Scubapro vs Atomic

[Eric Sedletzky]

As far as high performance piston regulators go, what are the pluses and minuses in all aspects between Scubapro regs and Atomic regs?
I wondering about build quality, innovation, servicability, availability of parts for the DIY, pricing, political issues as far as business model of the two companies.

I know that Atomic was started by the two lead designers of Scubapro that left to start Atomic.
What was the primer for their leaving?
What new innovations did they do to make Atomic better? or is Atomic just a continuation of SP with not much change to the basic workings of the regulators.

I know that I can get parts for Atomics readily and cheaper than SP. SP parts are expensive and not available unless you run accross kits on ebay or sourced parts for their older regs.
I've had several issues with SP as far as their warranty policies and getting jerked around by them, so I'm not a fan of their business model but I do like their regs, especially the older ones.

I have never owned an Atomic reg nor do I know anything about them other than what I've read, and I've never heard anything negative about them other than the price. So then I'm wondering if Atomics are a good example of you get what you pay for.

 

[kelemvor]

I don't know about Atomic, but scubapro has some bizarre pricing and parts policies. Specifically they mandate what their resellers can sell new sp products for. Worse, they will not let you buy parts unless you're an authorized service center. Another problem is that in order for that lifetime warranty to be honored you have to get your reg serviced by an authorized repair center at least annually. Otherwise, bye bye warranty. If you're thinking of DIY service and buy a SP, know you are buying a reg with basically no warranty.

Having said that, I love my scubapro reg. It works great and hasn't killed me yet, and the only problem I've had with it was caused by a tech that didn't know what he was doing at an authorized repair center (another repair center fixed his bungle under warranty). Yep, just because a shop is an authorized repair center doesn't mean the techs they hire actually know what they are doing.

If you're not doing your own repairs, I understand scubapro has the largest network of authorized repair centers in gear. You'll probably have a better chance of finding a shop that can do the repairs for you while on a trip somewhere with sp.

I'm sure authorized dealers/service centers will speak otherwise, but that's how I see things as a SP customer.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I've been a Scubapro customer for a long time myself and can attest to the their often bizzaar policies.
I broke a cover on my G200B and needed a new one. So I went to my authorized LDS and they didn't have one. So they contacted SP and Sp said that they no longer made them and didn't have any in stock. The fix was a $350 dollar upgrade but since I missed one service interval I didn't qualify (for a warranty replacement? - still confused) so I would have needed to foot the bill on my own. I'm still trying to figure out what missing a service interval and a broken cover have in common.
Additionally, the LDS charged me a fee for calling SP and trying to deal with this dilemma (I thought this was supposed to be their job?). I walked out with less money in my pocket and still no cover.
I didn't care about warrantees and eligability, I just wanted a new cover and was willing to pay for one. I didn't want a whole new second stage.
The next day I got on Scubaboard and a few other boards and within a few minutes had two of them being mailed by fellow DIY'ers and they refused to even take any money. The trade was that I do the same for someone else some day. So I have stuff to help people out in my bank of DIY goodies.

I'm wondering if Atomic plays these games, or are they more straight up?

 

[ams511]

I don't believe Scubapro's policies are any different than the policies of any of the other major manufacturers. Hog, Dive Rite, and Zeagle do sell parts to end users but larger companies like Aqualung, Sherwood, Oceanic and Atomic don't. I am not sure what Eric's source is for Atomic parts but they are probably violating their dealer agreement by selling them. The scuba business model is dead, but the old school players have it on life support.

---------- Post added October 10th, 2013 at 10:30 AM ----------

I broke a cover on my G220B and needed a new one. So I went to my authorized LDS and they didn't have one. So they contacted SP and Sp said that they no longer made them and didn't have any in stock. The fix was a $350 dollar upgrade but since I missed one service interval I didn't qualify (for a warranty replacement? - still confused) so I would have needed to foot the bill on my own. I'm still trying to figure out what missing a service interval and a broken cover have in common.

I am not confused. The real purpose of a warranty is to sell regulators not to service them. The real strange part is that a G250 cover should fit a G200. I believe the cases are the same for these two models. So the dive store should have just used that and reused the purge button from your own reg.

 

[beaverdivers]

I don't believe Scubapro's policies are any different than the policies of any of the other major manufacturers.

Correct!

 

[elan]

at least annually. Otherwise, bye bye warranty. .

bi-anually just like atomic I believe.

---------- Post added October 10th, 2013 at 02:47 PM ----------

Eric what type of reg are you looking for? piston/diaphragm ? Atomic does not make diaphragm regs

---------- Post added October 10th, 2013 at 02:50 PM ----------

I've been a Scubapro customer for a long time myself and can attest to the their often bizzaar policies.
I broke a cover on my G220B and needed a new one. So I went to my authorized LDS and they didn't have one. So they contacted SP and Sp said that they no longer made them and didn't have any in stock. The fix was a $350 dollar upgrade but since I missed one service interval I didn't qualify (for a warranty replacement? - still confused) so I would have needed to foot the bill on my own. I'm still trying to figure out what missing a service interval and a broken cover have in common.
Additionally, the LDS charged me a fee for calling SP and trying to deal with this dilemma (I thought this was supposed to be their job?). I walked out with less money in my pocket and still no cover.

How is this related to SP policies ? That sounds more like LDS practice.

 

[beaverdivers]

I believe many people confuse warranty w/ free parts for life.

Warranty covers manufacture's defects. Free parts for life is a policy that gives the owner free annual parts.

Scubapro has both. Atomic has never offered a free parts for life program as far as I know. They do have a warranty.

 

[ams511]

I believe many people confuse warranty w/ free parts for life.

Warranty covers manufacture's defects. Free parts for life is a policy that gives the owner free annual parts.

Scubapro has both. Atomic has never offered a free parts for life program as far as I know. They do have a warranty.

Beav, you need to start selling parts and kits at a reasonable price.

 

[Wookie]

To answer your questions, the designers and founders at Atomic wanted to make a titanium Mk 20. The folks at Johnson said no. The founders of Atomic said "You're not the boss of me" and thus, Atomic was born. The advantages, to my way of thinking, are that the annual service kits for all of Atomic regulators are the same. The different Atomics are the same except for the materials of construction.

Had there been a titanium Mk 20, I'd have bought one. I guess in the end, I did. I have 16 titaniums, and a number of Monel and brass.

 

[beaverdivers]

Beav, you need to start selling parts and kits at a reasonable price.

We already do. Scubapro parts cost less than Atomic or about the same. ( Much less if you get them for Free! )