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

[Littlerayray]

I have the sr1 and absolutely love it you may want to look at it since the sr1 and sr2 have almost identical mechanical parts and it's sealed I won't buy a first stage unless it is environmentally sealed it may cost a bit more for service but I like it

 

[Jim Lapenta]

What I like about Sherwood is that they are relatively inexpensive, absolute workhorses, and very easy to service. I have had a few over the years that I bought used, serviced, dived them, then sold them off. One of my Bruts is being used by a guy who cleans pools to supplement his income as teacher. He's been using it for going on five years now. He said once it starts to act up he will either have me throw a kit in it or buy another one.

The SR2 seems to be getting some decent reviews. The original SR1 was a piece of junk. They had so many problems with it and had to redesign and fix things in it that I'd take an old Brut over a new in the box SR1 any day.

The Brut, Blizzard, Magnum, and Oasis are all excellent regs. Now that they are all balanced as well. The Sherwood dry bleed system means that they are all environmentally sealed without spending extra money to get them packed with Christolube.

If you have a tech that knows what they are doing, and tunes the reg properly, the average recreational diver will not be able to tell the difference between it and one costing hundreds more. I don't have any of my Sherwoods left as I have gone all over to HOG.

If I had to start over though and I could not get my HOG regs, I'd look to Sherwood before ScubaPro or Aqualung/Apeks as I don't like their policies and feel they are over priced. Atomics are great regs but too expensive for me as I'd need to buy 6 of them to start with for the diving I do. Zeagle was one I'd consider but since Huish took them over something just doesn't seem right.

 

[flybigjet]

Jim--

Could you elaborate a bit on "something not seeming right"? I've kind of decided that the Atomics are a bit too spendy for my blood. I like the looks of the redesigned Zeagle F8, but same problem as the Atomic (unless it's the best redesign since the invention of fire, I can't justify the cost), and I'm now considering either the ZX Flathead 7 or Flathead LT-- depending on if I need environmentally sealed for warm water diving in the Caribbean and Pacific. As well, the Oasis is still in the back of my mind-- especially as the Oasis and Flathead LT are essentially price-neutral (although the Flathead isn't sealed).

For all of the dives I've had on my old Oasis, it NEVER gave me the tiniest issue-- the thing has been rock-solid. Service it once a year or so, and it just keeps going. The only gripe I ever had (and it was a small one) was the hose tended to pull a bit on the reg when you turned your head. And a swivel kit could solve that pretty easily. I'm impressed enough with it that I'm going to hand it off to my wife with not only no reservation, but regret to pass it on-- it's been *that* good vfor me. Trusting my wife to it is about the highest recommendation that I can give.

Thanks for any insights you might have-- I've done enough research that I'm starting to chase my tail on this, but I keep coming back to those three.

R.

 

[flybigjet]

One other question (yes, I should be studying, but this is way more fun.....):

As I understand it, the Atomic sealed regs (i.e. Z3) require more expensive servicing due to the additional work and christo-lube. The Zeagle (Z8, Flathead) and Sherwood (Oasis) are "dry sealed"-- which would imply not much in the way of additional cost other than the initial purchase (i.e. they're easier to work on, and don't require christo-lube, which I gather is not exactly inexpensive).

Am I incorrect, or missing something here? I've been reading the service/owner's manuals when I could find them online and that's what I've come up with.

If that's the case, I'm kind of thinking dry sealed might be a good fit for me-- a few bucks more upfront, and then pretty much ignore the entire issue and let the service guy do his thing once a year.

Thoughts?

TIA--

R.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Essentially you are correct. As for my not quite right comment it's that I used to love Zeagle and their products. Since being taken over by Huish they have dropped some products and the service doesn't seem to be as good as it was. My opinion.