I have an outdated reg right now and and I am looking into sherwood and scubapro. I heard that scuba pro reg freeflow frequently in cold water. For the money, the freeflowing is a little discouraging. Does anyone have any input on the sherwood blizzard or magnum. A few dive shops have recomended both of those regs. I do most diving in the cape ann, mass area. water temp is in the 50's in the summer. Any recomendations would be appreciated.
Sherwood regs
- Thread starter jtrain01
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If you're going to get a Sherwood get the maximus. However, don't overlook the Scubapro regs. Some of them are made for cold water too and what you heard about them free flowing all the time might not be accurate.
R..
R..
scubapro50
Contributor
I dive with an "out of date" model every year. I own a SCUBAPRO MK10 for the past 12 years and have kept it in tip/top shape. Just because a model is old doesn't mean it not a good regulator. There are new regulators every year but very few real advances since my MK10 was made (plastic parts instead of metal ... lighter but don't last as long). As far as the Scubapro regs free flowing I haven't had a problem. It really depends on your service tech and how well he serviced it. For years I dove with a Voit regulator that tended to free flow after a couple of dives. I found another person to service it and explained the trouble and he fixed it with no problem. If wasn't for the fact that the old Voit had only one LP and one LP port to run everything I might still be using it. HEY ...... it replaced my doublehose (which I still own).
If your only getting as cold as fifty degree water either reg should be fine. fifty is warm water as far as I'm concerned. When I got my ice diving cert a few years ago there were alot of Sherwoods in the water and none of them had a problem. That was water in the mid thirties. To me, thats cold. I dove a Dacor with thier cold water diving package installed for those dives. It worked well. I dive a Poseidon Xstream now and really like that.
Jim
Jim
The university uses the Sherwood Magnums here in Ohio and we've never had any problems with them and the quarry can be in the low to mid 40's during check-out dives. The only thing I personally didn't like was using one for an OOA exercise for my instructor cert. where I was swimming the length of the pool and doing a single regulator exchange with my buddy. The thing free flowed constantly when it wasn't in your mouth because of the water pressure on the purge valve from the swimming. After 4 minutes of that I had so much water in my stomach I thought I would vomit, nothing we tried during the swim (except for not swimming) would make that thing stop free flowing. That situation however is not normal use and none of our students have ever experienced a free flow with one.
I just switched from a Scubapro MK-10 that never free flowed on me even when one of the o-rings was badly mangled. I had taken it in for its annual and mentioned I was getting just a tiny bit of water when I inhaled and the tech showed me the o-ring when I came to pick it up.
The MK-10 is now the back-up for my new Dive Rite RG2500 ICE :biggrin:
Ber :lilbunny:
I just switched from a Scubapro MK-10 that never free flowed on me even when one of the o-rings was badly mangled. I had taken it in for its annual and mentioned I was getting just a tiny bit of water when I inhaled and the tech showed me the o-ring when I came to pick it up.
The MK-10 is now the back-up for my new Dive Rite RG2500 ICE :biggrin:
Ber :lilbunny:
TechBlack
Guest
I would say stick with the scubapro. If they are properly adjusted and tuned, you won't have a problem. We dive frequently in the St-Lawrence river and Lake Ontario, all year long, under the ice, you name it. I've had mk 25/g250 's and mk 25/x650's in water as low as 32 degrees, even after 40-50 minute dives, the perfomed flawlessly. if your diving in in water warmer than 45 degrees or so, don't worry about it. I can't speak for the sherwoods, I've never used them, but they have a good track record.
I dive in the low 50's in the summer and might be getting into colder water this year. I am going dry and I wanted some cold water opinions. I have a us divers aquarius and I love it. No problems at all. the only reason I am upgrading is 2 years ago I bought the new PST e-series 119cf tanks and I am ready to use the din feature. My reg doesn't have the option to go to din. So I am looking at different replacements to find out the best deal for the money. Ok, so mk 10 and mk 25 are mentioned. Are those the best ones for cold water diving?
scubapro50
Contributor
IF YOU'RE LUCKY ENOUGH to find a used Scubapro MK10 in excellent conditon then it would be the "best buy" for the money ... the trouble is that most MK10 owners don't want to part with their regs and many "Ebay" units weren't taken care of and are in serious need of an overhaul ...jtrain01:
David P
Guest
I have an old Magnum that works fine but I had to have the second stage detuned a bit as it really like to free flow as Ber Rabbit said(now used for octo/spare). I also have (and use) a scubapro 25/600. I like the scubapro better than the sherwood however when I got my new tank I just had to try it all out in my pool. About 45 minutes later just kinda floating in 52 degree water I was getting cold and bored. I was just kinda curious how much more air flows through the SP than the Sherwood. So I pressed the purge on the sherwood and watched the air blow out for a second. Then I did the same on the scuba pro and couldnt believe how much more air came billowing out. and out, and out, and out some more. The first stage froze up on me after only a couple seconds of free flow. I quickly got up out of the deepend and took off my BC. The first stage was a solid piece of ice! So I guess Id say either get the cold water kit for the SP or dont do a 45 minute dive @ 52F then hit the purge for a few seconds and you will be fine!
scubapro50:
Well said! I bought mine used at a scuba flea market 11 years ago out of a dive shop rental string and even though it's been recently shifted to back-up duties it's staying with me
Jtrain01:
The Dive Rite I just bought comes as either the RG2500 or RG2500 ICE and is both DIN and yoke, the din/yoke converter comes with it. It uses Viton o-rings (with O2 compatible lubricant) and only needs to be serviced once every 2 years or 100 dives. I got it with the compact gauges even though they are more expensive, I was tired of the big clunky console option. That little gauge console is SWEET! I can't wait to get the rig out and dive it in a couple of weeks!
Ber :lilbunny:
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