Sherwood Oasis, SR2 or something else at a similar pricepoint?

[flybigjet]

Greetings, all!

Long story short-- my wife and I are planning a trip to Palau and Truk in January 2017, and I'm well into the planning/prep phase.

I'm going to have to outfit my wife with gear since she's never had (and with the amount of diving we'll be doing, I might as well put the rental costs towards her own kit). Testing various regs is somewhat problematic as we're landlocked in Denver. We are going to go to Roatan in August for a "tune-up" (mostly for her), but that's also going to be a gear run for any new kit we come up with.

I think the easiest thing to do is to give her my old first and second stage-- a Sherwood Oasis that's about 10 years old, but very well maintained and might as well be new (I take very good care of my toys).

This means that I need to get a new first and second stage (I dive more, and I'm paying for it, so why not?). Just because I absolutely loved my old Oasis, I'm kind of inclined to just stay with the new Oasis-- price point is about $400 or so.

Query: Is there any real reason to jump to the SR2? It's a fair bit more coin (about $650 or so, which is honestly just about out of my budget), and I only manage one or two solid dive trips a year (landlocked state, remember). Cost is a definite issue since the vacation, airfare, gear etc. is going to set me back a lot (as in "I could have bought a new car!").

Query next: Any other suggestions around that pricepoint? I'll eventually go take a look at what my LDS has, but I'm about a thousand miles from them at the moment. Mostly warm-water diving 100-120', light zone penetrations, etc and pretty much always Nitrox. Since I only get out a few times a year, bombproof is a good thing-- I don't have the time or inclination to deal with something fininky or with a habit of free-flowing. Since I can't dive all the time, I want gear that works well without having to take it in for adjustment every time I go somewhere.

Honestly? I loooove my old Oasis..... but I'm having trouble passing up the opportunity for a new toy-- one of us is getting a new reg, so why not me?

So. Oasis? SR2? Something completely different?

Tanks to all!

R.

 

[diversteve]

IDK the Sherwood line at all since I've always considered them a mid-range mfr so never factored them into any reg decisions. Also I really like Atomic so my bias is shown here.

Around the $400 price point - I'd look at an Atomic Z2 also. It breathes as good as their $1600 T3 - the difference being the materials used. It also has their seat saver orifice so 2 years/300 dives is the standard service interval.

In the middle at $529 is the Z3 - just a refresh of the Z2 with a 2nd stage swivel. Trust me that you'll like that for jaw comfort.

If you're willing to go $649 for the SR2 maybe go $30 more and buy a Scubapro Mk25/G260 - it's the best Scubapro 1st stage they make paired with one of the best 2nds. They are being phased out in place of their Mk25 EVO line this year. Or a Mk17/G260 for $595 - the best diaphragm 1st stage they sell also.

These prices ^ are all list from Leisurepro.com.

At the $649 range you could also consider an Aqualung Legend Supreme - midrange model in their best line.

hth,

 

[flybigjet]

Thanks-- $400 is where I'd like to be, $500 is probably stretchable, but anything higher and I'm starting to get into somewhere I really don't want to go.

I'll take a look at the Z3-- I like the idea of a swivel (the only complaint I've ever had about my old Oasis), so that might be worth stretching for with an eye on "bang for the buck".

Again, thanks!

R.

 

[flybigjet]

Dumb question: Looking at the Z3, I see there's the regular one and one with a "sealed" first stage (which is, of course, more expensive).

Do I care?

R.

 

[diversteve]

Sealed is better in extreme cold since it's a piston reg - it lowers the safe operating temperature. Cold being defined as around the low to mid 50's or so - most unsealed regs can easily handle low 60's. Probably not much of a concern in Palau...lol. It's also better in high silt conditions. The advantage a diaphragm reg has in both conditions is that all the moving parts are generally behind the diaphragm so they inherently are better in those conditions.

To seal a Z3 they use Christolube in the end cap. It will add something to the price of the service since that stuff isn't cheap. On my first Atomic, it came sealed but I never did it again since all my diving is tropical.

It's a really nice swivel also. I haven't heard of any problems with it unlike some of the others that have come apart. The downside is there would be some other modification needed if you changed to a miflex hose in the future although IDK why you would since comfort is one of the reasons people do switch.

Some of it is marketing hype of course but go to atomicaquatics.com and look at the "Advantage" link to get some idea of the technology behind their products. The founders are ex-Scubapro engineers who had a better idea. They both still run it although the company is now owned by Huish Outdoors - as is Zeagle, Bare and Liquivision.

 

[flybigjet]

Thanks-- I'm in the middle of training for a new jet at the moment, so I'm *trying* to keep scuba research to a minimum distraction-- with limited success!

It looks like the sealed adds $40 to the cost, and would add an additional $40 per service interval.

I definitely don't do cold water diving anymore (growing up near Puget Sound was enough of that), so cold isn't really a factor. The silting protection, however might be a nice thing-- especially as I do like to do the occasional wreck penetration. I've got reasonable fin control-- but things happen. And my dive buddy? Not so much.

So, maybe cheap insurance.

Thanks again-- time to hit the books for the rest of the day!

R.

 

[diversteve]

When I say silting I'm more thinking of regular river diving or inland lakes. And rinsing a reg well after those conditions takes care of that also. I wouldn't do anything different to rinse a reg that was caught once in a silted-out wreck personally.

One last consideration on Atomic gear is that due to the seat-saver orifice, you don't submerge both stages simultaneously when rinsing them as water can flow back thru it into the 1st stage. The few times I've forgot or let someone else rinse my gear I've just hooked it back up to a tank afterwards and cycled it a couple times.

 

[runsongas]

the sr2 has a balanced 2nd compared to the oasis. balanced 2nds are pretty common in most regs these days outside of shop rental fleet.

the HOG regulators are a lot cheaper and perform pretty darn well. only drawback is a smaller dealer network especially overseas. but you can get parts to repair them yourself if you are inclined.

aqualung/apeks or scubapro would have bigger dealer networks if you needed to get your regs serviced or looked at overseas. fishnfins/neco marine are AL dealers and Sams Tours is a SP dealer on palau iirc.

 

[flybigjet]

Thanks to all who've replied. A lot of food for thought, and as much as I've loved my Oasis, maybe it's time to move up a level.

After reading a bit when I should really have been studying, I'm think I'm sort of leaning towards the Atomic Z3. Aaaaand maybe taking a look at the Zeagle Flathead7 or FlatheadLT. I like the looks of the F8, but it might be a bit out of my budget at $600 (although maybe with all of the improvements that have been made with it, it might be worth it?).

It appears that Zeagle and Atomic are more or less in bed with each other. Does anyone have any thoughts regarding Zeagle product line?

My LDS carries both lines, so when I get back, I'll go in and chat. One thought is that the Z3 has the swivel hose, and I don't think the Zeagles do. Of course I could retrofit, but that would blow another $100. So, no.

It will be interesting to hear my LDS's opinion-- since they'll end up servicing whatever I get (I have NO time in my life do tinker myself), what they're comfortable and used to is of some importance moving forward-- especially on the adjustment part.

In other news, Denver is programmed for a bunch of snow this weekend, so I might not make it home, and may have to go from Houston direct to Miami and sit on the beach instead.

Sigh.

R.

 

[Bob DBF]

Take a look at the Sherwood Blizzard, I picked up mine because my old 1980 Magnum treated me right for decades, and I still use it on my pony because of its perfect operation over the decades.


Bob