Tech diving regulator?

[Jim Lapenta]

I've been using HOG D1s and now D3s for back gas and primary sidemount tanks since 2008. For deco/stage bottles I use D2s since a turret is not really necessary on a stage or deco bottle.
I have had to remove second stage covers underwater to get rid of duckweed, algae, and in one case a fair amount of mud after squeezing through a tight spot in a wreck.
I've also had them in 36-38 degree water and under the ice a few times. There is no need to spend a butt load of money on regs just to get a name on them. And with HOGs and Deep Six regs you can bypass a shop at service time by doing them yourself after taking a class.
If you really get into tech diving you'll have 3 reg sets but more likely 4 or 5 to service. Doing them yourself saves a lot of money and time because a full set can be serviced in a couple hours if you take your time.
And you do it on your schedule. Not on a shop's that can take weeks to get back. And they may not even be the ones doing the work.

 

[rhwestfall]

Tech gets costly, and you will end up with a pile of regulators. I'd be leaning toward HOG or Deep6. Great value for good regulators.

 

[Centrals]

So I am diving in Canada and will be doing ice diving. Regs need to be very cold water-resistant. And will probably be doing some pretty deep dive so it better be reliable. Here are the few options that I have, what's your opinion on this?

Apeks DS4+XTX50: This is basically the cheapest option that I have now. Not sure how good they're. I heard Apeks first stage has a plastic diaphragm that's exposed to the environment and could get punctured. Not sure how was it.

No experience on using Apeks regs in ice diving.
No problem with Apeks regs(DS4, DST, FSR, US1 and US4) in tec dive. Did not find the turret on DST useful on the backmounted twin set but great as deco reg. US1 and 4 are not suitable for cold water.
The 5th port(not available on DS4) is another story.
DS4/XTX50 + FSR(DST)/XTX50 for the twin. No need to get the 100/200 series and because you will be diving in ice water, 40(cold water rated) is not ideal for the lack of adjusting screw.
To puncture the environmental seal? Hard to see how that could happen but weird thing does happen in life.

Servicing several regs is expensive so DIY is highly recommended. That brings the issue on service kits.
Tec dive is expensive but great fun.
Enjoy but do shop carefully.

 

[alanchang]

This is false. If the environmental chamber has a leak, it simply floods with water and the depth compensation works as normal. No scuba regulator could work even close to acceptably without depth compensation.

I am talking about the plastic transparent diagram on the end of the regulator. If this punctured it still works under water? What is this for?

 

[RyanT]

I'm going to add another vote for Deep6 regs. I'm in the process of switching over my stable of regs from ScubaPro to Deep6. The SPs are great breathers, but so are the Deep6s. The big thing for me is the ability to service the Deep6 regs myself. As others have mentioned, when you end up with a bunch of regs, taking them to a shop for service starts to get really expensive. @alanchang, for diving in cold water, the sealed diaphragm design of the Deep6 will be a big plus, less likely to freeze up than a non-sealed piston. Finally, you get a great reg for substantially less money than SP.

 

[PfcAJ]

The Halcyon is not really a G260, closer to a G250 or G250HP, but it has the lineage of the G250 regardless. It is a fine regulator as is the real thing, the G250. Of which there are plenty out there to be had. I just bought a G260 with Mark 17 Evo, brand new, got a good price on it so snapped it up. My first brand new regulator in a while excluding a Core DIN Supreme I got so cheap I could not pass it up back in the summer. My best performing G250 (a 87 Graphite) cracks at .8+, it is on a new Mark 20 that I converted to Mark 25 specs. On my Magnehelic the new G260 is cracking at 1.2 inches. My other three G250s break around 1.0 to 1.2 inches. I do not have any tuned especially hot but for the Graphite. Of course I am sure I can tune on the G260 a bit and get it better but I am not motivated to break into a brand new regulator before I even get it wet. Well, okay, I did take a peek inside .



James

It’s really a G250V. Scubapro sold them for a few years before they released the g260.

G250-G250HP-G250V-G260

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I am talking about the plastic transparent diagram on the end of the regulator. If this punctured it still works under water? What is this for?

Yes, all that does is keep water out of the ambient chamber. And if someone is puncturing that, they probably shouldn't be diving because they are going into places they shouldn't or are lousy about caring for their gear. I have seen those blow out if the diaphragm fails or the HP seat goes. I have never seen one punctured. It has nothing to do with the actual operation of the reg under normal circumstances. It's an environmental seal. It keeps out water, sand, silt, critters, and such from getting into the ambient chamber to reduce the risk of freezing (in the case of water) and it makes rinsing and servicing easier by not requiring the diver to try and get all the crud out of the chamber.
Before you take a tech class, maybe get with an instructor and learn a little about gear function. This should have been covered in your open water class. If not, you need to think about what else was left out.

 

[Nemrod]

It’s really a G250V. Scubapro sold them for a few years before they released the g260.

G250-G250HP-G250V-G260

Yes, you are right. Scubapro returned to the goodness of the G250 after the G250HP with the G250V. And the Halycon is basically a G250V, but it is not a G260, that is more what I was trying to get across. Thank you for the correction. I knew it was not an HP, I do not know why I wrote that. Either way, the current Scubapro G260 or the Halycon version of the G250V is a fine regulator.

James

 

[Nemrod]

I am talking about the plastic transparent diagram on the end of the regulator. If this punctured it still works under water? What is this for?

You are not going to puncture that environmental seal. And as has been said, the regulator will continue to function just fine. It is just a dry seal, the main diaphragm is underneath that seal in the ambient chamber. Many regulators have that exposed enviro seal, it is not a reason to not by that regulator.

James

 

[Centrals]

I am talking about the plastic transparent diagram on the end of the regulator. If this punctured it still works under water? What is this for?

The reg will still work but the big spring will prone to freezing in ice cold water.
To keep dirt/water from the big spring.
That diaphragm is more or less the only significant difference between cold water and non-cold water tolerance model(1st stage).