Sherwood SR1? To Buy or Not to Buy

[Shazzman]

after renting equipment from LDS, now ready to plunge and buy equipment. Have about 25 dives under belt.

first stop is regulator and BCD.
Looking hard at Sherwood SR-1 regulator. I have some money to play with, not enough to play with Atomic T2x, but could do Atomic Z2x though. I figure a good quality regulator now will last years. Plus, I am emotional about having a good breathing apparatus.

Dive mostly in Carribb. Not in Lake Ontario, though I could do that one day.

For BCD, looking at Zeagle Ranger, Oceanic Cruz, or other type of backplate-wing type. Would look for good comfort, ease of use, and easy to ditch weights.

 

[scubafanatic]

SR1 has had a lot of problems with the first stage, at least the early models did, goodness knows if Sherwoods has 100% debugged the design by now...Atomic Z2 are a very mature and reliable reg, between the 2 I'd definitely go Atomic, even 'low-end' Atomic.

 

[Rhone Man]

I am a big fan of the SR1, but as scubafanatic says, there are a lot of skeptics on the board stemming from some bugs in the early days.

 

[lsorenson]

I have 2 SR1's (me and the wife) both with over 100 dives and with no problems to report... I had heard of some issues in very cold water but so far no problem down to the low 50's but that is only a few dives...

All in all, I am very pleased with our choice... FYI, I have no experience with the Atomic other than a mask and might I add; of the 3 mask that I own, its my favorite!!!

lee

 

[halocline]

I've worked on one SR1, I wasn't impressed at all. There are lots of other good choices. SP MK17/G250V is s good one, the titan LX would be a good one, any apeks would be good, zeagle makes good regs, etc....

BTW, neither of the BCs you mentioned are backplate/wing designs, it's not entirely clear from your post if you realize that.

 

[Rhone Man]

One other thing. If you want to go with the SR1, keep an eye on Leisurepro. Every so often, for reasons that I cannot figure, they drop the price to about $370 or so. It has happened two or three times now since the model was launched (I keep it on my watchlist).

EDIT: Just noticed that they have such a special on right now: http://www.leisurepro.com/Prod/SWDSR1.html

 

[bwade]

If you decide to dive in any of the Great Lakes, where the water is COLD - from 35F to 40F at depth... AVOID the SR1 completely. It isn't worth the free flow risk. There's much more reliable Regs out there that ARE cold water performers.

 

[halocline]

A friend of mine bought his at a special on Leisurepro. It creeped 5-10 PSI right out of the box and pulled well over 2" of water. This is a high performance reg? To me it looks to be an overly complex, poorly executed design that relies on excessive venturi assist to achieve misleadingly low WOB numbers.

With so many excellent regs out there, it simply makes no sense to buy something like this.

 

[CMAN]

Before you buy an SR1 I would read this thread. http:www.scubaboard.com/forums/sherwood-scuba/346378-sherwood-sr-1-free-flows-cold-water-depth.html

 

[WVMike]

I would stay away from SR1 as well. They did have early problems, and a shop that sells and services them has told me they don't handle high pressure well. So if you are planning on ever going to HP Steel tanks that may be a concern.

My buddy has an early one that did blow, it has been fixed. But, the second stage uses a special fitting, so standard hoses will not work. He had to get Sherwood to make him a 7 foot hose for his. So, if you are thinking are going to a long hose I would look at this issue as well.