Singpore in March

[Doraemon]

Hi SaltyWhale,

If you do visit Lucky Plaza's three dive shops, make sure you compare the prices among them - you'd be surprised 'cuz prices differ by quite a fair bit.

If you are looking for more specific brands, there are two shops in Concourse Shopping Mall (located at Beach Road). Oceanic carries ikelite, Oceanic, BARE, etc kind of stuff. If you are a Scubapro fan, do drop by Richmond Supplies (located on the same floor as Oceanic). I think both shops are closed on Sundays.

DiveMasters Pratama is what Asiandivergal and tribalshark is referring to. As it may not be easily located, I'll give you the full address: 315 Outram Road, #09-07 Tan Boon Liat Building. They are the distributor for ikelite, AquaLung, Apeks, ForceFin, NiteRider, etc.

Ahem, must put disclaimer here too: I'm only a customer in these shops.... Bear in mind that distributors usually need to give their resellers some margin....so unless that item can only be purchased in the distributors, you may get better bargains if you source from resellers.

If you're looking for Halcyon products, there's a fair (with good discounts and tryouts) on March 9. You can try the BCs in the pool before buying them!! Cool, huh?

Cheers!

 

[Kira Kujira]

Hello, all....... I'm new here... And it's good to know some divers from local and overseas.....

I'm looking for any recommendation for regulator as I'm thinking of changing my own. Getting too dry everytime I used it....

I'm currently using a US divers Micro... The very old type. And am thinking of changing to scubapro MK25 with G550 or G600 second stage......

Anyone out there using this can give me your views.... Or recommend me other type......

Btw, anyone know where I can get a cheap spare air......

Darren

 

[Doraemon]

Welcome Darren,

I'ven't used Scubapro's regs so no comments. I've tried a poseidon's reg - due to it's design, there would be very small amount of water that gets into your mouth ....well, if you don't mind having water in your mouth.....of course, its only a little bit of water, sufficient enough to keep your mouth a bit wet throughout the dive, but not enough to choke you. You can always purge it out if it's too much for you. There are some regs in the market that apparently, has some form of mechanism that keeps your throat misty....don't know if it's true though.

As for spare air, have you considered a slightly bigger tank - it's called....aiya, the name juz slipped my mind......it's smaller than the regular 80cu feet tank and it's mainly used for deco purposes.

Cheers!

 

[Kira Kujira]

I think it's call a pony........ And yes, I've heard of reg that wouldn't make your mouth dry. Am looking for something like that.... Any resomendation.....

 

[SaltyWhale]

Thanks Doraemon,
It's quite a descriptive post you gave. Anyway, will check out these places.


Kira Kujira, The MK25/G600 combination wouldn't go wrong. However, to avoid dry air, I would suggest you to get Sherwood's "The New Oasis". I personally have no complains of it. Most my students who bought it, swears by it of being more comfortable than other regs in terms of dryness. Mechanism of it; the 2nd stage is equipped with 2 pieces of brass plate, every breath you exhale, the warmth air from your breath will create a condensation on the plate. Then every breath inhaled the dry air will absorb the moist from the brass plate which makes the air moist.

Appolo has a set which you could add water to a particular part connecting to the 1st stage. Then every breath taken, moist would be absorbed by the dry air. However, I am not too sure if the moist is any good for the LP hose.

Cheers...!

 

[SaltyWhale]

Does anyone know what's the regulation for Spare Air's Visual Inspection and Hydrostatic Test in Singapore..? Or Tanks for the matter.

Cheers...!

 

[Kira Kujira]

Thanks Salty Whale.

That is my same concern when I saw the Appolo set. I was thinking that by adding that part, wouldn't I be adding another item that will fail or might fail underwater??????

 

[savant]

Kira Kujira
The reg you want depends on what features you like and of course how much you can afford. I mean when I shop for my gear, I am usually tight budget and so need to compare prices a lot (yeah, lucky plaza is good to get a rough gauge of the prices). But if you can consider the MK25 with the S600, then I guess $$$ is not your problem. As what Richtmond shop will say, go for Scubapro becoz 'when you are down there, you want the best'. Sorry, but I do have a much tighter budget then that. Personally, just acquired a TUSA RS 230, balanced diagphram and all with the Duo air for my BCD. FOr the Class A regs, I would go for the APeks TX50 or the BEuchat VX10 Evo. I know the apeks at Friendly Waters is selling at quite a good price. As for the Beuchat, Lucky Plaza area is selling for about $470. But you may have to worry about spare parts though as Beuchat is really not popular here. The Apeks second stage seems rather heavy though. It may be something you wish to look at. As for light second stages, the Oceanic Zeta may be tempting but I hear lots of problems with that. So maybe the Oceanic DElta 3x may be better and yet cheaper.
Frankly speaking, with regard to LDS, sometimes I am put off by how hard they try to push their products to you rather than give you an unbiased view.
P.S. Has anyone considered doing a website posting the prices of dive shops throughout SIngapore so that people can compare prices. You know, like what Hardwarezone.com is doing for computer stuffs. Have been thinking abt it for the last couple of days.

 

[Kira Kujira]

Thanks avant


I'm still considering.... Haven't really make up my mind yet...... Was thinking of getting another reg so that I can use my existing reg for Nitrox...... Am thinking of going into the mix gases thingy..... But I know that to do that in singapore is a bit ex...... Somemore have to bring the damn tanks up if the dive resort doesn't have any mix gases compressors...... Was thinking of getting an Air2 so that I'll have less hose on my reg. Currently, I only have 3 hose on my reg as I'm using an integrated dive computer......... Also I'm short of a SPG as a backup....... Any idea where I can get a cheap one in Singapore.....

 

[savant]

I was checking out the same setup as well. Anyway, to get a cheap SPG if you are not so concerned about brands, i know the store opposite Paris in lucky plaza has one going for $98 after discount. Friendly waters quoted me a similar one for roughly $90. But the one i like is the sunnto one whereby you can add the pressure gauge and compass on if you decide to in the future. i think that goes for roughly $130 or something like that.