I don't know if Rodale's test is biased or not but I personaly think they are worthy enough as a reference, if you need any. I think it is safe enough to use their review as a basis to buy bang-for-the buck regs or choose top regs.
Where else can you get someone to test so many regulators at one go. As for the IN-WATER evaluation, some testing results might not seems accurate to us the users/owners because probably preference might differ between individuals. For example comfort. Some people like the US Diver type of Comfo mouth piece, that unique design. Me, I throw that away on my Micra 2nd stage and I use Scubapro red one. Some people like that 'Comfo" mouth piece..... and etc etc. For me smallest & lightest 2nd stage is priority, again it differ from people to people.
As for Breathing Simulator Test, I have faith in Rodale. This kind of test is not 0-60 MPH acceleration test of Car & Driver that we can prove easily if we own the cars. How many of us can have access to a breathing simulator ? I have faith in Rodale because it seems that a few units I have tried seems to get "suitable" result as per their test chart.
Also to note that if you pick, say top 7 regs in breathing test and put it in ur mouth to test but the dives are 7 different dives, I don't think u can tell the difference. All the regs with scores of 19 and 20 can be considered ultra high performance reg and is so easy to breath at designed depth. If I blind fold a guy and ask him to breath these regs at depth , one by one a minute each, I am sure he can't tell which is which even if he own one with a 20 score. At the current stage of reg technology, even if Rodale test is "suspicious" as what a few may think, I personaly think it is safe to say they are worth as a reference. I am sure even if someone mentioned Rodale as being biased, Rodale will not rate Bronze as Gold or vice versa. 99.95% gold is 99.99%...maybe.
I recalled when I first bought my very own reg long time ago. Dacor Extreme was Dacor's best. US Diver best was the Micra. Scubapro best was D400. Other brands not available in my country. I got all except Dacor. The Dacor ad was so convincing, I finaly bought the Extreme. I used it and at 70 feet and deeper the truth revealed itselft...it is a piece of regret if compared to the other two. The 2nd stage construction was another disaster. Anyway, later I read the Rodale reg test and there it was Extreme on the lousy scale, Rodale could not be more honest than that. YEP, it was a long time ago, things may change
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Well it might be just me....
