Regulators Suitable for Technical/Trimix Diving?

[Superlyte27]

I use Oceanic across the board for all my regulators. Granted I'm using top of the line for back gas and bottom for stages and deco, but this isn't about safety, it's about comfort. I use Delta 4's for my Doubles and Alpha 8's for my deco bottles. I use a ScubaPro g250 for my stage bottle. I believe they are all perfectly safe, but the alpha's don't breathe as nice as the G250 or the Delta 4's. Safe, but not necessarily comfortable for the few minutes I'm on a stage bottle. I'm cheap, what can I say. If my stages were going below 140'ish feet, I'd probably upgrade to a better breathing regulator, not safer, but better breathing.

Now, with that said... I did have an Alpha freeze into a solid block of ice this year in January. None of the other regulators did.

I think what your instructor says is perfectly fine, especially for him. It all depends on what your budget and comfort level is going to be. It's rare for an instructor to push you towards a cheaper alternative... at least in my experience.

 

[impulse]

I'd suggest taking your instructor's advice. Do you trust him or not? If not, why would you take a tech course from him???

I ofcourse trust him. In my case trust is not an issue. My skepticism is just about my character. I always ask questions and like tıo learn about different ideas. This is not something bad IMO. I never did a technical dive yet. I will do, still taking classes. So I think it's normal to want to learn about other tech divers' ideas. Why people take these questions of mine strange?

IMO, a technical diver must question, even their instructor's ideas. Their insturctor is an human too and humans make mistakes. Even the finest, the best ever technical diver of the world would do something wrong. If not there would be no technical diver deaths. That's why I want to learn about other ideas and melt all those ideas in one pot and try to understand which is the most correct idea.

 

[impulse]

Because stage regulators don't need the same performance - as they aren't dealing with the demands.

I'm talking about performance, rather than quality.

Ok. So what determines the performance of a regulator?

What is the difference between breathing with an Apeks XTX50 at 100 meters and breathing with Apeks AT20 at 100 meters? Their valves are different? Will AT20 go free flow, break etc or something? What makes the difference if frozening is not an issue ?

 

[impulse]

Sorry to be blunt here.
Looking at your other posts, you seem to - either have a trust issue or - he is not really qualified. I have to agree with DevonDiver's first post. Do you trust him or not. All you have done so far has been to second guess him in most of your posts.

This is normal IMO. I explanined about this in my first answer.

 

[impulse]

I think I will go with Apeks XTX50 as the back gas regulators and AT20 for the stages (for stages I do not think that I need cold sealed regs since I will not be diving in waters colder than 10 celcius degrees).

Apeks tells that XTX50 and XTX200 are tested at 200 meters. But I would tell this differently i I were Apeks. I would tell, those regs are tested under 21 ATA. This makes difference I think...

 

[Superlyte27]

Ok. So what determines the performance of a regulator?

What is the difference between breathing with an Apeks XTX50 at 100 meters and breathing with Apeks AT20 at 100 meters? Their valves are different? Will AT20 go free flow, break etc or something? What makes the difference if frozening is not an issue ?

Breathing one at 100' will be like breathing at 5'
Breathing the other at 100' will be luck sucking a thick milkshake through a thin straw.

This is an extreme example, but you get the point

 

[Fish-R-Man]

I have three Apeks DS4/XTX50's. I like the idea of having all of the regs the same. I pack a rebuild kit for both first and second stages when I travel in case of a problem. Then I have the parts with me if one needs service. I also like the fact that if one is breathing different from the others, I know it right away and I have it checked out.

 

[Superlyte27]

I have three Apeks DS4/XTX50's. I like the idea of having all of the regs the same. I pack a rebuild kit for both first and second stages when I travel in case of a problem. Then I have the parts with me if one needs service. I also like the fact that if one is breathing different from the others, I know it right away and I have it checked out.

That's actually a great idea, but sometimes I dive with 5 tanks underwater. If I had to buy 5 top end regulators even at my cost it would be dreadful.

 

[Aqua-Andy]

High performance regs on a 6m 100% dedicated bottle? Why bother? I have a cheap scuba pro MK2/R295 for that. Every other stage reg of mine was bought used (all SP). For backgas and travel gas I use HOG regs. 200ft thus far and breathing good.

At the price SP charges for the MK2R/295 combo you can purchase a top of the line reg (HOG D1 first and second) for less money. That's what I love about HOG, you can have you're pork and eat it to.

 

[DevonDiver]

Ok. So what determines the performance of a regulator?

It's basically about the capacity of the regulator to deliver sufficient air at a given depth/density. Some regulators struggle to deliver air at depth - requiring more strain to inhale.

Pretty much any regulator should breath well at 6m. Many won't at 60m...