I love my older SP regs, and I service them myself. No problems. I have two Mk25/S600 regs that I use for my back mounted doubles. One is not under warranty and I service it myself with SP parts I get by hook or by crook. The other is one I bought new and I bring it in to the LDS service dept to keep the warranty current. The one I service is consistently the most trouble free and a great breather. The other is forever being brought back in for tweaks, leaks, or poor second stage performance. (Ok, I'll eventually get tired and adjust the thing myself to end the problem until the next LDS overhaul, but don't tell my LDS that).
I tried once to buy a new second stage (G250V) to attach to an older first stage (Mk10), and that LDS told me they wouldn't sell me any SP second stage individually--it had to be part of a set. The LDS down the road will sell first and second stages individually, but they're the ones I've had the service dept issues with noted above.
The point is, I'm kind of over new SP products, and I've moved on--tired of the quirky warranty/parts for life rules and the exasperating repeat trips back to the LDS to get the work done right. My older Mk5's and Mk10's work great and cost little to overhaul properly. Aftermarket HP seats are available, as are good quality O-rings. Vintage Double Hose has inexpensive aftermarket rebuild kits available. Any new gear I buy will be from a manufacturer of a reg that has parts available to the customer.
I don't have any experience with Atomic servicing or availability of DIY parts, but have seen parts for sale in a couple of places. My friends who dive Atomics are very happy with them, but none of them do DIY maintenance.
Good post.
It sounds like we have similar experiences with a few slight differences.
I have older SP stuff and like it too - service my own stuff, etc.
Why are you worried about the SP FPFL on that one reg?
If the shop isn't tuning it right then you still have to tweak it yourself. The only thing you're saving is the cost of the parts but you're still paying for the labor. Why not just put the labor money towards getting parts since you already are going to have one of the MK25's apart you may as well do both right then.
They wouldn't sell you a plain second stage!! ROFLMAO!!!!
Yeah that's a great way to make money and keep customers! (TIC)
What I glean a little from this thread and from others is that SP is desparately trying to hold on to an antiquated business model with a product that is somewhat mediocre in comparison to all the others out there and they are trying to hold up their prices and reputation almost exclusively on hype. I'm guessing that the MK5/109/156 era was about as good as SP got. Maybe even into the early MK20/G250 era? After that they were pretty much chasing their tails around after the two guys left to start Atomic.
Atomic was started with the idea in mind to produce the absolute best regs possible no matter the cost - there is always a market for very high end stuff. The regs are made exclusively in the US, which is partly responsible for the end cost - labor here is expensive.
There is no FPFL gimmicks, you take it in when it needs it. Parts are not as much as SP parts.
Parts are obtainable easier than SP parts for the DIY, even though their not supposed to be available.
*IF* I was ever to buy another high end piston reg I would choose Atomic.
Yes Atomic is expensive but I think you get what you pay for and you know what and who you are dealing with on the face.
In other words, no hidden surprises, and no day to day policy changes, and a very nice product.
I kind of wished there would have been more about Atomic in this thread, but instead it bacame a SP bash fest - partly my fault. Which is understandable, a lot of people including me had a lot of faith in SP and got turd bombed repeatedly by different entities associated with the brand. It's just the whole political universe surrounding SP and the way they operate that really gets in the way of their product, and it doesn't need to be that way.
Scubapro vs Atomic = Atomic wins
