Tech friendly regs?

[CuriousRambler]

I'm thinking about picking up some new regulators pretty soon. Right now I've got Oceanic Delta 4 primary, Alpha 8 octo and an Oceanic console. It all works great, but as I get more into diving and look at the direction I want to take my diving, it may not be the greatest setup for me. I got a good deal on it, picking up the whole setup for less than the primary would typically cost from a shop, and it was all brand new, so I'm not completely upset with the idea of selling it and starting out fresh.

For now I'm diving SoCal beach dives and coldwater lake dives when I go home to Montana. Pretty typical recreational openwater dives, but in the future I'm interested in dipping my fins into some tech/deco classes and wrecks.

When I bought the regs I've got now, I really just went off of a couple reviews I read saying "Great reg for the price!" and the fact that my LDS had Oceanic almost exclusively, so it was obviously the greatest brand in the sport. The biggest downside to that approach is that I really didn't learn ANYTHING about other regs on the market, so I'm starting this research project from somewhere underneath ground zero. Any help is greatly appreciated, and I have no doubt you'll all come through like always.

 

[stairman]

Atomic Aquatics ,Apex comes to mind.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

I switched to the Scubapro Mk 17 with a G250 second stage as it is bullet proof in the 35ish degree water found in deep alpine lakes. The design is also easy to maintain offers more than enough flow rate for techical diving and has very simple and clean hose routing on a set of doubles. Based on that the Mk 17, G250V is a great choice.

Also, you can find an SP dealer almost anywhere. They have one in Billings and another in Missoula.

Aqualung has a similarly wide dealership network with MT options, but not all Aqualung dealers handle Apeks.

Atomic in contrast has a comparatively small dealer network with no MT dealer options.

 

[CuriousRambler]

I hadn't looked at SP regs at all, which is kind of surprising, because they do have a dealer about 10 minutes from my house in Montana (in Kalispell..) The description on their sight sounds promising, but who's going to put up something that doesn't make their product sound like the best thing since sliced bread?

Up to this point I'm pretty much looking at regs from Dive Rite, Apeks, Atomic and SP. Of these, only Scubapro has a real dealer near me in MT, but the same shop is on DiveRite's site as "may not stock items, but will order as needed." Overall I'm not too concerned with having a dealer nearby as my sister lives near Seattle and I make my way out there at least a couple times a year, so getting regs serviced could just be part of that trip.

One question that rose in my mind reading SP's site, how strongly they restate that the Mk17/G250 is good in cold water; all the specialized design that would make any reg, not just the g250, optimal for cold water, would those design differences handicap them at all in warm/tropical waters if I ever hit the lottery and find myself traveling?

 

[Blackwood]

No, there is no reason a mk17/g250 setup wouldn't be appropriate for warm water diving.

I echo the scubapro suggestion. I use Mk25s which allow very clean hose routing, and S600s.

 

[CuriousRambler]

Bleh, I meant to ask this on the last post as well, but you reminded me Blackwood..

I've seen a couple places that diaphragm first stages are better than pistons, and that balanced vs. unbalanced regs is an issue of performance vs. reliability, but both work well...This is the kind of thing I'd like to understand a little better before I decide one way or the other. Does anyone know of a good source of information that covers the technical aspect of these (and any other) design differences?

 

[ucfdiver]

Around cave country, Salvo SR2's are very popular

 

[Colliam7]

I'm thinking about picking up some new regulators pretty soon. ... For now I'm diving SoCal beach dives and coldwater lake dives when I go home to Montana. Pretty typical recreational openwater dives, but in the future I'm interested in dipping my fins into some tech/deco classes and wrecks.

Lots of very good regulators on the market, the vast majority offer excellent performance under a variety of conditions. It may not help to hear that you have a wide range of choices, with no clear 'one and only' options, but that is the case. Tech generally involves doubles, in some combination of deeper, colder, longer diving. You look for performance (easy breating at depth, and relative resistance to freeflow in colder water), a first stage configuration that facilitates efficient, low profile hose routing, and service availability. A number of SBers sing the praises of SP and Apeks for tech, perhaps a smaller number recommend Zeagles, and a number of smaller groups of divers love Poseidons, Atomics, Oceanics, etc. But, it is hard to say one brand is truly better than another. Instead we can give you lots of personal testimonials - for example, mine is that I dive Apeks for tech (ATX 200 for backgas, AT 20 for deco gas) and love them. I also dive a set of Zeagle ZX50Ds (for backgas and deco) and love them. In addition there are several threads developing in the past 18 months that may offer additional information, for example - http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/technical-diving-specialties/172547-regs-tech-diving.html, or http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/mares-just-add-water/221647-regs-tech.html. You can try doing an 'Advanced Search', limiting your search to either the Regulators forum or the Technical Diving Specialties forum, and search on 'technical' and 'regulator' as a starting point.

 

[Meng_Tze]

I have Apeks DS4/TX50 combinations on all my primary sets. Then some Salvo SR's on my deco's. Reason is uniformity. I started out with Apeks and kind of stuck with them.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

You know how your oceanics perform. Why not stick with the brand. NOAA uses delta 4's but personally I prefer the cdx5 first stages with GT3 seconds since the Delta3 is not longer made. I have cdx5's on my doubles and have had them down to 155 in 38 degree water. No issues. Easy to service or get serviced and as long as you get the DIN first stages the price is great. Get a pair of CDX5 GT3's and if you look around you can find the nondvt's(there is no dvt on the DIN) for around 250 each.