Very versatile when equipped with 5th port and best bang for the buck among Apeks regs.
Regulators to consider
- Thread starter scubamedic2012
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scrane
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If you like the mares, send it in, get it serviced and move on. With a lot of the regs you see mentioned, the difference in breathing is so low, it can only be measured on a test bench.
If you are getting into deep or tech diving, then get a new reg. I am partial to the Dive Rite first stages and apex seconds. No, you don't have to get a matching set. If you plan on recreational dives, 100 feet max or so, then the mares is fine.
If you are getting into deep or tech diving, then get a new reg. I am partial to the Dive Rite first stages and apex seconds. No, you don't have to get a matching set. If you plan on recreational dives, 100 feet max or so, then the mares is fine.
He's got a 2S first stage. It's an unbalanced piston like the original Scubapro MK 2. These are great for reliability and cheap maintenance which is why Mares describes it as "ideal for rental in scuba diving centres." But with an unbalanced second as well, there's going to be slight changes in how it breathes as depth changes and it's going to get harder to breathe when the tank pressure gets low. This may have been considered a good thing in the pre-SPG days, but there's no good reason for divers to put up with it today in equipment they own.
johndiver999
Contributor
At what pressure do you feel the performance will be noticeably degraded? I met a guy several years ago who was using the MK2 for spearfishing to depths of 130 ft. Spearfishing can, at times, be very strenuous. So I was a little surprised he was not using a "better" first stage, and asked him if he ever felt any performance issues with the reg at depth. He said no.
So I am curious, what pressure is going to cause a reduction in capacity?? If it is 150 psi at 130 feet, I really have to wonder if that is not a benefit, all things considered?
Eric Sedletzky
Contributor
Well, prior to SPG’s divers needed to pay attention more to depth, time and do gas math BEFORE they ran out. An unbalanced reg set helped I’m sure along with a J valve, but they still knew to be ending their dive about the time their air was running low.
When SPG’s first came out running OOA was supposed to be a thing if the past.
Now everybody has an SPG and they still run out of air!
As I said, changes with depth are going to be slight. It's when the tank pressure drops that unbalanced firsts + seconds underperform. Back when people where diving these things regularly, it was generally said you could start to notice it getting harder to breathe somewhere in the range of 500-800 psi.
There is a reason almost everyone has switched to balanced firsts since they became available.
You can't fix a problem caused by people not paying attention by giving them something else to (not) pay attention to.
Even if you built a device to give them electric shocks when they started to get low on air, they'd just forget to charge it.
It was harder to breathe by that point and in distress or high anxiety situation it meant more stress and more chances for things to go seriously wrong. harder to breathe due to first stage design isn't a feature or a benefit as you are trying to make it appear to be here.
Everybody has an SPG and they "ALL" run out of air????
How can you make such conclusions? Do you have valid statistics about the numbers and the consequential issues resulting from running out of air U/W? Your statement is more a wholesale "emotional" statement not related to reality here. Just like saying people are running out of gas in their vehicles despite having gas gauges implying that gauges are useless.
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