DIR- GUE Regulator Set Recommendations

[Jimchris]

Are they older than 5 years old. It seems to plague the newer ones. Mine are 3 years old. I know of at least 4 people locally that have had well over 15 seat failures amongst us. Then about twice that many that I know that live elsewhere.

Newest is maybe 3 years old, all have been serviced in the last year with current production genuine parts.

 

[kensuf]

If I may ask, which Apeks had the HP seat issues?

DS4/DST's (same seat). I had 6 blow in one 18 month run.

 

[Matthijs]

Maybe I missed it, but why not get the same (brand) regulators as the ones you use for your back gas? Makes getting them serviced easier, makes mixing primary and secondary stages easier as the IP is the same, and it’s one service kit less to keep in your save a dive kit. DS4’s are perfect for stage hose routing.

The HP seat issue doesn’t sound great. OTOH, my partner and I have 5 new-ish apeks first stages, and most of my regular buddies also dive Apeks and we haven’t encountered such issues. Don’t want to say it doesn’t happen, but for sure it doesn’t happen to everyone

 

[rddvet]

DS4/DST's (same seat). I had 6 blow in one 18 month run.

That's more than I thought you had so it ups my total for locals I know with the issue. I've had 4, maybe 5. I can't remember exactly

 

[PfcAJ]

Parts for life is just a scheme to drive business to dealers. SP had an annual service interval for DECADES then one day it was every two years. What changed? Nothing. They’ve always been reliable enough to go multiple years between service, but the model was to offer free parts annually so you’d pay shops for reg service annually.

SP mk10/15/20/25 are all great 1st stages. If you need a sealed reg for cold water mk17, but the hose routing isn’t as clean.

G250/g250v/g260 are great primaries, r190,380 etc are great backups.

Mk2 for suit inflation.

I’ll fux wit mk16 for stage bottles in addition to the balanced piston regs listed above. Good reg for that. G250 for stages, as well.

There’s a bajillion used ones on eBay for great prices.

I’m recently more and more interested in atomic regs for backgas, mostly cuz I I think they’re fancy and I’m fancy sometimes. Not necessarily better.

 

[CptTightPants21]

Guys, there was no high pressure seat issue with Apeks regs! Listen to what I am telling you. There was no issue. Ignore your eyes and ears, you don't know what you are seeing and hearing. All the experts agree. That is a conspiracy theory and you are denying the infallible quality control of Apeks. Repeat after me....There was no high pressure seat issues with Apeks regs.

 

[BoltSnap]

Guys, there was no high pressure seat issue with Apeks regs! Listen to what I am telling you. There was no issue. Ignore your eyes and ears, you don't know what you are seeing and hearing. All the experts agree. That is a conspiracy theory and you are denying the infallible quality control of Apeks. Repeat after me....There was no high pressure seat issues with Apeks regs.

There was no high pressure seat issues with Apeks regs.

 

[galodoido]

Parts for life is just a scheme to drive business to dealers. SP had an annual service interval for DECADES then one day it was every two years. What changed? Nothing. They’ve always been reliable enough to go multiple years between service, but the model was to offer free parts annually so you’d pay shops for reg service annually.

SP mk10/15/20/25 are all great 1st stages. If you need a sealed reg for cold water mk17, but the hose routing isn’t as clean.

G250/g250v/g260 are great primaries, r190,380 etc are great backups.

Mk2 for suit inflation.

I’ll fux wit mk16 for stage bottles in addition to the balanced piston regs listed above. Good reg for that. G250 for stages, as well.

There’s a bajillion used ones on eBay for great prices.

I’m recently more and more interested in atomic regs for backgas, mostly cuz I I think they’re fancy and I’m fancy sometimes. Not necessarily better.

I guess the Atomic M1s are sealed and you still have a clean hose routing?

 

[kensuf]

I’m recently more and more interested in atomic regs for backgas, mostly cuz I I think they’re fancy and I’m fancy sometimes. Not necessarily better.

Keep an eye on the IP of those. I know of several that would creep upwards of 200psi before locking, all tied back to the monel pistons.

 

[halocline]

Good advice, I would modify it in suggesting a mk25 or Mk11 for first stages, just easier to get parts and service, MK 10 is a good solid reg though.

I'm not fond of the MK11, especially for technical diving where you might want a turret or end port depending on your configuration. I also choose to use MK5/10s rather than MK25s because of parts availability. To service a MK5/10, you only need the SP seat; three of them come in a service kit and usually two of the three will work for an individual regulator. There are also perfectly acceptable aftermarket seats available. These seats are cheap and readily available. The rest of the kit is simply o-rings that you can get at any supplier, usually fresher and higher quality (if you want) than what comes in OEM kits.

The MK25 seat is really only available from SP or some grey market source, the kits are expensive, and they include bushings that are impossible to find elsewhere. So it's simply more expensive to service MK25s than it is MK5/10s. There's no way around that.

In terms of other parts, really the only one that ever gets replaced occasionally is the piston, either due to damage on the knife edge (which is sometimes repairable) or corrosion on the piston head. I see NOS MK5 and 10 pistons fairly regularly for sale, and it's often cheap enough just to buy another 1st stage. The MK25 piston, while it works really well, has a design flaw; it has an internal o-ring that is officially not user-replaceable. This o-ring will wear out and the piston will leak. The only solution is a new composite piston, which generally costs more at retail than a MK5/10 costs on the used market.

The only rub with using MK5s is the DIN retainer; it's not the universal retainer, and it is hard to find. A friend (long time poster on this forum who no longer is a member) was able to make the universal retainer work in MK5s with a 2mm thick brass washer. I haven't tried it because I found a few MK5 retainers.

Then there is a legitimate issue with IP rise and HP tanks in the MK10. But, if you use a good, fresh, polyurethane 90 duro o-ring on the piston shaft, it holds pretty well, and I have found that the MK11 has an IP curve worse than the MK10, although it goes in the other direction. Try a MK11 sometime at 3500 PSI and check it again at 300, you'll find the IP about 15 PSI higher at 300. It's not good. MK10s tend to rise 7-10PSI from 300 to 3000 (or just a bit above) and then, depending on the o-ring, go up more with HP tanks. I don't know how mch it matters on an actual dive, but it kind of bugs me because I'm a nerd.