polyester1970
Registered
I'm just going to post a micro-review on the TUSA RS-110 that I rented in-case someone is considering buying it and stumbles across this post somehow.
First of all, I have my own regulator, an Aqua Lung Legend. I did a series of dives earlier in the week, washed and dried all my equipment and didn't feel like doing that all over again just for one dive so I decided to use the rental gear from the operator. The specific dive was only to a max depth of 40 feet for about 30 minutes so I figured I didn't my fancy equipment and whatever they had should work fine. I totally regretted it. All of their gear was noticeably inferior to mine, but the one that gave me a the most trouble was the TUSA regulator. I can deal with a low-end wetsuit, BCD, and fins to some degree, but when the regulator isn't performing you feel like you can't breathe.
I had to put many times more effort into inhaling than I do with my Legend. It put noticeable stress on my diaphragm (the muscle that contracts the lungs - not the regulator diaphragm
and I felt a bit like someone with a minor asthma attack who couldn't get a satisfying breath of air. To be clear, it wasn't as if it was approaching a dangerous situation, but it definitely added some stress, was distracting, made the dive less enjoyable, and that made me consume more air. I came up with 70bar/1000 psi on a 30 minute, 30ft dive. Normally, I come up with that much on an hour long, 80ft dive. I looked for a breathing resistance adjustment knob to see if I could adjust it, but this reg doesn't have one.
The other problem was the mouthpiece felt weak. There was strong current and it was bending the rubber between the mouthpiece and the 2nd stage and I worried a bit if the reg was going to break off from the mouthpiece. Of course that didn't happen, but I've never had that feeling with my Legend and I've dived in strong current with it before.
I did this dive while visiting Okinawa, Japan and it seems like TUSA is pretty popular around here. While at a dive shop I looked at their regs and they look to be about around 2-5 times more expensive that my LDS in San Francisco which charges full price. I saw the RS-110 for close to $700 USD in Okinawa which was their least expensive reg - their mid-grade stuff was around $900. I suppose if I were a dive shop and had to stock up 10-20 regs I probably couldn't afford to stock up on the higher-end stuff available in Japan.
I'm not trying to bash TUSA - this is their lowest end reg and I'm sure they have some that perform as well as the Legend, just this particular model doesn't. So my advice - don't cheap out on a regulator - it's the most important thing in my opinion, you notice it right away, and there's not much of a workaround or a way to cope with it.
Recently, while reading regulator reviews on ScubaDiving I thought maybe most regs would perform about the same at recreation depths and only some machine/computer could tell the difference, but I was wrong. I paid full price for my Legend, and now I'm glad I spent the extra bucks rather than getting an entry-level reg.
First of all, I have my own regulator, an Aqua Lung Legend. I did a series of dives earlier in the week, washed and dried all my equipment and didn't feel like doing that all over again just for one dive so I decided to use the rental gear from the operator. The specific dive was only to a max depth of 40 feet for about 30 minutes so I figured I didn't my fancy equipment and whatever they had should work fine. I totally regretted it. All of their gear was noticeably inferior to mine, but the one that gave me a the most trouble was the TUSA regulator. I can deal with a low-end wetsuit, BCD, and fins to some degree, but when the regulator isn't performing you feel like you can't breathe.
I had to put many times more effort into inhaling than I do with my Legend. It put noticeable stress on my diaphragm (the muscle that contracts the lungs - not the regulator diaphragm
and I felt a bit like someone with a minor asthma attack who couldn't get a satisfying breath of air. To be clear, it wasn't as if it was approaching a dangerous situation, but it definitely added some stress, was distracting, made the dive less enjoyable, and that made me consume more air. I came up with 70bar/1000 psi on a 30 minute, 30ft dive. Normally, I come up with that much on an hour long, 80ft dive. I looked for a breathing resistance adjustment knob to see if I could adjust it, but this reg doesn't have one.The other problem was the mouthpiece felt weak. There was strong current and it was bending the rubber between the mouthpiece and the 2nd stage and I worried a bit if the reg was going to break off from the mouthpiece. Of course that didn't happen, but I've never had that feeling with my Legend and I've dived in strong current with it before.
I did this dive while visiting Okinawa, Japan and it seems like TUSA is pretty popular around here. While at a dive shop I looked at their regs and they look to be about around 2-5 times more expensive that my LDS in San Francisco which charges full price. I saw the RS-110 for close to $700 USD in Okinawa which was their least expensive reg - their mid-grade stuff was around $900. I suppose if I were a dive shop and had to stock up 10-20 regs I probably couldn't afford to stock up on the higher-end stuff available in Japan.
I'm not trying to bash TUSA - this is their lowest end reg and I'm sure they have some that perform as well as the Legend, just this particular model doesn't. So my advice - don't cheap out on a regulator - it's the most important thing in my opinion, you notice it right away, and there's not much of a workaround or a way to cope with it.
Recently, while reading regulator reviews on ScubaDiving I thought maybe most regs would perform about the same at recreation depths and only some machine/computer could tell the difference, but I was wrong. I paid full price for my Legend, and now I'm glad I spent the extra bucks rather than getting an entry-level reg.
