Tell me this is a good decision ... ??

[tnflyfisher]

So I am getting back into the sport and looking to refresh and quickly pursue my AOW cert. Wanting my own reg that I can depend on and feel comfortable with I have been looking at what is available. While reading several positive reviews on Oceanic regs I can't decide to pull the trigger or not. I see that you can now get a Delta IV $349.00 brand new from authorized dealer with the current $100 Oceanic promotion!! Do I even need to consider any other regs especially at this price? I am very tempted to pick one up at such a discount. Tell me I am making the right choice ... Had been looking at Apeks XTX50 and Atomic Z2/Z2x along with the Delta and even possibly M1 if I really wanted to fork over some money.

Thanks,

 

[meesier42]

Oceanic and Aeris both make very good regulators (both part of Palegaic Group, including Sherwood and Hollis), the Delta IV is a long standing and well known regulator. Not the easiest breather on the market, but a very sturdy, proven and reliable performer. Its absolutely a great deal at that price. Oceanic has good customer service and support their service centers quite well.
Personally, I would recommend looking at Zeagle as well, they are also very high quality regs and in the same price point. The Zeagle DS-V is a fantastic reg (also $350 at Scuba.com). The Zeagle Envoy Deluxe is an awesome regulator (on sale right now for $265).

Apeks- was a great company, since being bought up by Aqualung not so much, I have seen a couple of LDS that stopped carrying them due to problems getting support.

 

[Teamcasa]

... Oceanic has good customer service and support their service centers quite well.

Ditto, great customer service can sometimes makeup for several hundred dollars in discounts. Oceanic has great customer service.

 

[tnflyfisher]

Not the easiest breather on the market,

I've heard that they are supposed to be very good. What regs would you say are easier breathers??

 

[Teamcasa]

I've heard that they are supposed to be very good. What regs would you say are easier breathers??

Keep this in mind. The difference between a hard breather and an easy breather is not all that much in any event. Generally, balanced regs breath easier than unbalanced ones.

The Delta IV is a good regulator as is the Apeks XTX50 and Atomic Z2/Z2, you will be happy with any one of those.

 

[AbyssalPlains]

You need to make sure you're comparing apples to apples. The Delta is a diaphragm reg, the Atomic Z2 is a piston reg. Piston regs are intrinsically more expensive. I've had the Atomic for a number of years, and no other reg I have tried came even close to the ease of breathing the Atomic offers, not even a ScubaPro S600. Also, keep in mind the maintenance cost. Yes, you might save 100 bucks upon purchase, but to my knowledge only the Atomic regs come with 2-year service intervals instead of annual intervals. My last service was almost 100 bucks, so If I had to pay that every year, I would be really pissed.

 

[Plumb bob]

Piston regs are intrinsically more expensive..

Not in my experience.. (which admittedly isn't all encompassing)

 

[Thalassamania]

Oceanic makes great regulators (in their own plant in the USA) and has customer service that is as good or better than any company in the industry. BTW: I'd much rather have a diaphragm regulator, no moving parts that soak in salt water that way. Do it!

 

[gsk3]

to my knowledge only the Atomic regs come with 2-year service intervals instead of annual intervals.

Nah, DiveRites do as well.

 

[meesier42]

I've heard that they are supposed to be very good. What regs would you say are easier breathers??

They are good, that's why I had one on my bail-out bottle. Its a very good reg, no issues with it, if you like Oceanic and you have a solid service center in your area then go for it.

I found that I prefer the Zeagle regs, at least here in the US parts are extremely easy to come by, servicing them is very easy, and even the $265 Envoy Deluxe out breathes the Oceanic. I prefer the DS-V because I need the cold water performance and its is a sealed reg where the Envoy is not, if you are a vacation diver that is an unnecessary price upgrade that actually hurts performance.

Nearly any regulator from reputable companies on the market today is a "good" reg. Its hard to distinguish better from a pile of good. The "old" thought was any reg that could perform at better than 2 Joules/litre work of breathing or better was a great reg. But that was 10-15 years ago and nearly every single reg on the market is better than that these days, with the Sherwood SR-1 taking the cake at about 0.6 J/l. And most all are under 1.2 J/l if I recall correctly.

I would recommend that you start with a visit to your local service center. Even if you don't plan to buy from them, its very likely they will be servicing it. if you can't get service then it doesn't matter how good a deal or regulator you get. find out what they service, take a second to talk to the service technician if you can, ask to look at their shop and their flow bench. see what brand of parts they have the most of on the wall. These things will help you determine what they see the most of and therefore should be the most competent at servicing and tuning. if they don't have a flow bench, find a new shop, one can not properly tune a reg with a flow bench.

I would also recommend that you take the reg into them before you dive it and have them "safety check" it, they should do a basic assembly check, verify the IP and cracking pressures. I haven't yet seen a reg out of the box that was properly tuned and this check will fix that.