VT3 or Galileo Sol???

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

How awesome of regs do you really need? I have a couple Sherwood first stages I bought used for $50 each, and I can't tell the difference between them and a Mk17.

For recreational diver asking about DIR like the OP, this can often mean getting another matching first stage for doubles, getting DIN regs, getting a true backup second stage instead of a compact octo or Air2, or getting regs that have better hose routing for doubles. I didn't see it as meaning "more expensive" regulators (heck, those $60 TDS regs might be perfect).
 
For recreational diver asking about DIR like the OP, this can often mean getting another matching first stage for doubles, getting DIN regs, getting a true backup second stage instead of a compact octo or Air2, or getting regs that have better hose routing for doubles. I didn't see it as meaning "more expensive" regulators (heck, those $60 TDS regs might be perfect).

Ah ... well, then ... if money's an issue, then I'd go with Adobo's list of priorities ... except that I'd put training at the top of the list ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)
 
But... since when is overkill not permitted? (this from the same crowd that spends $100-200 on backup flashlights?)

I would LOVE it if someone offered a twist bezel switchless backup light with decent lumens and base attachment point for cheap. But I've come out a cave by a veritable flickering 'underdriven' halogen candle and it was less than ideal. I have never said anything similar about my Uwatec bottom timer (although not being about to record my actual longest bottom time ever was sad - it rolls over after 99mins)
 
How awesome of regs do you really need? I have a couple Sherwood first stages I bought used for $50 each, and I can't tell the difference between them and a Mk17.

The flow rates on a Mk25 are even more overkill, yet they are still popular in the DIR community.

Sorry for the definitely OT post.

Tom

All your buddies will routinuely claim your regs are leaking (through the unique dry piston port). But otherwise I would use them. They are supposedly easy to O2 clean so might make good stage (or argon) regs.
 
I'd be willing to bet that just about everyone participating in this thread has some expensive toy that they love to dive with that isn't really necessary for the dives they're doing. It's a matter of what makes ya happy ... we dive to make ourselves happy, after all.

Guilty as charged :blush:

My backup computer is a Liquidvision X1 ... which is a bit more expensive than the one being argued about here. Why do I use a $1700 dive computer for a backup timer? Because I like the display ... it makes me happy ... and I can afford it.

Me, too.
 
Ah ... well, then ... if money's an issue, then I'd go with Adobo's list of priorities ... except that I'd put training at the top of the list ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

My list wasn't complete nor was it presented in any particular order.
 
Last edited:
To drag it off topic, it isn't the volume that matters, it is the work of breathing. Sherwood first/ second stage combos, unless they have improved greatly are more likely to cause you to develop a CO2 headache on any dive that puts the remotes extra requirements on your breathing. Just using their firsts may work and of course with enouth helium in the mix just about anything will do.

As far as the costs for the gauge, I have no problem with that. I am the poster child for overspending on dive gear I don't need and own a garage full of tanks and gavins. Now that I only fly to diving locations - I use the back end of exactly one of my gavins at any one time and the tanks have fill stickers on them which are all at least 5 years old. I don't bother to overhaul regs until at least a dozen need it, etc. I think the intent of the advice here is more, if you are really going to be DIR diving, this is probably an item of gear you will abandon at some point, or, if finances in any way impact your diving, regret. As I said in my prior post, if it is useable as a gauge there is nothing wrong with it. However, very few people have such truly unlimited budgets that their total enjoyment of diving wouldn't be increased more by spending the funds elsewhere rather than on the shiniest new computer available.
 
I would LOVE it if someone offered a twist bezel switchless backup light with decent lumens and base attachment point for cheap. But I've come out a cave by a veritable flickering 'underdriven' halogen candle and it was less than ideal. I have never said anything similar about my Uwatec bottom timer (although not being about to record my actual longest bottom time ever was sad - it rolls over after 99mins)

They do, it's called the OxyCheq Raider I. Very nice twist bezel switchless dual o-ring BRIGHT LED light, roughly $65.

I'll admit that it hangs on my chest opposite my $140 Photon Torpedo, though. :wink: I'll admit the OxyCheq light didn't exist when I picked up the Photon, though.

I've seldom been one to shy away from dropping absurd amounts of money on dive gear that makes me happy.

And I'll repeat, there is NOTHING wrong with the Galileo Sol. Simply leave the transmitter at home for tech diving. (Or buy the Terra instead) Just because it has extra capabilities doesn't mean you need to use them. Witness the Tech 2G that is so popular... that has a lot of functions you'll never use outside of gauge mode, also, and yet it's ok to spend more on that than a simple bottom timer, but not the Galileo? Those extra functions are going to kill you, right? It's simply a matter of degree. Each person has to set their own priorities to where a limited amount of money (if that phrase applies) is going to go. In my mind, once it's acknowledged to be overkill, it's up to the purchaser to decide if they want it anyway. The question that was posed was if it the Galileo or VT3 "perform at the standards that DIR accepts". The answer is YES.

Commentary on where the money could be spent instead is all well and good, but it should not replace an actual answer to the question. IMHO.
 
Mmm.. graaavvyyy.... Not going to eat it... but it smells nice! If you get my drift...
 
They do, it's called the OxyCheq Raider I. Very nice twist bezel switchless dual o-ring BRIGHT LED light, roughly $65.

I'll admit that it hangs on my chest opposite my $140 Photon Torpedo, though. :wink: I'll admit the OxyCheq light didn't exist when I picked up the Photon, though.

Yeah I'm not going to toss perfectly good backups to buy a cheaper one at this point. I don't think those existed when I bought mine either.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/
http://cavediveflorida.com/Rum_House.htm

Back
Top Bottom