Regulator comparison

[Geo7]

Good info. I'd just add that if you need a sealed 1st stage for cold (<50°F) water, then you'll also want a 2nd stage with an adequate mass of metal in it. Usually the reg barrel and a chunky jam nut as a heat sink. My feeling is that "fins" on the 2nd stage for heat exchange are nice, but feel that there is no substitute for sufficient mass to distribute the temperature. Scubapro G260, Mares Abyss, Aqualung Legend Elite, Apeks XTX50 come to mind for <50°C.

Except for winter and deep diving, the Titan and Z2 should be fine though.

 

[formernuke]

The core supreme also has a heat sink.

One of my regular dive buddies has the cold water version of the z2 and dives with me all winter with out issues.

 

[Geo7]

Yup, sealed pistons are actually more reliable in cold water than they get credit for. Read DA Aquamasters old posts here about his successful torture tests of the sealed Mk10 in the Great Lakes.

I dove sealed T2X and M1s through winter in 145 feet deep quarries in Germany (35°F in the shallows, 40° at depth) without problems (in cold water I remove the rubber covers over the jam nuts on the T2s and Zs though). Sealed diaphragm regs seem optimal for this, but how much better are they than sealed pistons? And how consistent is the lube filling in a sealed piston stage? I don't know. Even sealed dipahragm regs have reportedly frozen up in extreme conditions, so it seems care is needed anyway.

 

[lexvil]

A sealed regulator is much easier to live with, piston or diaphragm, just easier to keep in better diving condition overall. Diving in water colder than 50°f is nukin futs

 

[formernuke]

Diving in water warmer than 50°f is nukin futs

Fixed it

 

[lexvil]

Fixed it

Normal people are over soaked in stray gamma to stay warm in those temps.

 

[Swedinsidemount]

I would go with the Z2. It's a fully balanced, high performance regulator. The scubapro you list is their unbalanced value combo. It's a solid reg but not in the same class.

I have two Z2's that are my go-to freshwater rig and it's identical back-up.

I admit I am biased toward scubapro and toward atomic as they are a company formed by their best engineers that designed their most famous designs.

The atomic Z2 is a very solid choice, like the others said, that scubapro you listed is from the "lower end" of their products, but i'm not so sure about atomics servicing....

 

[27Words]

Thanks for the recommendations everyone. After all these suggestions and talking with my dive shop I went with the Atomic Z2. Looking forward to getting it wet this spring!

 

[BoltSnap]

Looking forward to getting it wet this spring!

Congratulations but are you going to be able to wait for that long????

 

[divezonescuba]

Thanks for the recommendations everyone. After all these suggestions and talking with my dive shop I went with the Atomic Z2. Looking forward to getting it wet this spring!

If you want to get the best performance, make sure your dive shop tests it. Sometimes when regulators ship, they are not necessarily tuned to the correct performance level. This happens frequently, particularly when regulators are purchased off of the internet. The end user then wonders why their great regulator doesn’t breathe as well as they were led to believe.