garyd54220
Contributor
Man, I actually feel bad for the Sherwood rep here for the pounding he is taking!
I think Sherwood makes, and has always made, excellent regulators. I have dove them and continue to dive them. I think the old Sherwood Ultima which consisted of an Oasis first stage and a Poseidon Odin second stage was fantastic and I still use one. But I really feel the need to comment.
The one historical rap on Sherwood -whether deserved or not- was always that they were "hard breathers" and compared to other brands (ScubaPro in particular from the reputation and marketing perspective) they were a bit harder breathers but the engineering that made them a bit harder to crack was part of what made them so good in cold water. The SR-1 is a fine regulator but it's engineeering has some clear similarities to some of the ScubaPro models and therefore it has some of the same limitations in cold water. I would refer to my first post in this thread (whenever it was).
Where I think Sherwood has erred with this regulator is in not admitting -originally or currently- that the SR-1 is a great performer within the limits of its design. It is not a cold water reg...period. In order to make it perform reliably in cold water it needs to be de-tuned to the point where it's right back in the "hard breather" category. Then people get pissed off for spending a premium price for a reg that performs like the lower cost model ie. Maximus, Blizzard or even Magnum, that they should have bought in the first place because those regs are great in cold water.
IMHO the two issues here are:
1) Sherwood needed/needs to be more forthcoming regarding this regulator in that while it is an excellent performer, it has certain environmental limitations (cold water)
2) People need to research their purchases better and buy a product that is engineered and built for the environment in which they plan to use it.
BUT in this instance, they might be excused somewhat for their purchase of the SR-1 because they were not adequately warned by the manufacturer of this design's environmental limitations.
More than 'nuff said!!
Gary
I think Sherwood makes, and has always made, excellent regulators. I have dove them and continue to dive them. I think the old Sherwood Ultima which consisted of an Oasis first stage and a Poseidon Odin second stage was fantastic and I still use one. But I really feel the need to comment.
The one historical rap on Sherwood -whether deserved or not- was always that they were "hard breathers" and compared to other brands (ScubaPro in particular from the reputation and marketing perspective) they were a bit harder breathers but the engineering that made them a bit harder to crack was part of what made them so good in cold water. The SR-1 is a fine regulator but it's engineeering has some clear similarities to some of the ScubaPro models and therefore it has some of the same limitations in cold water. I would refer to my first post in this thread (whenever it was).
Where I think Sherwood has erred with this regulator is in not admitting -originally or currently- that the SR-1 is a great performer within the limits of its design. It is not a cold water reg...period. In order to make it perform reliably in cold water it needs to be de-tuned to the point where it's right back in the "hard breather" category. Then people get pissed off for spending a premium price for a reg that performs like the lower cost model ie. Maximus, Blizzard or even Magnum, that they should have bought in the first place because those regs are great in cold water.
IMHO the two issues here are:
1) Sherwood needed/needs to be more forthcoming regarding this regulator in that while it is an excellent performer, it has certain environmental limitations (cold water)
2) People need to research their purchases better and buy a product that is engineered and built for the environment in which they plan to use it.
BUT in this instance, they might be excused somewhat for their purchase of the SR-1 because they were not adequately warned by the manufacturer of this design's environmental limitations.
More than 'nuff said!!
Gary