Regulators for Ice diving

[tamas970]

My Scubapro MK19 (EU version of MK17) + G250V are seeking a secondary 1st+2nd stage for winter diving (Y-valve)

Am I going to be fine with the G250V as primary?
Is there any problem with pairing 1st stages from different manufacturers? I am thinking about hedging the chance of getting 2 regs iced and get two different brands.

Any recommendations? Extreme temperature-stability (-2°C Seawater), compact size and reasonable pricing are all welcome. (Actually I don't know if 2 mk19's would even fit on the same Y-valve...)

 

[buddhasummer]

No first hand experience ice diving but it is my understanding that the MK17 and G250 are cold water rated, if cold means "Ice" I'm unsure but would be surprised if you couldn't. You can mix and mix different brand 1sts and 2nds as long as the IP can be matched. An obvious choice might be the AL Glacia but I imagine its a pretty penny and in reality not sure how much more "ice" diving suitable it is over a MK17 G250v. I'm sure one of the SP gurus will chime in shortly. I believe people have used Apeks ice diving without issue. They can be bought relatively cheaply from Scubastore.com out of Spain. As far as fitting two Mk19s on the same Y valve I'd be lying if I said knew the answer.

 

[tamas970]

I'm sure one of the SP gurus will chime in shortly. I believe people have used Apeks ice diving without issue. They can be bought relatively cheaply from Scubastore.com out of Spain. As far as fitting two Mk19s on the same Y valve I'd be lying if I said knew the answer.

staying tuned I am more interested on 1st stages - as for second I have a pair of 109's too, which are metal and should be as good as the Glacia.

I am curious if supercooled water (seawater <0°C/31F) makes a big difference compared to "normal" 3-4C/33-35F winter water temp.

 

[oldschoolto]

Conshelf XiV supreme.....

Jim....

 

[tamas970]

Any experience with the Apeks DS4+ATX40 combo? I found a great deal (250EUR) - how would it react if submerged to -2°C water in Greenland?

 

[buddhasummer]

Any experience with the Apeks DS4+ATX40 combo? I found a great deal (250EUR) - how would it react if submerged to -2°C water in Greenland?

I own that combo, althought converted the ATX40 to 50, the lowest I've had it was 8. It's. nice breather.

There might be some useful info in the below thread:

Tech and Ice Diving - Scubapro, Poseidon, Hog, Apeks? [Archive] - ScubaBoard - Scuba Diving Forum - Diving Social Network

 

[grf88]

Any experience with the Apeks DS4+ATX40 combo? I found a great deal (250EUR) - how would it react if submerged to -2°C water in Greenland?

My DS4 ATX50 combo has seen -1C in Newfoundland with no problems

 

[tamas970]

My DS4 ATX50 combo has seen -1C in Newfoundland with no problems

Thanks for the valuable input! I got another offer on a pair of 2nd hand XTX100's (+FST? 1st stages) - probably just as good asthe ATX40/DS4, I'll definitely go Apeks then.I'll use the Scubapro mk19+G250 as breathing, one XTX100 as secondary, the second XTX100 as pony regs.