As a commercial entity Scubapro really has only three reasons to change the internals (not mere cosmetic changes) of a regulator. The first is to improve performance / safety, the second is to make something less expensive to produce or easier to service, the third is to make their product more appealing / competitive. For example, switching from a plastic to a metal air barrel in the S-600 I assume was done to better compete with Apeks that uses a metal air barrel.
Because Scubapro does not always mention why the change was made we are left guessing as to the reason. If the change was made for the first reason, then it is important, especially if safety related, if made for the second reason, it does not matter unless you do home servicing. If made for the third reason, it may be relevant to some.
Besides the cover and the air barrel, what other changes were made to the S-600 over time?
Yep, I understand all what you are saying, and that just serves to make my point, it’s complete nonsense to think you’re making improvements to it by swapping some of those parts, read what has been said and you will realize some people here even advocated a downgrade thinking it is an upgrade
The changes over time? Off the top of my head, between all versions, I think the only parts that hasn’t changed are, main body, orifice, diaphragm(both) and maybe lever(?)
the air barrel WAS metal first then plastic (according to the rep to improve it ) now back to metal because the plastic didn't work it was all about cost
I think you are thinking of the G-250. The original G-250 used a metal barrel. The "improved" G-250 hp used a plastic air barrel (same as the G-500 & S-600). Finally, the G-250 v went back to a metal barrel.
I don't own any S-600, but I do own an an Italian-made G-500. The G-500 was the precursor to the S-600, the only difference was the cover. It has a plastic air barrel.
I believe the official Scubapro reason for the change to plastic was that plastic does not corrode. I agree it was probably a cost issue.
The plastic vs metal barrel is likely what gets most people about this “upgrade” thing.
Just to clarify, G250 and S600 uses different barrels, just pointing that out to avoid making conclusions that one material is used on a S600 because of what is used on a G250, different beasts.
Costs? Sure comes into play, but I’d say marketing is the strongest force driving what comes out on the market, stays, gets discontinued and/or never even comes out. The next evolution in the series is the S620, $$titanium$$ barrel.
Not just corrosion, the striction property of the plastic barrel makes it a superior performer over the polished chrome and certainly better than titanium, at least the engineers feels that way, but what do I know?
Back to marketing, now we have the S560 (plastic barrel) and the S600 (metal barrel), it’s the same reg, besides that difference, the S600 has a metal faceplate and a metal ring around the body, both purely cosmetic, put the two in front of a costumer and explain to them what I have just said in this paragraph, 9 out of 10 will go for the S600, which is obviously more expensive, metal always wins.
I just ordered 2 S560s for my rebreather bailout bottles, I could downgrade them to a S600 by putting a metal barrel in it
