Regulator Advice

[Rick Inman]

Ok, I'm second guessing myself on this now, due to a nice PM I got:

Just a note in private. Although i am not specifically familiar with the Cyklon 300 i am pretty sure it isn't designed to fail closed.

I'm 100% sure other Poseidon regs such as the Odin, Thor and Xtreme, are not designed to fail closed. I have or have owned all and trust me they fail open.

My understanding of "Upstream Design" is the second stage assembly will see HP gas on a failure of the HP seat, therefore the second stage assembly needs the means to relieve the HP, such as a overpressurization valve on the hose, which the odin, thor and xtreme have, i'm not sure about the cyklon 300. This not failing closed but rather failing HP to a LP assembly.

Correct me if i'm wrong on this but I think your comments in that thread need some clarification to be 100% accurate.

More from THIS thread:

The sensitivity of the Cyklon can be adjusted simply by inserting a finger into the mouthpiece & rotating the white plastic barrel a quarter turn (any direction).

I kept hearing about the upstream design shutting off your air in failure mode, but have never heard of it happening. I finally decided to get ahold of a factory tech & here's what he had to say on the subject:

============
Bob
Never heard this either. With the very early upstream regs some twenty years ago this could possibly happen if everything went belly ups. The design of this type of reg the whole of the 2nd stage was upstream with a piston being forced by interstage pressure against a seat. By disturbing this piston you got air. In theory if a high pressure leak increased interstage pressure breathing became harder relative to the size of the piston to be moved, would always get air but harder to move piston. Jetstream is not of this design the servo is upstream not the whole working mechanism, and used to create a very small pressure drop which allows a secondary sleeve to deliver the air required. The area of the servo is so small that if the pressure increased in the instage delivery hose you would hardly notice the difference. Obviously those bad mouthing it ought to buy a new toothbrush, or understand the principals of servo mechanics.

Regards
Brian Bickell

 

[coldsmoke]

Thanks for the info -

I have looked around on line for Apeks and Scubapro regs. I have only found one site that sells them. That is only concerning because I don't want to have a hard time getting parts. Are parts for Apeks and Scubapro readily available? If so where do you get them.

There seems to be tons of Mares regs available. In fact I saw a good deal on an Mares V-16 XL. Are there any opinions? Are parts for these readily available?

One more thing - I live in the north and therefore would like a cold water reg and won't likely be diving doubles for a while.

I have also found a used, but barely, sherwood blizzard 1st. What do you guys think about it?


Also, saw it mentioned that Apeks is the same as Zeagle but mostly available in England. Is this true - I haven't had a change to look.

Thanks again.

 

[rjack321]

Apeks are distributed by Aqualung and parts are commonly available, at least here in the USA.

Neither aqualung nor scubapro will sell parts directly to consumers, but you can find them through clandestine channels if you get to the point where you want to service your own gear.

Find a decent brand you LDS stocks and has expertise in servicing. The greatest reg in the world isn't much good without parts and service.

For cold water, like ice, avoid the mk20/25s from scubapro. They are great, but not for ice diving.

 

[prthd9]

I am getting ready to purchase a reg too and am looking forward into Tech diving (not for another 6 months to a year though). I would like to something that I can easily use when I get to that point. I am leaning towards the Apeks ATX or XTX 50. Any recommendations on the two?

 

[*Floater*]

Thanks for the info -

I have looked around on line for Apeks and Scubapro regs. I have only found one site that sells them. That is only concerning because I don't want to have a hard time getting parts. Are parts for Apeks and Scubapro readily available? If so where do you get them.

There seems to be tons of Mares regs available. In fact I saw a good deal on an Mares V-16 XL. Are there any opinions? Are parts for these readily available?

One more thing - I live in the north and therefore would like a cold water reg and won't likely be diving doubles for a while.

I have also found a used, but barely, sherwood blizzard 1st. What do you guys think about it?


Also, saw it mentioned that Apeks is the same as Zeagle but mostly available in England. Is this true - I haven't had a change to look.

Thanks again.

If you want easy availability of parts, then check out the Dive-Rite regs. I have some of them and like mine. The service manual is available free online and of good quality. Kits are freely sold as well. They also have a new model out which looks pretty sweet and you can find lots of good deals on them (on the RG2500 regs at least). That said, I rarely see them mentioned, let alone recommended, in DIR circles.

For Apeks and Scubapro, check out scubastore.com as well for Apeks and Scubapro.

 

[coldsmoke]

Hi Floater,

Thanks for advice on dive-rite. I like to work on my own stuff. Plainly -It's simple and I trust myself more than my LDS.

That said - I like that dive-rite makes parts readily available.

My next question is not really about Dive-Rite though. The reg set I found (rg-2500) has the features that I want but is a little more than I want to spend right now. I have several old agua-lung conshelf se 2nd stages. What does anyone know about these - They have worked fine for me for years, but I would like someone elses opinion. I am thinking about buying a dive-rite rg-2500 1st and using my conshelf seconds. Anythoughts?

Also, does anyone know where to get a rebuild kit for the conshelf?

Thanks.

 

[mikerault]

How about the Oceanic Alpha 8 PX3 Piston Regulator with the balanced first stage?

 

[*Floater*]

Hi Floater,

Thanks for advice on dive-rite. I like to work on my own stuff. Plainly -It's simple and I trust myself more than my LDS.

That said - I like that dive-rite makes parts readily available.

My next question is not really about Dive-Rite though. The reg set I found (rg-2500) has the features that I want but is a little more than I want to spend right now. I have several old agua-lung conshelf se 2nd stages. What does anyone know about these - They have worked fine for me for years, but I would like someone elses opinion. I am thinking about buying a dive-rite rg-2500 1st and using my conshelf seconds. Anythoughts?

Also, does anyone know where to get a rebuild kit for the conshelf?

Thanks.

I'm not familiar with the conshelves so I cannot comment on the compatibility. However, you often get a better deal buying the first and second stages together as a package, and you may end up needing extra regs anyway later if you get into tech or cave diving.

I should note also that the RG2500 has a swivel turret, and I'm not sure what the DIR gurus think about swivel turrets. The new Dive-Rite RG3500 (aka Hurricane) has no swivel turret if that's an issue. FWIW, my DIRF instructor did not say anything about my Dive-Rite regs despite the turret.

 

[jeckyll]

Coldsmoke: You may want to consider the salvo's if you are looking for a reg very similar to the 2500, but for less.

Just my $0.02

 

[SparticleBrane]

I should note also that the RG2500 has a swivel turret, and I'm not sure what the DIR gurus think about swivel turrets. The new Dive-Rite RG3500 (aka Hurricane) has no swivel turret if that's an issue. FWIW, my DIRF instructor did not say anything about my Dive-Rite regs despite the turret.

The swivel issue has been hashed and rehashed many times. If DIR said "no swivels", JJ and a lot of others in the WKPP would have to change out their regs.