Scubapro M50...Any good?

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

FZJ80

Registered
Scuba Instructor
Messages
46
Reaction score
0
Location
Provo, Utah
I am curious about this second stage as I have seen a few lately floating around. So far I have been able to find out that it was paired with the MK20 first stage and seems to be a primary and not an octo. It also uses the same parts kit as the G200, which is still supported by Scubapro.

What are any other particulars on this second stage? When was it available? How good is it?

Thanks.
 
The M50, is roughly speaking the graphite/epoxy resin cased equivalent of the old reliable metal cased 109 "Adjustable" second stage and both use the same poppet as does the non adjustable and unbalanced G200.

The adjustable feature of the M50 gives it an edge over the non adjustable G200 in terms of flexibility. The M50 and G200 differ in regards to how the air barrel is constructed and the G200 is much more similar in that regard to the G250. Consequently the G200 can be upgraded to use a balanced poppet, in which case it becomes a G200B, where the M50 cannot be upgraded with a balanced poppet.

The M50 is very similar to the Polar, which is optimized for cold water and is also adjustable. The M50 came in both primary and octo versions with the difference being the color of the purge cover and how they were tuned. The M50, like the original metal cased 109 Adjustable late in its career, was an intermediate level second stage that combined good performance and adjustability with a simple and very reliable unbalanced poppet design.

All of the above mentioned second stages were good designs, but SP moved away from the unbalanced adjustable downstream design for what I suspect were marketing reasons. They changed their marketing strategy for middle level regulators and dropped the unbalanced adjustable second stage option in favor of a smaller version of the unbalanced non adjustable R190 second stage.

I am not sure on the start and end dates but the M50 was produced more or less in the 90's and, compared to other SP second stages, had a relatively short production run. It would have been paired with regs like the Mk 10, Mk 10 Plus, Mk 15 and Mk 20 during its production run. As such it would have represented an intermediate priced regulator with a better than basic first stage paired with upper end first stages like the Mk 15 or Mk 20 or with the on it's way out but still excellent performing Mk 10/Mk 10 Plus design.

They are, relative to other SP second stages, pretty rare and I only see a few per year for service.
 

Back
Top Bottom