will buy this reg, she'll try it once and realize its not for her, or her ears could have problems equalizing, you never know. Even if she does like it, most likely she will do it several times a year in tropical places. I just wanted her breathing off of her own reg because I had a bad experience with a rental reg once. I was just trying to get her something safe for a reasonable price and rent the rest of the gear. Most of us are extremely into diving, and if she ever falls in love with it as much as we are, then I'll get her a top notch reg for xmas and sell the other one on ebay!

 

[mike_s]

I'm buying my girlfriend a regulator setup and I'm wondering if any of you have any advice here. My LDS says that women (and smaller men) don't suck as much air so its not crucial to get the top performing regulator. I want to get her something dependable and well constructed, without spending an arm and a leg on something she may not use that much. I'm thinking of getting her a Scubapro MK25 with a R390 2nd stage. What do you guys think? According to the LDS she will not be able to tell the difference between the R390 primary 2nd stage and an S550.

If you get a "lesser" performing regulator, and need the extra airflow, then you're screwed. Why pay for something that is designed to give less air?

If you ever need to "buddy breath" or give an octopus in the event of an emergency, then you could both be screwed.

I'd be "cautious" of any LDS that tried to sell me gear that restriced the amount of air one could breath. Ask if you can get that "guarentee" in writing so you can use it in a lawsuit against them after an emergency.

 

[jonnythan]

Good lord, the R390 is fine and the MK 25 is a great first stage.

 

[Vie]

I'm thinking of getting her a Scubapro MK25 with a R390 2nd stage.

Since you’re thinking of buying a top of the line Scubapro 1st stage (MK25), why not get your gf a decent 2nd stage to go with it—a less expensive alternative to the X650 would be a G250.

My gf uses a MK20/S600 with an R390 octo—you can definitely feel the difference between the S600 and the R390. The R390 is a decent backup but I wouldn’t use it as my primary. The S600 is a good reg but the larger G250 is just as good, if not better, according to some. Internally they are pretty much identical.

 

[tangfish]

Why pay for something that is designed to give less air?

I don't think a "lesser" regulator is designed to give less air any more than a VW is designed to drive at ONLY 150mph. Sure the Porsche is designed to be much faster, but it costs 3x more and really is for race car enthusiasts. I see that the consensus here is to pay top dollar for the newest and best gear. But when I bought my reg, Scubapro S600, they told me that the S550 was the same thing without the airflow knob (so by default set at max airflow), now I'm being told that the guts of the R390 and S550 are identical, its just that the S550 costs $100 more. I use an R390 for my octo and I trust that its a good regulator, and won't kill me or my buddy. I see plenty of Dive Masters using the R190 as thier primary, and they are the most demanding users of regs (i.e. day in and day out). The R190 has been the workhorse of the industry for years and I've never heard of class action suits against scubapro over safety issues regarding its use. It seems to me that us weekend or vacation divers have the most top notch gear on the dive boat, and the local DMs have middle of the road or even basic gear (most of the time). I think that performance is not the main deciding factor in this observation, but rather, the amount of money most of us have to spend on gear compared to the average working divemaster. thousands of divers use rental gear every year, and most shops do not buy the most high performing regs, yet those divers are not dying by the boatload. All I want to do is improve a step up on using a rental, and use a reasonably good reg, and more importantly, one that we know the service history of.

FS