Regs

[Uncle Pug]

I have an old MR12 Navy first that I haven't used for a while because it is a yoke reg and I don't have any yoke tanks. I thought about converting it to DIN but they want to much for the converter.

A lot of folks don't consider them low end but I think the Apeks is pretty cheap when you can get a DS4 for $135. Course you still have to buy a 2nd stage.

Oh...speaking of 2nd stages.... I use the 2nd off the MR12 for my necklaced second.

Now one cheap reg that I have but would never use UW is the aptly name "Water Lung"... I use the first stage as an argon reg on my truck bottle.

 

[Scottri]

I don't own a "low end" reg but it's funny that people consider a G250 a low end reg. They are one of the best I've ever used. I dive an Atomic B1/T2 and the only other reg I considered buying was a G250.

Scott

 

[Norm]

For what it's worth Scottri I dont' consider a G250 low end either.
Uncle Pug, I remember those Water Lung regs. (Didn't they have a blue snake on a white background logo, or something similar? Maybe they were made by Sports Ways?) I know the ones that I was associated left no good impression at all! I just remember a super-soft purge button and a featureless first stage. The shop had three and the best one of the bunch fell out of a truck and was dragged on the pavement, grinding a large flat corner on the rounded top. After one year of use, the parts were used from all three of them just to keep one going. Maybe we just had some bad luck?
Norm

 

[Uncle Pug]

Originally posted by Norm
I remember those Water Lung regs. (Didn't they have a blue snake on a white background logo, or something similar?

Maybe we just had some bad luck?
Norm

That's the one!

Yeah you had bad luck alright... bad luck to have one of them!

Our local FD's dive team had purchase them before I arrived on the scene.... I had a diver down with me on a search once and he had an OOA after just a few minutes. He wasn't OOA but the aptly named waterlung had a upstream valve and it failed closed on him. (I used all my own stuff for good reason.)

I was able to scrap the whole lot of them over that incident. Seems a lot of public safety teams buy the cheap crap or get hosed in some other way by the vendors....

I did find that the waterlung first stage works just fine for filling tires and as an argon reg..... but I never take it UW.

 

[kitbuga]

the darned thing gets harder to breathe depending on depth and tank pressure. came out in the early 70's. i heard it has a new incarnation.

one HP and one LP port and that's it. i loved it because it was reliable and gave no trouble at all. if you're the type who forgets to look at the SPG every now and then it "warns" you of low pressure by making it harder to breathe. unbalanced piston is what it is.

not the best but it brings back memories of a time when male divers were men and the women divers were just as tough.

it will always be the "age of aquarius"

cheers.

 

[ew1usnr]

"WaterLung Regulator Model X2-1200 - Family of X-Cellance! A Division of Pittman Rubber Co."

I've got an ebay purchased WaterLung. It's a cheapie with a plastic 2nd stage case, but it breathes great! I've had it down to 120-feet and it surprised me with the ease of inhalation and volume of air delivery. It has a standard down-stream tilt lever 2nd, and I would guess a balanced flow-through piston 1st stage. What else do you need? The WaterLung is a nice regulator. Can anyone tell me the approximate age of this beauty? Offhand I would guess late 70's, maybe early 80's. When did WaterLung disappear?

 

[nyresq]

I have had an oceanic alpha with a diaphragm first stage, that I got back in 1992 when I didn' have enough money to buy a "high end" reg. The LDS had gotten some on a big order discount and sold me one. I think I got it for about $125 brand new with a cheapo spg included.
it has been rebuilt about 5 times and the cheapo SPG got stuck after about 15 dives so I replaced that with an oceanic spg. I have used it in salt water mostly, but always rinsed and soaked it after the days diving. Was used first as a primary, then as a second on a y valve, then second on doubles, to a pony tank and finally this year was put in locker as a "spare pony reg". never had any problems or failures with it, and its been down to 160' on the USS bass without even a burp. When it went to the "pony" I detuned the IP down a bit to keep the freeflows to a minimum, but aside from that it delivers air at all depths. It doesn't flow like my poseidon cyklons at depth but the alpha delivers air pretty well down to about 100'.
Worth every penny I spent on it.:sniper:

 

[Genesis]

Mk5/Mk10 firsts are darn near bulletproof, simple, and work wonderfully. Just don't take them ice diving.

The G250 is still one of the best balanced poppet seconds ever made when you look at how it breathes. It can also be stripped and rebuilt without any special tools, and unlike the all-plastic models of today has less trouble with cotton-mouth (the metal airtube helps condense some of the moisture in your exhaled air and remoisturizes the inhaled air.)

I've got a handful of both and IMHO they are every bit as good as the "current" high-end stuff, and a hell of a lot easier to service and keep in top condition.