Sherwood Brute

[DPJ]

I just got back from a trip to Costa Rica. I had a chance for a quick boat trip. Since it was only two dives in a week long vacation, I decided to rent gear. After this trip, my gear is going with me for every dive.

I could not believe how hard it was to breath after 50 feet. It felt like it was a struggle to breath. I definitely would not recomend the regulator to anyone diving below 45'. :11:

 

[JeffG]

I just got back from a trip to Costa Rica. I had a chance for a quick boat trip. Since it was only two dives in a week long vacation, I decided to rent gear. After this trip, my gear is going with me for every dive.

I could not believe how hard it was to breath after 50 feet. It felt like it was a struggle to breath. I definitely would not recomend the regulator to anyone diving below 45'. :11:

Get it serviced. I have one and yes Sherwoods are not known to be easy breathers..but I have never had a problem. (And its been down to 100ft a few times)

 

[rescuediver009]

The Sherwood Brut is designed as a training reg. It is meant to be used in pools and openwater shallow dives. The difference in the first stage is something called the moving orifice. It moves up and down when you breath either way. It is present in all models except the Brut. Thus it breathes like crap after a certain depth. Don't be scarred for life on the Sherwoods. They are decent.

 

[opiniongirl]

Ahhh...rentals. Hard to go back, after one has sampled the sweet succulence of one's own equipment.

More likely than not, you could probably have been issued any one of the store's regs and it would have been the same - rental regs need to be tuned and serviced more often due to use. Hope you mentioned this to the store, so no one else has the same experience!

 

[DPJ]

I actually own a Sherwood Maximus that I purchased back in 1993. It is still going strong. I think I used a Brut in a pool some where along the way and remembered it was not an easy breather.

I love my Maximus and will ensure that it is in my bag, if I even think that I might be diving.

 

[jonnythan]

I've had a Brut down to 85 feet and while it didn't breathe like silk, it certainly wasn't hard. Something was up with that reg.

 

[meisburger]

I just got back from a trip to Costa Rica. I had a chance for a quick boat trip. Since it was only two dives in a week long vacation, I decided to rent gear. After this trip, my gear is going with me for every dive.

I could not believe how hard it was to breath after 50 feet. It felt like it was a struggle to breath. I definitely would not recomend the regulator to anyone diving below 45'. :11:

I have an old Brut (early 90s?) I bought used on E-Bay several years ago, and a relatively new Delta III, and recently the Delta has begun to breathe like crap. The alternate also breathes poorly, so I reckon it must be a problem in the first stage, but the repair options here are limited. The Brut, on the other hand, looks old and beat up, but breathes fine to forty meters. Its a good, tough regulator (thats why its used as a rental). I guess your rental just needs service.

 

[matt_unique]

I just got back from a trip to Costa Rica. I had a chance for a quick boat trip. Since it was only two dives in a week long vacation, I decided to rent gear. After this trip, my gear is going with me for every dive.

I could not believe how hard it was to breath after 50 feet. It felt like it was a struggle to breath. I definitely would not recomend the regulator to anyone diving below 45'. :11:

Hard to breath is a relative thing. I use an annually serviced/tuned Brut on my stage bottles. I have not breathed this reg deeper than 80' as of yet but it worked fine at that depth.

--Matt

 

[Mako Mark]

The Brut is a great reg. part of the reason it is used for rental is that you can treat them like cr*p and they just keep going and going. DPJ, did you check the scintered filter on the first stage after the dive? If you did, I would take a pretty good guess that it was almost completely blocked with corrosion and was all green which shows a lack of maintainance.

BTW, I swiched to Sherwoods for cave diving as most of the caves here are shallow. Brut 2nd stages on Magnum 1st stages. I switched for the simplicity and reliability. They breathe better than my USD micra and my set of Scubapro cave regs too.

 

[DennisW]

Properly adjusted the Brut will breathe just as easy as any other regulator. I know, my wife has one and it breathes very nicely. I serviced it myself. It is a good regulator.