Hi DA. Thanks for the comments, as usual.
Yes, my G500 was the original US-made version. That's what I was looking for at the time and that's why I bought it. My heart did pinch a bit as I watched my technician transform it into an S600. But I cannot complain--the S600 (early version, cosmetically) looks beautiful and breathes amazingly well.
In defense of my technician, he did not advise me to upgrade, not at all. In fact, his initial response was, "Why would you want to do that?" I asked him to do it. I am the ignorant idiot. But there was a tiny issue with that G500--something about the cover alignment, perhaps because of the diaphragm, meant that you couldn't quite screw down the cover all the way. One upshot was that a good squeeze or bang on the body could result in the cover popping off. In any case, for better or worse, I now have a new S600 instead of my old G500. And now I also don't have a reg that I would still like to own and that I can now keep a look out for.
As for metal vs plastic barrel: I was a bit torn. My dives are long, sometimes over 2 hours. So dry mouth could be an issue, we'll see. I am used to diving metal barrel regs. But I am now doing over 100 circa 2-hour dives/year here in harsh salt water conditions. While I do indeed soak my regs well after dives, the possibility of corrosion is an issue (it is not unusual around here for frequent divers to find "science experiments" growing in their regs). If the plastic barrel turns out to be an issue, I can have my technician toss in a titanium one in five minutes time.
