Reg Problem/Return?

[thymer]

Hello everyone,

I am a newly certified Diver (6 dives!) and really enjoying it. Can't wait for my next dive. My girlfriend and I ended up buying identical gear and based a lot of our choices on research from this forum. Of course we tried a few also. We bought:

ScubaPro personal gear - Love it
Zeagle Ranger LTD - Love it
Oceanic Veo200 computer - Love it
Oceanic Delta3 Reg - Not sure I love it.
Oceanic swivel 180 0cto - Not sure I love it either.

Here's the thing, is it normal to be hard to breath when vertical in the water? It seems as though when diving and swimming along horizontally it breathes relatively well but when I'm vertical doing skills or just looking at something I really have to work to get air. Is this normal?

Also, the swivel 180 seems to free flow when just hanging whenever you bump it at all. Shouldn't do that should it?

So I'm thinking about taking the Oceanic stuff back and going to a different LDS to get some ScubaPro stuff but I don't know if the first LDS will take the regs back.

Sorry for all the questions but I'm a newbie for sure. I really appreciate your help!

Dean

 

[Allen42]

There are probably others more qualified to answer this, but I would question your jacket fit or cumberbund tightness. If your position makes a difference, perhaps your cummerband is tight enough that the upward pull of your BC is causing some constriction of your diaphragm, causing your breathing difficulty. I would think the reg shouldn't care a bit if you are vertical, horizontal, etc.

Anyone else?

 

[Scuby Dooby]

I've had a Delta 3 paired with a Px2 primary for about 3 years now. I also have a newer SP G250 / mk16 to compare it to. I honestly think that the Delta 3 is a great reg, never had any problems with it and it has always breathed very well, down to 140 / 150 lots of times. The only complaint I've had with it is that it breathes a bit wet when I'm inverted. On the whole I have found it to be a great reg and for it's cost vs. performance an especially good deal.

A few questions though:

- which 1st stage did you buy?
I never tried any of the diaphram 1st stages but know that there was a recall on one a year or 2 ago.

- Are you using the knob to adjust the cracking pressure?
Maybe you have detuned it with the knob too far or that it wasn't tuned / set up properly by the shop when you bought it.

As far as the octo you mentioned I also am not impressed. I have tried to breath off of the low profile octo's that friends have and have found them to be pretty bad in all respects. I paired my Delta3 with an alpha7 and found it to be more than suitable as an 'octopus'.

Before you consider replacing it, I'd take it back to the shop and have them take a look at it - I'm truly surprised to hear you say that it is such a bad breather.

good luck

 

[strider]

Again, I'm probably not real qualified to tell you much about those regs since I've never dove em. I have noticed that with the regs on our full face masks it is very difficult to breathe from when vertical, they are the neptune IIs. Unfortunately for skills and lessons that is the position we're both in, but it is apparently normal for the FFM, they breathe great when finning along.
On the octos, a little free flow at the surface is common, you just try to keep the mouthpiece pointed down, but under water it should stop.
Good luck, let me know if you return them how difficult it was, I've never tried to return a reg to a LDS before if I didn't like it and would like to know how they feel about it.
Justin