sherwood maximus (older)

[dave4868]

Ahh, great news! I'm quite happy with my purchase then. I'm and new diver and I have been scouring craigslist for the last couple of months for cheap scuba gear (poor college student = diver on a budget). I managed to pick up:
-Sherwood Maximus regulators and octopus in immaculate condition (2 service rings left)
-3 pod console, with an Oceanic Datamax Sport Computer, compass, and pressure gauge
-A farmer john style wetsuit, 7mm in excellent condition
-Hoodie, gloves, and booties
-Sherwood Destiny 30 bcd in excellent, functional condition
-2 masks and a snorkel
-Tusa fins
-A dive bag to put everything inside, along with a lobster bag
-various bean bag weights, spare straps, etc
All of this for.... $100. :11: :11: :11:

I wholeheartedly appreciate the help! And don't worry, I'll be sure to get the regulators and bcd checked out and serviced by a certified dealer. Thank you all.

Wow! Just got back from vacation and saw your list above!

I consider myself an excellent bargain hunter, but you've done extremely well with this deal! For that gear, the fair market price around here (Northeast) could easily be $500. Gads, I'm just a piker compared to you!

Herman's right....how do you sleep at night after stealing this gear?

Dave C

 

[Couv]

Congratulations on a good find.

 

[hellojello]

Haha! I couldn't sleep at all. It's my first set of gear, and I was so excited, I had to tell everyone-- including friends who have no association or interests in scuba diving. Anyone else do that when they score a great deal?

 

[herman]

Now you need to find some local buddies and DIVE DIVE DIVE. Putting your location and a little about you in your profile will help. Never know, you may well be close to some of us. Most of us are always happy to have new divers along.

 

[flareless]

My first regs were the Maximus/Magnum setup (slightly different second stage then the one pictured. They performed very well and did a great job for me including five ice dives earlier this year. I was amazed to watch folks with newer, higher end regs fighting with freeflows as I breathed comfortably with my inexpensive, old regs. The only drawback to my setup was the POS octo reg. It was a flat, square Sherwood affair which, at depth, was a pain to breathe off of.

I recently went through a reg shake down (switching to doubles then setting up my single tank reg in a long hose configuration). I purchased an Apeks XTX-200 which came with a first stage (DS4 I believe). I'm using that first stage with an XTX-50 on my long hose and the old Sherwood Magnum on my necklace (the XTX-200 is on my doubles). Why am I telling you all this? Because.....

The day I brought my new configuration home I connected it to my cylinder. I put the XTX-50 in my mouth and drew a breath of air. I was totally floored when the air came easily and almost gently into my lungs. I was used to my old Sherwood setup which would BLAST the air down my windpipe. I thought, wow, this new reg is awesome, I'll bet breathing the Magnum will still be a nightmare. I then tried the Magnum. It too breathed easily and gently. It seemed that my Maximus first stage was the culprit.

So I guess what I'm saying is that you have a great set of regs that will do a good job for you. They work terrific in cold water (one ice dive was 32 degrees F) and can stand the test of time. You will be surprised though when you ultimately upgrade your gear. There are some great new products out there with features I didn't even guess at when I purchased the Sherwood all those years ago.

Finally, a friend of mine just purchased a used Maximus/Magnum setup the other day for $200. He's thrilled with his first set of regs and is confident he got a good product at good value.

 

[CITATION X]

I know this is an old thread but was researching any news on the older model Maximus that's in my closet and came across this thread. For whatever it's worth - PLEASE have the second stage upgraded to the latest diaphragm and get a new HP seat installed in the 1st stage. I owned one of the first Maximus that I bought when I lived in HI about 1989 or 90. While swimming inverted along the roof of a dropoff cave looking for lobster, the roller plate came debonded from the diaphragm, fell off, and jammed in the demand lever. Instant out of air ! I used my octo to get back.
I sent a very nasty letter to Sherwood, and they told the dive shop to give me a new 'un right away. No problems that I can recall with the replacement other than a cheapo ink stamped serial number that's washed away. I used the replacement for years and at least 800 dives, and had it overhauled about 4 yrs ago. After trying many others, I am now wanting to go back to using the Maximus, due to the underarm concept. I could not see the pics posted in the original post, but mine is the old "darth vader" looking second stage. Also, please make sure the one you bought is not on the 2002 CPSC recall list.