Salvo regs vs others

[headhunter]

As I slowly replace all of my old gear, I'm now getting ready to replace my 20+ year old U.S. Divers yoke 1st stage with a DIN 300 Bar 1st stage

I've already replaced the U.S. Divers Conshelf SE 2nd stage (which cracked) with a couple of ScubaPro 2nd stages. That's worked out nicely. I'm in no hurry, so I'm in the research phase.

I had narrowed my search for a 1st stage to either the ScubaPro Mk25 or the Apeks DS4. I'm leaning toward the environmentally sealed DS4 because I've heard that they perform well in cold water. I'm planning on diving in the Great Lakes in the future, so performance in cold water is important to me. The diving that I do in SoCal usually doesn't get much colder than about 48º F, so I'm not too worried about that. The DS4 also looks like it would take the abuse of SoCal beach diving (which I do a lot of) a bit better and might be easier to clean, but I have no facts to base that opinion on.

I started with all of that to share where I am with my thoughts at this point. I'm open to any discussion of regs of any brand here as long as they fit into the realm of DIR. I'm not entrenched in my position and well reasoned opinions would easily sway me to another position at this point.

I was looking at the Salvo website and got to looking at the Salvo regs.

Are these rebadged regs from another manufacturer? Does anyone have any information about how they stack up to other regs?

I'm wondering about both the 1st and 2nd stages at this point.

I'm only interested in a DIR perspective, which is why I've posted this here.

Please don't bring up the whole Barry Miller/Halcyon debacle. I've already read all about that and don't feel it is germane to a discussion of the quality of Salvo regs.

Thanks in advance for your answers.

Christian

 

[MonkSeal]

Are these rebadged regs from another manufacturer?

Yes, I can't remember which one but I think someone from Taiwan that produces the same stuff for several brands.

Does anyone have any information about how they stack up to other regs?

I've read somewhere that the performance is not so good, I'll try to find review.

As I can see the price is as same as DS4 (even higher), so decision is easy to make.

 

[Fun Diver]

Could be these folks, saw this posted on another thread..
http://www.topscore.com.tw/index.php

I believe Dive Rite is selling the same one..? I use one w/ice kit in 32-50F temps and no complaints - good stage reg but breathes great as primary too, and it was a good price.

 

[amascuba]

I'm interested in this as well. I'm either going to be purchasing MK25's or The salvo regs. The one thing that I like about the salvo regs are that they will ship rebuilt kits for their first and second stages. I had emailed them about a month ago and asked them some questions about their regulators and so far they seem to have very good customer service. I'll probably end up going with the salvo regs, but I'm still trying to make my decision.

 

[limeyx]

As I slowly replace all of my old gear, I'm now getting ready to replace my 20+ year old U.S. Divers yoke 1st stage with a DIN 300 Bar 1st stage

I've already replaced the U.S. Divers Conshelf SE 2nd stage (which cracked) with a couple of ScubaPro 2nd stages. That's worked out nicely. I'm in no hurry, so I'm in the research phase.

I had narrowed my search for a 1st stage to either the ScubaPro Mk25 or the Apeks DS4. I'm leaning toward the environmentally sealed DS4 because I've heard that they perform well in cold water. I'm planning on diving in the Great Lakes in the future, so performance in cold water is important to me. The diving that I do in SoCal usually doesn't get much colder than about 48º F, so I'm not too worried about that. The DS4 also looks like it would take the abuse of SoCal beach diving (which I do a lot of) a bit better and might be easier to clean, but I have no facts to base that opinion on.
..
Christian

I have 5 DS4's with a variety of 2nd stages. Price is decent (I got a good deal from Hollywood Divers, and got some on the diveinn.com). They seem to work well for me, and they are easy to service and you can open the 2nd stage under water if the membrane has folded over or there is crud in it.

I haven't heard anything bad about Salvo, but the DS4 is tried and tested and so it's what I went for.

 

[Jason B]

I have a Salvo on my deco bottle and it breathes great. That said, this a 100% O2 bottle so I have not dove them deeper than 20ft.
The first stage is unbalanced so I would think they would not be that ideal at depth, but at 20ft, easy breezy breathing (I'll stick to the apeks for backgas).

 

[Fun Diver]

currently both the Salvo 1st stages are balanced

I have a Salvo on my deco bottle and it breathes great. That said, this a 100% O2 bottle so I have not dove them deeper than 20ft.
The first stage is unbalanced so I would think they would not be that ideal at depth, but at 20ft, easy breezy breathing (I'll stick to the apeks for backgas).

 

[Corigan]

Scubamax rg1002 and Sea Elite Tek X's are also the same regs from what I can tell. RG1002's. Balanced first and unbalanced second. The RG1002 and Sea Elite require a din converstion though (about $20 extra). It uses the Dive Rite conversion.

Link to the scubamax:

http://www.divesports.com/mall/scubamax_reg_rg1002.asp

Link to the Sea Elite:

http://www.divers-supply.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=16856

If you call up divers-supply they will probably give you a price comparable to the scubamax. I've heard of a few people (including myself) that got the sea elite for the same price as the scubamax. I'm pretty sure you can get both of these with an ice kit as well. I use the sea elite on a 20' o2 bottle and it works fine. Nice easy breather, but what shouldn't breath that well at 20'? I'm not sure how well it would work at depth. I do know that Babyduck on here is using a set of salvo's for her backgas and she takes them deep into caves. If I was looking for backgas regs to use at depth I would stick to the Scubapro or the apeks like you stated in your original posting. I would lean towards the apeks just due to personal preference and since I use one on my backgas and really like the reg.

Matt

 

[Jason B]

currently both the Salvo 1st stages are balanced

Typo...er, brain fart....second stage is unbalanced. My bad.

 

[headhunter]

Hey guys,

Thank you very much for your recommendations and opinions.

The more I think about it, the more I think I'll wind up going with the Apeks DS4 as my 1st stage of choice. Eventually, I'll probably wind up with a bunch of them and a whole bunch of TX50s to match.

Christian