Reg for a woman?

[tangfish]

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

Thank you! And if she does love diving, then I'll buy her an S600 and move the R390 to the octo and sell whatever other octo I have on there. To me the 1st stage being good is the top priority until after I see her in the water and know if its something she's going to stick with.

 

[mania]

funkyspelunker
I didn't mean you but the LDS. I already said they are talking crap. SubMariner is right - change your LDS as they don't really know what are they are talking about.
Get her the best regulator you can. Good regulator is not only the matter how easy or difficult is taking a breath. It's much more - as for my area - whether they freeze easily or rather not. And how the first stage is constructed. And how can you set all the hoses. And so on, so on...
Mania

 

[tangfish]

funkyspelunker
I didn't mean you but the LDS.

Ok, my misunderstanding. thank you for the advice. :07:

 

[jonnythan]

Thank you! And if she does love diving, then I'll buy her an S600 and move the R390 to the octo and sell whatever other octo I have on there. To me the 1st stage being good is the top priority until after I see her in the water and know if its something she's going to stick with.

Great plan. Now that you have a good 1st and 2nd, don't buy the cheapest "octo" out there like most people

 

[Damselfish]

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.

That's a little different. If she hasn't tried it at all yet, I would wait until she's certified to buy any gear not absolutely required, or at the very least done the pool sessions. It's certainly more desirable to get your own rather than keep renting, but unless she's going someplace really dodgey to get certified I think using rental gear for the class is fine. In a OW class I think a poorly fitting BC or wetsuit (if it's cold water) is much more likely to cause a new diver problems than a reg.

 

[Damselfish]

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

sure, the problem with this whole thing that set people off is more that the statement the dive shop seems to have made tends to make anything else they say suspect.

 

[Lane Zimmer]

funkyspelunker

I'm with Mania and SubMariner, find a new LDS. These guys don't have the slightest idea of what their talking about.

The R390 and S550 are different regs both in components and performance. The R390 is unbalanced, where the S550 is balanced. The only similarity is the size of the housing. There is a huge difference in breathing effort between the two as well.

The only difference between the R390 primary (black) and the R390 octo (yellow) is the color of the cover. The springs used in both lever mechanisms are identical, only adjusted to breathe easier in the primary.

The line about having a low performing reg for a lady is pure BS as well. It should be the exact opposite.

 

[Kestrell]

That's a little different. If she hasn't tried it at all yet, I would wait until she's certified to buy any gear not absolutely required, or at the very least done the pool sessions. It's certainly more desirable to get your own rather than keep renting, but unless she's going someplace really dodgey to get certified I think using rental gear for the class is fine. In a OW class I think a poorly fitting BC or wetsuit (if it's cold water) is much more likely to cause a new diver problems than a reg.

Yeah, forget what I said if she hasn't even tried diving yet. Let her check it out using rental gear before getting any big ticket items.

 

[Damselfish]

and why not loan her your reg for the class, if you're really concerned about it?

 

[tangfish]

I can't loan her my reg because I'll be diving too. I had a horrible experience with a rental reg once, and I'd rather not risk it, with a brand new reg, even if I end up upgrading someday, I'll know with certainty that it will deliver air, even if its not up to the highest possible standards. We're not talking cave diving with twins here, we're talking her first 6-8 open water dives and pool sessions. I just want to add a margin of safety by ensuring that she is breathing out of a fully operational and serviced regulator, the bcd and wetsuit, if they're a bit shabby, are more of an annoyance at the beginner level.