Scubapro MK11 first stage can't deliver

[hg frogman]

As has already been said, the Mk17 is a Mk11 with a dry chamber - so same flow and same overall performance except when you want a dry chamber (cold water, cave diving ...). The dive shop knows this, or ought to know.

Apart from being smaller, lighter and cheaper, the Mk11 has another advantage when compared to the Mk17 : adjusting the IP of a Mk11 from outside is very easy (with only an allen key) while you need to remove the dry chamber (a quite special tool is necessary) to do the same with a Mk17. This can be a strong asset for traveling divers.

BTW the "luxury" titanium reg sold by Scubapro nowadays is a Mk11, not a Mk17.

 

[a-cut-above]

.......not-so-clean water diving......

By "not-so-clean", would that include frequent swimming through clouds of sand/silt kicked up by all the divers off a boat exploring the same ten square feet of reef? Or does this imply prolonged exposure to silt in caves and polluted water? The reason I ask is I am weighing an MK11 vs. an MK17 as a first stage for my son's first regulator. We will be doing recreational/travel diving. The only wrecks and caves will be those at the ususal tourist spots (i.e no tech diving). The "caves" are usually big "dents" and overhangs in reefs. The coldest water is in Monterey Bay; I once hit 47 degrees at about 90 ft. I will spend the extra $ if there is a significant advantage, but will he really need it? Advice appreciated.
Dave

 

[halocline]

By "not-so-clean", would that include frequent swimming through clouds of sand/silt kicked up by all the divers off a boat exploring the same ten square feet of reef? Or does this imply prolonged exposure to silt in caves and polluted water? The reason I ask is I am weighing an MK11 vs. an MK17 as a first stage for my son's first regulator. We will be doing recreational/travel diving. The only wrecks and caves will be those at the ususal tourist spots (i.e no tech diving). The "caves" are usually big "dents" and overhangs in reefs. The coldest water is in Monterey Bay; I once hit 47 degrees at about 90 ft. I will spend the extra $ if there is a significant advantage, but will he really need it? Advice appreciated.
Dave

From what you've said it's not worth going for the sealed reg. The MK11 will work just fine. It's really only in very very cold water (under 40F) where the MK17 would work better than the MK11. The "not-so-clean" environments that would really make any difference in terms of performance or even cleaning the reg are very unlikely to be places you would dive recreationally, unless you like diving in toxic mud puddles.

 

[Hank658]

From what you've said it's not worth going for the sealed reg. The MK11 will work just fine. It's really only in very very cold water (under 40F) where the MK17 would work better than the MK11. The "not-so-clean" environments that would really make any difference in terms of performance or even cleaning the reg are very unlikely to be places you would dive recreationally, unless you like diving in toxic mud puddles.

Thanks Mattboy. Covered all the bases, as per usual. So, to the OP, what he said!!

 

[darkarchangel]

The only thing i would have to say is that i want to do something similar by adding a S600 to my MK17. The S600 cost on my LDS was around 450$ and for 750$ i left the LDS with a brand new MK25 and S600. That second stage is expensive by it self better off getting the combo. Plus it was a nice excuse to get a second regulator set.

 

[halocline]

The only thing i would have to say is that i want to do something similar by adding a S600 to my MK17. The S600 cost on my LDS was around 450$ and for 750$ i left the LDS with a brand new MK25 and S600. That second stage is expensive by it self better off getting the combo. Plus it was a nice excuse to get a second regulator set.

$450 for a plastic 2nd stage, wow.....

Haven't you ever heard of ebay?

 

[DA Aquamaster]

$450 for a plastic 2nd stage, wow.....

Haven't you ever heard of ebay?

Yes, I have to say the price of any second stage exceeds the sum of its parts by a wide margin and that is just not right.

I have noticed with Scubapro pricing in particular, that there is an increasing premium on the price of first stages and second stages as they move up from basic entry level models to higher performance models. And frankly you are paying through the nose to get a Mk 25 S600 compared to buying that same second stage in another combination.

In effect, SP by packaging regs the way they do strongly encourages people to upgrade both first and second stages to get certain features found on a given second stage and under advertises the fact you could put any SP second stage with any SP first stage. You save a few percentage points going with the set packages, but if you are needlessly upgrading something you are still spending excess cash. In this case about $300.