Scubapro S600 buying advice

[DA Aquamaster]

My current and preferred technical diving regs are a pair of Mk 17's with 1990's vintage G250 second stages. So my personal advice would be to go with a new Mk 17 first stage.

On the other hand, there are a lot of used Mk 10s floating around and buying another one (or a Mk 15 or Mk 20) in very good condition is not all that hard.

I don't neccesarily disagree with the conspiracy theory that your Mk 10 is not all that hard to fix but the shop won't because they want to sell you a new reg. Some SP sales reps and the whole sales structure itself tends to pressure dealers into selling new regs rather than servicing old ones. If you are the orginal owner and it is under warranty, see what they will do about warranty replacement of the Mk 10.

 

[ocpaul]

Sure, buy a whole new set up and I'll be happy to take those G250s off your hands. I wonder what's really wrong with the MK10? What did they say at the LDS? Wait, don't tell me...something about your life being worth a new titanium MK25.

Not really - the guy is a straight shooter. Need to replace piston, springs, etc. etc. and do a lot of cleaning. He might have said something about a housing too - not sure I understood that.

Just to be clear, I have been happy with the MK10s and one feature they have that I like is the swivel LPs.

 

[ocpaul]

My current and preferred technical diving regs are a pair of Mk 17's with 1990's vintage G250 second stages. So my personal advice would be to go with a new Mk 17 first stage.

On the other hand, there are a lot of used Mk 10s floating around and buying another one (or a Mk 15 or Mk 20) in very good condition is not all that hard.

I don't neccesarily disagree with the conspiracy theory that your Mk 10 is not all that hard to fix but the shop won't because they want to sell you a new reg. Some SP sales reps and the whole sales structure itself tends to pressure dealers into selling new regs rather than servicing old ones. If you are the orginal owner and it is under warranty, see what they will do about warranty replacement of the Mk 10.

Thanks for the inputs. I doubt that I can claim warranty, since I have not been anywhere near annual maintenance. I took about 6 years off from diving and nothing was maintained during that time.

I think I will further explore repair of the MK10, but won't beat myself up too much if the MK17 tempts me.

 

[ferretchen]

Get an Mares abyss and then all your worries will end.

That sounds rather ominous... are you trying to promote it, or scare us away from it?

 

[I_R_DIVER]

Ja that didn't come out right at all, what I meant was you cant go wrong with the Abyss. The design is brilliant, minimal o rings, designs had stood its ground for years, has been to 313 meters with Mark Ellyat and there is no adjustment needed ever, it breathes like silk on Angelina Jolie bronzed body.sorry what are we talking about. UMM yea its possibly the best buy out there

 

[squidster]

Thanks to this post I now understand why the DIR crowd are happier to flood a piston regulator than a diaphram reg: many of the parts are exposed to water anyway. I didn't know that.
BTW I have no idea what MattBoy is talking about

Glad to help

 

[Tarmin]

Get an Mares abyss and then all your worries will end.

I have mine for 17 years now, 500+ on it from the PNW to the Maritime including fresh and salt ice diving and never had a single glitch ! MR22 + Abyss is a winner for me
Ps, I also have a MK17 + MK25 with S600 on my twins that works very good as well