TUSA Reg Package- Good? Bad?

[The Wanderer]

Looking to purchase my first regs for Florida diving - recreational diving in freshwater springs and local saltwater.... The Keys, etc. Down to depths of 60' for now.

What do you know about the following package?

TUSA RS-240 regulator
TUSA SS10 Octopus
TUSA SCA330 Console

Something better in the same price range?

Thanks for you opinions and expertise!

 

[ScubaFriend]

Its a great package TUSA have come out very high in the ratings in most magazine articles

 

[scubatoys]

We sell a lot of Tusa Regs, they are great breathing regs at an inexpensive price. We actually sell more of the 110, and the 130 than the 240. The are less money and breath the same. The difference is the 240 is a diaphragm 1st stage, while the 110, and 130's use a piston 1st stage. If I was to go with a diaphragm first stage - there are some others - like the Aeris - I like better than the Tusa.

The other thing I am not a fan of in your package is the Tusa Gauge. Nothing wrong with it - other than it is a propriatory size - you cannot swap out with a different compass, add a computer, etc.. Nothing else fits. That's why we are using more of the Aeris gauges in our packages now - so if you want to add a hockey puck computer - you can. If you need a new compass, you can drop in any palegic - sherwood, aeris, genesis, oceanic etc.

Hell, as long as I'm knocking your choices... let me hit the octo for a moment.. I prefer an octo that breathes upsidown or right side up - that way I can hand it to someone on my left - or my right - so I'd rather have the Aeris Gyro Octo - or something like a Zeagle Sentinal, or a Dacor viper.

So overall, Tusa is actually much better equipment that it gets credit for - but in that price range, I'd probably make a few minor changes depending on what your potential future plans are.

 

[The Wanderer]

We sell a lot of Tusa Regs, they are great breathing regs at an inexpensive price. We actually sell more of the 110, and the 130 than the 240. The are less money and breath the same. The difference is the 240 is a diaphragm 1st stage, while the 110, and 130's use a piston 1st stage. If I was to go with a diaphragm first stage - there are some others - like the Aeris - I like better than the Tusa.

The other thing I am not a fan of in your package is the Tusa Gauge. Nothing wrong with it - other than it is a propriatory size - you cannot swap out with a different compass, add a computer, etc.. Nothing else fits. That's why we are using more of the Aeris gauges in our packages now - so if you want to add a hockey puck computer - you can. If you need a new compass, you can drop in any palegic - sherwood, aeris, genesis, oceanic etc.

Hell, as long as I'm knocking your choices... let me hit the octo for a moment.. I prefer an octo that breathes upsidown or right side up - that way I can hand it to someone on my left - or my right - so I'd rather have the Aeris Gyro Octo - or something like a Zeagle Sentinal, or a Dacor viper.

So overall, Tusa is actually much better equipment that it gets credit for - but in that price range, I'd probably make a few minor changes depending on what your potential future plans are.

Thanks. I'm a big guy, mid 40's, looking at buying a BP/W and good starter reg package.....
what would you recommend?

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I had a TUSA RS-130 ... great performance for the price. Only knock I had is that the second stage had a tendency to breathe wet if you went upside down. Otherwise, it performs well. Put a few hundred dives on it, and am still using it for my pool rig.

It's like that little pink rabbit ... just keeps going ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Tabata makes the regs for both TUSA (Tabata USA) and Scubapro so TUSA regs are much better than they are generally given credit for. Their piston regs, like SP regs, are exceptional.

 

[scubatoys]

Tabata makes the regs for both TUSA (Tabata USA) and Scubapro so TUSA regs are much better than they are generally given credit for. Their piston regs, like SP regs, are exceptional.

Umm... not really. Tusa regs are made in Japan - ScubaPro in Italy. Actually the Tusa 400 - no longer made, was made by scubapro for tusa... and the IR3 octo inflator is another Scubapro item that Tusa buys... but Tusa does not make scubaprod regs..

 

[DA Aquamaster]

I don't want to burst your bubble but the Mk 10 first stage was produced for Scubapro by Tabata who then later sold it through Tusa as the TR400 first stage once Scubapro's exclusive rights expired.

Same with the IR3 / Air 2. They are identical internally with only minor cosmetic changes to the case not because Scubapro made them for Tusa but because Tabata made them all in the first place and just began marketing the IR3 through Tusa once SP's exclusive rights expired.

But thank you very much for so clearly illustrating my point that Tabata never got the credit it deserved for making high quality regs.

In a global economy plant location has little to do with corporate ownership nor does final assembly of a product always occur in same location as parts production. To say someting is "made" in Japan or Italy means very little. In one of the oddities of our time, some Japanese cars are more American made than many American cars.

 

[japan-diver]

Looking to purchase my first regs for Florida diving - recreational diving in freshwater springs and local saltwater.... The Keys, etc. Down to depths of 60' for now.

What do you know about the following package?

TUSA RS-240 regulator
TUSA SS10 Octopus
TUSA SCA330 Console

Something better in the same price range?

Thanks for you opinions and expertise!

The following package is quite good. The RS-240 is a great breather and holds up well, and is easy to work on. The SS-10 in a no-frills octo that performs well and breaths better than most octos that can be flipped or are integrated with a inflator- I like it. I have found the TUSA gauges to hold up well- the gauge of choice for rental here in Japan and they take abuse well. I think the performance of the TUSA beats the Aeris and is more widely sold so that if traveling and something breaks a TUSA reg would be easier to find parts for. Overalll a good choice.