Thoughts on Deco regs?

[beanojones]

I have to replace all my gear so I am thinking about things from scratch.

I used to have DIN S/P Mk2/r190's because I had them and had parts for them, etc. The same sort of style seems like a good idea because:
1. cheap
2. easy to rebuild/ 02 clean
3. you could actually swap the travel and the deco reg if you really needed to underwater: because it is all unbalanced, the water would just blow through the system.

But I was working at an S/P shop and was friends with the S/P rep then, so it was cheap and easy to get parts.

Are there reasons people like to use a balanced, or diaphragm first stage, and a balanced second stage that I am not thinking about?

Is the OMS cheap reg the way to go because out of the box it is ready to go (o2 clean, din, green cover)? Are OMS parts hard to come by? Does it use the same seats as the Mk2 and the Oceanic cheap piston regs? Is it just the rebuild kit just the two piston O-rings and the seat like the Mk2? Is the OMS second stage obnoxiously large like the r190?

Does anyone use short LP hoses (12"-16") and right angle swivels for theirs? Are there reasons why this does not work for you, if you have tried it?

Clarification: I am starting from scratch. I had a ton of stuff before but it is all gone.

 

[nereas]

I have to replace all my gear so I am thinking about things from scratch.

I used to have DIN S/P Mk2/r190's because I had them and had parts for them, etc. The same sort of style seems like a good idea because:
1. cheap
2. easy to rebuild/ 02 clean
3. you could actually swap the travel and the deco reg if you really needed to underwater: because it is all unbalanced, the water would just blow through the system.

But I was working at an S/P shop and was friends with the S/P rep then, so it was cheap and easy to get parts.

Are there reasons people like to use a balanced, or diaphragm first stage, and a balanced second stage that I am not thinking about?

Is the OMS cheap reg the way to go because out of the box it is ready to go (o2 clean, din, green cover)? Are OMS parts hard to come by? Does it use the same seats as the Mk2 and the Oceanic cheap piston regs? Is it just the rebuild kit just the two piston O-rings and the seat like the Mk2? Is the OMS second stage obnoxiously large like the r190?

Does anyone use short LPhoses (12"-16") and right angle swivels for theirs? Are there reasons why this does not work for you, if you have tried it?

Your ScubaPro Mk 2 is the perfect 1st stage reg for (1) your 20 ft deco and/or (2) your drysuit argon bottle. You should definitely keep it, and use it. These regs last forever. All you need to do is have it O2 cleaned for the 100% O2 bottle. And any 2nd stage would work well for the 20 ft deco stop. I also prefer to paint this 2nd stage white or yellow, to remind me as a warning not to touch this 2nd stage at any depth deeper than 20 ft. The mistake that kills more tech divers than anything else besides caves is to breathe the O2 mix at the wrong depth. There was even a recent article in the DAN magazine that told about such an incident causing ox tox in a deco diver very recently on a shipwreck dive.

Your 70 ft stop will be with EAN 50 so this 1st stage reg needs to be O2 cleaned as well. Since you will be at 70 ft, which is not really very deep, you do not need a performance reg. However it would be great if this reg is balanced, so that you can offset the ambient pressures of 70 to 30 ft depth. The 2nd stage does not need to be high performance either. These deco depths are not great depths.

The other 2 1st stage regs and 2nd stage regs that you will be using with your twin tanks and manifold should be high performance, since you will be using them anywhere from 80 to 350 ft. Even though the helium in the mix will improve the performance due to the lower gas density, it still makes sense to have these two back-gas regs be high performance. These regs should be the best regs that money can buy, either ScubaPro, or Zeagle, or Apeks, or Atomic.

I cannot speak for OMS nor Oceanic. I know they both make high performance tech regs, however I have never used them nor seen anyone else use them.

 

[Jimmer]

How about the new Hollis 210? Hollis Gear: H-02 210

My understanding is that it is just an Oceanic Alpha 7, O2 cleaned, like Oceanic used to sell. Pretty much bullet proof, and O2 clean out of the box.

 

[diveandclimb]

The OMS Workhorse is a great DIN deco reg. It comes O2 clean out of the box and has nice swappable colored covers to denote what it is being used with. Very affordable (>200) too.

 

[gijo1977]

I think that you cant go past the SP MK2/R190 as the reliable, easy-to-service-anywhere, reg of choice. The piston regs are probably a little more suitable to high O2 concentrations (50% and above) So as deco regs I think you will be hard pressed to find better.

Living in Australia has shown me that there is a lot to be said for buying a brand that has a really broad distribution network and after sales support. SP and AL (Apex) are the two main brands here(IMHO), with Sherwood, Zeagle, Oceanic (Aeris/Hollis), etc... having less market exposure and support bases. Diverite, OMS, Salvo, etc... are even harder to service and support (Based on my own research). So if you were to travel into the south pacific or Australian region it would be more difficult to support some brands of regulator.

I dont think you can go too wrong with any of these regulators and depending on your circumstance one may not be more diffcult to service or support than any other. but you have experience with the SP gear, and I dont know that you could really find a better suited set of gear from other manufacturers. Also there is a lot to be said for matching all your regs to the same brand or service agent. You will only have to find one supplier of parts for your whole set, rather than finding some OMS parts here, SP parts there, and some Zeagle parts somewhere else (For instance)

Enjoy your purchase and more importantly the Diving that follows.

 

[beanojones]

*Good info*

Extremely wise words there, it seems.

You would say S/P and Aqualung have the most penetration where you are, too... (I am certainly glad Apeks is now sold through Aqualung.)...

Thinking about it from the "all one supplier" perspective makes me wonder which way to go though. Should I switch the deep reg plans back to Scubapro (I am thinking Apeks now), or figure out a Aqualung/Apeks deco reg solution. I really like the "two O-rings and a seat" simplicity of an unbalanced piston like the Mk2. I would even use Mk2's for main regs if I could, but I can outbreathe them deep diving pretty easily.

My former set up was two Mk15/g250 in back, and two mk2/r190's up front. But I really fell in love with my TX100 that I used for a single tank rig, and was thinking of going Apeks for the back regs.

I am buying everything from scratch, and no longer have the funds or connections to have a dedicated doubles set and a separate single tank setup.

 

[gijo1977]

Well,

I would suggest then: if you already have the Apex for a singles set up then you should get a second set that matches it for your back gas (Apex are great regs) and just reconfigure your setup for doubles. (Thats what I will do with mine and my fiance's MK25/S600 singles rigs, and a MK2 ready to go for Deco)

As for your deco, you could go with the Aqualung calypso (flowthrough piston, O2 cleaning option)

or you could just trade out of your Apex and into some nice ScubaPro the MK25/G250v would be the upgrade (or newer models) of your previous SP setup (but the MK17 is the competition for the Apex sealed Diaphram units, and a very high performer)

Anyway, I am sure either option will prove to be an excellent choice, both easilly servicable the world over. Some of the smaller island holiday destinations might struggle a little with Apex, but you could plan around that issue if it ever comes up.

Enjoy your purchase and enjoy your diving