My son recently was certified. He was using my pony reg which is an older Sherwood Brut. It's in great condition and they are used as rental workhorses but I'm thinking it might be best to upgrade to something that breathes a little better but I don't want to break the bank pricewise. Any suggestions either new or used would be appreciated. The use would be mostly warm water. Thanks !
What's a decent reg to upgrade to for my son?
- Thread starter thosmeyrs
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Hello Thosmeyrs,
As this question comes up often, I have a cut and paste answer. Skip the boring part and go to the bottom.
Shortly, you will be swamped with advise about buying a regulator, mostly by people who own a brand and are very fond of it. One thing to keep in mind about regulators is that most are great at what they do. So how do you separate the wheat from the chaff? That won't be easy, but it will be fun and entertaining. Soon you will find out there are quite a few gurus on this board in each section. It's helpful to pick out a few of them and read lots of their post and you will be off to a very good start. In the regulator section I can highly recommend the post of (in no particular order) Awap, DA Aquamaster, Captain, Pescador775 and Luis H …there are lots of others but that will keep you busy for a while.
At any rate, you want a regulator brand that has a good track record for keeping parts available for each model. Of course unless you intend to DIY, you also want a regulator that can be serviced by your local dive shop and lots of locations in the world. The two best companies in both regards are Aqualung and Scubapro.
My recommendation for the average recreational diver, i.e. not freezing water, 150 feet or less, is a simple non balanced piston 1st stage such as the Scuba Pro MK 2 (or Aqualung Calypso, Mares R2, Sherwood Brut, Oceanic SP4 and a few others.) This simple design is usually inexpensive, nearly bullet proof, easy to get parts for and easy and inexpensive to service. It is also easy to DIY because it requires only a few o-rings and a seat. Yes, the unbalanced design will increase the breathing effort at low tank pressure, but I view this as a good thing especially for new or inexperienced divers. See this thread: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/regulators/87374-scuba-pro-r190-2.html
Additionally, if/when one wants to start more advanced diving where high concentrations of oxygen will be used this type regulator can be moved to that application.
For a second stage I like an adjustable and balanced unit. This provides the ability to have the regulator tuned to minimum inhalation resistance with the option of the diver increasing the resistance it if he/she finds the need to. Having said that, a straight forward classic downstream design with a simple to replace set of o-rings and button soft seat can be highly recommended as it is a tried and true design, parts are usually available and almost anyone can service them. It is a good idea to have the same manufactures 1st and 2nd stage to make getting service less complicated.
For more demanding diving and high end/higher performance (higher price) regulators see the following link for DA's excellent advice.
<http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/regulators/181745-advice-regulators.html>
Now, if you have read through my entire boring post or have done the sensible thing and just skipped down to this part, the best advice would be to contact someone who rebuilds regulators like DA Aquamaster and see if he has a rebuilt ready to sell.
Good luck,
Couv
As this question comes up often, I have a cut and paste answer. Skip the boring part and go to the bottom.
Shortly, you will be swamped with advise about buying a regulator, mostly by people who own a brand and are very fond of it. One thing to keep in mind about regulators is that most are great at what they do. So how do you separate the wheat from the chaff? That won't be easy, but it will be fun and entertaining. Soon you will find out there are quite a few gurus on this board in each section. It's helpful to pick out a few of them and read lots of their post and you will be off to a very good start. In the regulator section I can highly recommend the post of (in no particular order) Awap, DA Aquamaster, Captain, Pescador775 and Luis H …there are lots of others but that will keep you busy for a while.
At any rate, you want a regulator brand that has a good track record for keeping parts available for each model. Of course unless you intend to DIY, you also want a regulator that can be serviced by your local dive shop and lots of locations in the world. The two best companies in both regards are Aqualung and Scubapro.
My recommendation for the average recreational diver, i.e. not freezing water, 150 feet or less, is a simple non balanced piston 1st stage such as the Scuba Pro MK 2 (or Aqualung Calypso, Mares R2, Sherwood Brut, Oceanic SP4 and a few others.) This simple design is usually inexpensive, nearly bullet proof, easy to get parts for and easy and inexpensive to service. It is also easy to DIY because it requires only a few o-rings and a seat. Yes, the unbalanced design will increase the breathing effort at low tank pressure, but I view this as a good thing especially for new or inexperienced divers. See this thread: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/regulators/87374-scuba-pro-r190-2.html
Additionally, if/when one wants to start more advanced diving where high concentrations of oxygen will be used this type regulator can be moved to that application.
For a second stage I like an adjustable and balanced unit. This provides the ability to have the regulator tuned to minimum inhalation resistance with the option of the diver increasing the resistance it if he/she finds the need to. Having said that, a straight forward classic downstream design with a simple to replace set of o-rings and button soft seat can be highly recommended as it is a tried and true design, parts are usually available and almost anyone can service them. It is a good idea to have the same manufactures 1st and 2nd stage to make getting service less complicated.
For more demanding diving and high end/higher performance (higher price) regulators see the following link for DA's excellent advice.
<http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/regulators/181745-advice-regulators.html>
Now, if you have read through my entire boring post or have done the sensible thing and just skipped down to this part, the best advice would be to contact someone who rebuilds regulators like DA Aquamaster and see if he has a rebuilt ready to sell.
Good luck,
Couv
Have you looked at the HOG brand of regs.
They are like the Dive Rite RG3000's , just cost alot less.
You should be able to set up your son's reg set up for about $500.00 total.
Jim breslin
They are like the Dive Rite RG3000's , just cost alot less.
You should be able to set up your son's reg set up for about $500.00 total.
Jim breslin
scubafanatic
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...there's a guy trying to sell a nice Poseidon in the classified section, he's just reduced the price to $ 350..... 
halocline
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I'm a big fan of the SP MK2, you can probably get a used one in perfect condition for less than $100. It's bulletproof and will last forever, then makes a great stage or pony reg if you want to go that route.
If it were me, I'd try working on the the Sherwood, I could probably make it breathe pretty well. Spending $500 on a regulator is something I would never do, except for a doublehose in perfect condition. But I'm cheap....
If it were me, I'd try working on the the Sherwood, I could probably make it breathe pretty well. Spending $500 on a regulator is something I would never do, except for a doublehose in perfect condition. But I'm cheap....
Hey...I know that guy... Yeah I'm trying to sell the Poseiden's I have and I'm looking at the lower end Atomic for myself. I had a scary experience with a Sherwood years back where I just couldn't get enough air diving off of NC. I bought the Poseidens and have used them. We stopped diving for a few years. So we started diving more and I wanted to get something a little more travel friendly hence the Atomics. I gave my son the Sherwood I had (my wife still uses her Sherwood Magnum) but now I'm thinking maybe I should get him something better, but not as expensive as the Atomic since I would be springing for it. Having been out of the market for quite some time I'm soliciting some opinions..
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LeisurePro has a ScubaPro Mk2 Plus/R395 for $185. Their warranty not SP's in case you didn't know since they're not an authorized SP dealer.
I was also checking the Scubatoys sales page this morning and they had several Mares and another brand on sale for under $300. You have to look at the whole page though as they're listed pricewise by what they sell for normally. Several of them were $350-400 regs discounted at least $100 or so. Afaik, everything they sell has a full mfr's warranty.
I was also checking the Scubatoys sales page this morning and they had several Mares and another brand on sale for under $300. You have to look at the whole page though as they're listed pricewise by what they sell for normally. Several of them were $350-400 regs discounted at least $100 or so. Afaik, everything they sell has a full mfr's warranty.
ASPDiving
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I would highly recommend HOG regulators. I just switched over my sidemount reg to those. They breath tremendously better than the rg3000 hell the old rg2500 breath better. The 3000 has a badly designed case which increases the WOB both exhaling and inhaling. I have tried to tell some of the guys at dive rite this but they refuse to believe me. I have tested many rg3000's and rg2500 to verify that it was not just flook. There are other very well respected pro dive rite users that agree with me about the rg2500 breathing better than the rg3000
But back to regulators. I sell both brands and at this time I would highly recommend the HOG regs. PM for a great price.
But back to regulators. I sell both brands and at this time I would highly recommend the HOG regs. PM for a great price.
DiveGear4Less
Guest
The Sherwood regs are pretty good. Some of the older models, like the Brut, were unbalanced and could get difficult to breathe at depth, but the higher end models like Magnum and Maximus are great. They are also very affordable. For the money you would spend on a used reg and the service you'll have to get before you use it, you might as well pay a few extra dollars for a new reg that doesn't need to be serviced.
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