US Divers: Impulse reg with valve adjustment?

[spector39]

Hi, I'm looking at buying my first regs/octo set (used,) and looking for some advice. The 2nd stage is a US Divers IMPULSE. It appears has a Valve Adjustment that I'm not familiar with. It also comes with:

US Divers MICRA octopus
US Divers first stage
Oceanic Datamax Pro Plus Computer

The equipment is a bit old, but has been taken care of very well. They're asking $450.

Does anyone have any opinions about the benefits of the valve adjustment?

And, does the price seem fair?

Thanks

 

[Hallmac]

The Impulse was a predecessor to the Micra. It allows adjustment from really hard to breath to blowing down your throat. It has a nice wide exhaust tee for exhalation deflection. Works very well.

The micra is still one of my very favorite regs and the micra octo is what I still use today.

Used values are not my specialty, however, for the whole set does not sound over the top to me.

 

[spector39]

Thanks Hallmac. The ability to throttle your air at the reg seems like a good idea in that you can probably conserve more air that way if you use it correctly. Is this the case? And is it the reason for the design? Have you found that ability to be a real advantage, or just something else to have to tweak during the dive. Also are you familiar with the computer? I don't want to get a compete set w/o a working, modern computer. I searched a bit on it, but since it’s old it’s been updated over the past few years.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

The ability to throttle your air at the reg seems like a good idea in that you can probably conserve more air that way if you use it correctly. Is this the case? And is it the reason for the design? Have you found that ability to be a real advantage, or just something else to have to tweak during the dive. Also are you familiar with the computer?

The inhalation adjustment knob isn't meant to be used to conserve gas, per se. The diver should adjust it during the dive to suit his breathing preferences. For example, a diver heading into a current which causes the reg to freeflow slightly might dial up the cracking pressure a little (making it harder to initiate air flow). Some divers might also dial up the cracking pressure at the surface to decrease the chances of an unintentional freeflow.

The knob is a nice feature...but certainly not necessary. A correctly tuned second stage without such an adjustment knob should still find a nice level of performance between freeflow and being too hard to breathe.

 

[oly5050user]

Hi, I'm looking at buying my first regs/octo set (used,) and looking for some advice. The 2nd stage is a US Divers IMPULSE. It appears has a Valve Adjustment that I'm not familiar with. It also comes with:

US Divers MICRA octopus
US Divers first stage
Oceanic Datamax Pro Plus Computer

The equipment is a bit old, but has been taken care of very well. They're asking $450.

Does anyone have any opinions about the benefits of the valve adjustment?

And, does the price seem fair?

Thanks

I believe that the Impulse is no longer made.You may run into an issue of no parts available for service. Computer may also be air only,not nitrox..The price they are asking is too high . After getting it serviced you are looking at about investing $580.-$600. total for this setup. For that price you can almost get a new setup from a LDS.
For used gear figure on spending about 1/2 of the original cost minus what the service cost is to get it checked out.That is for gear that is relatively new ( from used 1 time 6 months old to less than 2 yrs old. Older gear ,such as this is valued even less.

 

[Hallmac]

I believe that the Impulse is no longer made.You may run into an issue of no parts available for service. Computer may also be air only,not nitrox...

Impulse service kits and main replacement parts are still available from aqualung.