Scubapro Pilot

[DA Aquamaster]

I have always heard great things about the Pilot but I have never managed to find one in excellent condition and in working order. I recently found one in non working but otherwise excellent condition and after a couple months of scrounging have managed to acquire the parts to rebuild it (I had an Pilot to Air 1 conversion kit but did not want to go that router.) I rebuilt it today and discovered the following:

1. It is a superb second stage, without question the best performing second stage I have ever enountered. Ugly looking, but superb performance.

2. It is not all that hard to work on. I rebuilt it with no access to a manual or schematic - it is pretty logical in how it works and while there are several tiny parts, the over all design is a straight forward servo assisted design. Some stages of the build require some creativity to get the parts installed in the right orientation and while it is beyond basic G250 tech stuff, it is not really difficult to rebuild.

3. I had heard they were very difficult to adjust, but they are not. I must be missing something because all it required was adjusting the lever for minimum play then once the diaphragm was installed, adjusting the knob on the exterior of the diaphragm to get minimum inhalation resistance while ensuring the diaphragm still seals when acting as the exhaust valve. All the rest of the internal parts are what they are and with the exception of venturi adjustement, are not adjustable.

4. The quality of the case is excellent and the quality of the machine work on the internal parts (many of which appear to be stainless steel) is exceptional. I don't think we will ever see that level of quality in a production regulator again.

Heres hoping Scubapro will introduce a Vintage Pilot....but I'm not going to hold my breathe because it would cost a fortune to produce and tech training would be an issue as it is very different in design and function.

 

[jiveturkey]

At first I thought you were talking about a BC. Scubapro also has a BC called a "Pilot". Jeez, it wouldn't be that hard to come up with a new name don't you think?

 

[Nemrod]

The shop I once worked for during college was a ScubaPro dealer. I dove the original Pilot often. I liked them very much but being a poor college grad student could not afford one. The Pilot suffered many of the oddities of other "pilot" valve assited regulators such as the Tekna T2100 and Omega. They could be jumpy especially at shallow depths. Thus the Pilot having that sliding switch. The Omega became the Omega II (detuned and a few other things) and the original T2100 became the T2100B and then finally the T2100BX, each becoming detuned but never fully solving the flutter problem. The metal T2100 will, IMO, out perform virtually any regulator at depth but it would flutter and jump above 30 feet. The Pilot was not as fussy and you could use the detune switch to reduce sensitivity.

Your right, the quality level of some of the all metal regulators of the 70s was outstanding, precision castings an machine work, high quality materials---and now nothing but plastic, plastic, plastic. Thank you Johnson Outdoors. N

 

[DA Aquamaster]

I had the same high school and college experience of seeing Pilots and Air 1's but not being able to afford them. A Mk 3 High Performance was a strain on my budget and I think it cost something like $75.00.

I noticed what appears to be a bit of a pickup in air delivery a time or two if you inhaled just right and assumed it was related to the servo mechanism.

+1 on the Tekna regs - that was a great company all the way around.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

At first I thought you were talking about a BC. Scubapro also has a BC called a "Pilot". Jeez, it wouldn't be that hard to come up with a new name don't you think?

Reusing old names seems to be popular now. When I was young, a Honda Oddessy was an adult sized cross between a go-cart and a dune buggy. Now its a mini-van and I will never again say "I owned a Honda Oddessy". There are a couple other examples that escape me at the moment - since I am approaching fossilhood.

 

[Luis H]

I have a scanned copy of the Pilot diagram at home, that I will be glad to email you.

I also need to scan the Air-1 diagram for Awap, so I can send you a copy of that one also if you would like.

If you still have the same email I will be glad to send it to that address (I know that you moved).


I know of a few people that still dive the Pilot, but they are very few. So I don’t think the numbers will ever be there for anyone to make reproduction parts. Probably the only single hose that could ever justify reproduction parts is the 109 (and the Mk-5 for a first stage).

One of the hardest parts I have heard to get is a good diaphragm for the Pilot.

I am glad to hear that you got one working.

When they came out I was only working occasionally with a couple of Scubapro (the one in Puerto Rico that I worked through high school and one in Tennessee where I was going to college). I could have gotten a real good deal on one, but I could not justify the expense. I already had some great regulators.

 

[Fishpie]

The Pilot that you want has a flat top. The ones that are converted to Air 1 have a more conical top.

 

[tfsails]

It's interesting to hear y'all bemoaning the lack of quality in modern regulators compared to those built in the '70s. I'm old enough to have been a young man in the '70s and I distinctly remember people moaning about the lousy quality of stuff built then compared to how it was in the '50s. This was mostly about cars, but the theme's the same. I wasn't a diver then--just a diver wannabe, so didn't hear too much about regulators and scuba-related things.

A neighbor of my parents may have put it best back in 1972--he said things were better-engineered then (compared to the '50s) but not better-built. I suspect the same applies now.

The more things change, the more they stay the same...

 

[24940]

I owned one of the original Pilots. It was left, right or double hosed. A sweet breather, but a beast to tune. I seem to recall three tuning adjustments... Diaphragm, venturi and ....??? As I recall, it contained a lot of parts compared to a 109.

For a time, I had it rigged double hosed for diving doubles.

 

[Nemrod]

It's interesting to hear y'all bemoaning the lack of quality in modern regulators compared to those built in the '70s. I'm old enough to have been a young man in the '70s and I distinctly remember people moaning about the lousy quality of stuff built then compared to how it was in the '50s. This was mostly about cars, but the theme's the same. I wasn't a diver then--just a diver wannabe, so didn't hear too much about regulators and scuba-related things.

A neighbor of my parents may have put it best back in 1972--he said things were better-engineered then (compared to the '50s) but not better-built. I suspect the same applies now.

The more things change, the more they stay the same...

No, there is a lot of technology now but it is not well executed. Plastic and composite is not better but it is cheaper to produce.

No, the regulators from the 50s and 60s and even the 70s were better made and mostly made from metal which is why so many are still in use and survived so long. The plastic regulators of today are not intended to last a lifetime, just until they can convince you that you need to buy another.

The Pilot was an amazing piece of equipment.

N