set me straight on regulators please!

[Guy Carrier]

CoralCrazed,

Try looking on Scubatoys and you will find several nice packages at $300 OR LESS that include first and second stages, octo and gauges. Remember to mention you are a Scubaboard member and get another 10% off.

http://www.scubatoys.com/store/Scuba_Package_Reg.asp

And now be prepared to hear form all the people who won't buy life support equipment on line.

Good luck,

Guy

 

[fweber]

I suggest you wait until you have decided that diving is sufficient interest to invest around $600 on your reg. That much can get you an Apeks DS4 with xtx50 primary, xtx40 backup, simple spg, and hoses. Or the equivilent. Obviously you haven't been diving for long, so it's going to take you a while to figure out what you need and what you don't. One of the more helpful things to have, is an LDS that you've learned to trust ,who is helpful to you and have good techs. Once you've found that, I would work within the brands they have to find the one you need.

My suggestion, determine what you need and let that determine your budget.

Oh, and use the search function here on scubaboard. A lot of these vague basic questions get rehashed frequently. Once you've invested some of your time by doing some reading and research, and return with specific questions, people will be more apt to invest their time in responding. And, you'll hear a lot of recommendations for Apeks, Scubapro, Atomic, Aqualung, but most of those will exceed your $300 current budget.

 

[Cummje]

Already been said, but I'll say it again...If you dive once a year, just rent stuff. No point in dropping a bunch of money to just let stuff sit. I don't have that many dives under my belt and I'm already thinking about the things I should have bought.

 

[DivingPrincessE]

Just my $.02...you mentioned not wanting to rely on "used and abused" rental gear...but trying to get an entire reg setup on the cheap may be worse. Your reg is arguably your most important piece of gear...if it fails at 80 feet below, you are going to be in a world of hurt if you don't remain calm. I say just suck it up and spend some more $$ or just rent for a while. Use SB to find out which shops are reputable wherever you are going (that service their gear regularly) and just rent from them.

Bottom line, if you want a entire reg setup for $300, you can probably find it somewhere...but you get what you pay for.

 

[Tassie_Rohan]

Coral - mate: there aren’t any bad regs out there.

For a few tropic trips, and recreational depths, any reg will do. A plastic second stage and 4 ports on your first stage (3 LP: primary and secondary regs, BC inflator and 1 HP: SPG) will be the minimum. Do get an analog SPG: computers have a habit of dying, but an analog pressure gauge is not important.

Going for one of the main brands (scubaflow, mares, apeks, oceanic) will mean more shops will have people who can service it for you. Poseidon is a good reg but finding someone to service them can be tricky.

Either that: or just rent until you start diving regularly and gain knowledge of the issues involved.

If diving water below 40F then its time to get fussy about your reg, how its designed and what its made of (diaphragm 1st stage and all metal design help stop icing). In such conditions you will also need an extra port for your drysuit inflator. But I doubt you will need to worry about that.

There are plenty of resources in the forum that you should read. The four posts listed at the bottom of this page are 4 of the 5431 posts concerning regulators. Many of these ask ‘what is the best’ or ‘what should i get’.

Cheers,
Rohan.

 

[David P]

$300 for a complete reg set is cheap!

What happens if your rental bc has an air2 on it? then you have to switch out hoses

You only dive once a year, you should have your reg serviced once a year, going price is ~$30 a stage plus parts so your looking at $100 a year to use your own reg...

just a couple things to consider

 

[scubatoys]

$300 for a complete reg set is cheap!

What happens if your rental bc has an air2 on it? then you have to switch out hoses

You only dive once a year, you should have your reg serviced once a year, going price is ~$30 a stage plus parts so your looking at $100 a year to use your own reg...

just a couple things to consider

Actually a bit closer to half that... we do a service for the entire reg setup with 1st, 2nd, octo for $49 and parts are free for life if they got it from us.

And really, a package like this: http://www.scubatoys.com/store/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=PackageTusaReg with a full lifetime warranty from Tusa would probably out perform 9 out of 10 rental regs you'll run into when you travel. If you are not going to be doing 150' dives - you really don't need anything more for a very durable and dependable setup that will serve you well.

Of course, we could drop the price as you want to take off some of the gauges and go with a wrist computer instead (me I prefer the computer on the console.. but that is a personal preference).

If getting too confused and you want to talk to someone, feel free to call!

 

[Thalassamania]

As far as titanium is concerned, I believe that there are only a few on the market at the moment, the Atomic T2 ($1299.00, there's one on eBay at the moment for $810.00); the ScubaPro "T" models (from $900 to $1,200) and the Cressi-Sub Ellipse Titanium Regulator ($378.00 ).

If my regulator budget was $300, I'd get a Mares Proton MR-12 or an AquaLung Titan LX Supreme Regulator from Leisure Pro. If your real hot for Titanium (and I think this one's just coated) LP has the Cressi for $279.00.

ScubaToys deal: Mares R2 Rebel Package is incredable.

 

[scubatoys]

If your real hot for Titanium (and I think this one's just coated) LP has the Cressi for $279.00.

ScubaToys deal: Mares R2 Rebel Package is incredable.

Actually the only thing that is titanium in the cressi reg is one little lever in the second stage. Just sorta' a marketing ploy to use the word titanium on a standard reg...

If you did have your heart set on a titanuim reg, the Oceanic is actually an entirely titanium 1st stage http://www.scubatoys.com/store/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=Delta3 and it's in a $360 price range. But I didn't mention it before as it's above your budget. You would than have another 75 or so in an octo and another 75 in a gauge. That would get you up into the 500 range for a true titanium reg setup.

 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

CoralCrazed,

May I respectfully suggest you go out a buy a book or 2 on Scuba and have some long chats with your instructor and/or LDS on grear, read old SB threads, etc. There are many options out there to learn the basics that are better suited to gaining knowlege than starting new threads. There are lots of very experienced people on the board willing to answer specific questions and give advice. However, this is not a replacement for the basic knowledge you need since you will get many answers to the same question. Many may be correct, but for different divers and different needs that may or may not apply to you. Get the basics first, then ask the specifics when you need assistance.