Worth it to change regs? gear question.

[nolatom]

My neighbor gave me some gear he bought about 10 years ago and never used. Most of it isn't useful to me, but there's a Scubapro R380 reg that looks brand-new (I know, it will need servicing even so).

Is this enough of a better reg than my trusty R190? I know it's lighter and smaller, but is it "better"? I'm a Chevy Malibu-type rec. diver, nothing fancy, neither hooptie nor Cadillac. Reviews I read of the 380 didn't say much other than "it's lighter and smaller than the 190".

Anybody used both and have advice?

Also, if I change it out, I would probably use the 190 as an octo to replace my venerable Oceanic "hockey puck". Any reason not to, other than the 190 is bulkier on my chest and I'd have to put yellow paint on the front?

Thanks all.

 

[chrpai]

The R380 and R190 are pretty much the same reg internally. The R380 is just smaller.

Neither of my regs have yellow face plates.

 

[TomZ]

If you ask a moderator to move this to the Regulator forum, you will get more response. There are some very knowledgeable people there.

 

[redacted]

The R-series regs are all the same classic downstream design with most parts interchangable. Your R190 should be a very slightly better performer due to the larger diaphragm. I would not automatically have that R380 serviced just because of age. If it checks out and performs well, I would dive it.

 

[Fishpie]

No need to paint anything....keep using the 190 as your primary and swap out the 380 with your Oceanic Slimline and use this as your octo.

 

[keyshunter]

nolatom,
If you have this thread moved to the regulators forum you will get many more posts, but no advice that is better than you have received above. The reason I would use the R380 as an octo, is that it is a bit smaller than the R190 and almost any conventional second stage breathes better than any pancake octo.

 

[Chuckitall]

Hey buddy, how about a new up to date reg for those 140 ft dives you like to do in Jupiter, lol.

 

[nolatom]

Chuck, I don't think it's my reg that's the problem, I need an up-to-date brain ;-)

Thanks all, sounds good. New free octo for me. The brain I think is out of warranty.

 

[rjack321]

I have both a 190 and a 380 and the 190 is a far superior 2nd stage. The 380 is the worst 2nd SP ever made.