What do you think? Oceanic Reg and Octo

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neve

Contributor
Messages
296
Reaction score
3
Location
Originally from Bali, but now in Singapore
# of dives
500 - 999
Hiya folks,

I've been looking at Oceanic Reg and Octo to buy. I'm not willing to invest so much moolah into my gear, so I'm thinking of buying these:
1st stage: Oceanic SP4
2nd stage: Oceanic Alpha 7
Octopus: Oceanic Alpha 7

I'm a new diver with 19 dives logged, all in warm waters of SE Asia. PADI AOW certified. I'm not planning to do any tek diving, but I do plan to go on a recreationl diving trip at least once month.

Now comes the questions:
1. Do you think the setup is good enough for the type of diving I will be doing? Should I splurge on supposedly "better" equipment?
2. What kind of durability can I expect from the above setup? If I do 5-6 dives every month, will the equipment last?
3. Have you got the same setup? What are the pros and cons?
4. Is there any other brand of the same calibre that you would recommend?

Thanks, and sorry if I sound like a dumb rookie :D Can't help it!
 
I wrote to my LDS and asked for a price quote, and this is what he replied:

Hi (neve),
You can find our prices on our web site at (censored) for
this equipment. It is better you come down and discuss exactly what you do need. For example do you know that the Oceanic SP4 regulator is unbalanced and that for a little bit more you can obtain much better performance. Whatever you decide I promise you the best price for your equipment

Regards

(name)

--------

:confused:

Is it true what he said? I'm going to check out divernet now. I read Rodale's review on the SP4 and it was rated one of the best budget regs. Who should I believe?
 
I suspect your LDS may be trying to tell you that you can have Oceanic's CDX balanced diaphragm first stage, with the same second stages, for not much more money.

When I was considering the Oceanic range of regs, I found a couple of comments suggesting that balanced first stages perform better than unbalanced ones -- but it depends on the reg (see this article, for example). However, Divernet appears to have tested (and liked) the SP4 version.

I'm afraid that's as far as I got... I bought an Aqualung reg instead.

You might be able to rent an Oceanic Alpha and see what you think... I'm sure I've seen them being used as rental regs. That's one of the good things about buying a budget reg, there's a reasonable chance you'll be able to find one that you can try.

Hopefully someone more knowledgeable than me will add something on the balanced/unbalanced issue.

Zept
 
Neve

I got an Oceanic Alpha 7 CDX in Thailand this January. I've been very pleased with it. It is balanced and environmentally sealed.

Regards
 
:confused: Now it's become a great big puzzle. I have spent the past few days trying to read up on balanced/unbalanced piston/diaphragm regs, and I just got more and more confused!

I have also been following that thread about piston/diaphragm but it has so many differing opinions...

Can anybody recommend a good article about the differences in balanced/unbalanced regs? Basically something that will convince me to spend $100 more for a CDX (instead of the SP4 I was planning to buy). Your help is much appreciated.
 
Neve, I feel your pain... I went through the same thing myself at the beginning of the year.

If you go to Google and do a search for 'balanced unbalanced regulator' you'll get a bunch of articles... and some of them actually have some relevance to diving (!!). I didn't come across any articles that I thought were outstanding, but you can get some kind of overall view.

You might want to start a new thread on unbalanced versus balanced regulators -- might draw out some of the techier people.



Z
 
The difference between unbalanced and balanced now. But if I'm not planning to go deeper than 40m (130ft), an unbalanced reg will still perform the same way, won't it? How deep can you go before it gets more difficult to draw air on an unbalanced reg?

Diaphragm vs. Piston
Now this is the part that I can't even pretend to understand. What is the relevance of these mechanisms to balanced/unbalanced regs?

Looks like I have to do truckloads more of reading before even considering buying a reg....

:confused:
 
Originally posted by neve
The difference between unbalanced and balanced now. But if I'm not planning to go deeper than 40m (130ft), an unbalanced reg will still perform the same way, won't it? How deep can you go before it gets more difficult to draw air on an unbalanced reg?

That's the key question, isn't it? I went for balanced so I wouldn't have to worry about the answer... so I can't help you there.


Diaphragm vs. Piston
Now this is the part that I can't even pretend to understand. What is the relevance of these mechanisms to balanced/unbalanced regs??

AFAIK, the most basic reg you can have is an unbalanced piston reg. At the other end of the market, there are posh balanced diaphragm regs and posh balanced piston regs. I don't think you can have an unbalanced diaphragm reg.

Z
 
Zept, now that's an easy way out :D Well if you're not on a tight budget like me, that is. Actually an extra $100 for a balanced reg won't hurt too much, as long as I can justify it....

As for balanced/ unbalanced in relations to piston/diaphragm, I'm still as lost as ever.

I guess I'll have to wait for techies on the other side of the world to wake up first before they can answer my questions, eh?

Somebody helppppp :confused:

Somebody? Anybody?

PS. Thanks Zept!
 

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