I would find out what the guys in your area that are doing the dives you want to do are using. This should mean you can get parts, service and help when needed. It will also mean it is a tested reg for the conditions you will be diving in.
your opinion on the best Regulators for Tek diving
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Mattleycrue76
Contributor
Big Fan of Apeks here. I have several DST/DS4/XTX 50 combos as well as an ATX200. If I was going to buy a brand other than Apeks I'd take a hard look at HOG for the reason TSandM mentioned.(Also HOG is comparitively inexpensive).
Oh and "Tek" is the word used in Germany to refer to what we call Tech diving
Oh and "Tek" is the word used in Germany to refer to what we call Tech diving
I personally use Dive Rite for my regs but many of my buddies us Apex, Aqualung, Atomic, Scuba pro and they have all worked fine. We have a few HOG regs on the team now and they seem to be working fine also.
I've got a mix of Scubapro MK17s & MK25s, Dive Rite and HOG. They all work well. I've slowly got rid of my Apeks regs - they work fine, but servicing costs are significantly higher than Scubapro.
Main factors are reliability, with hose routing being a close second.
Main factors are reliability, with hose routing being a close second.
I use Apeks TX/ATX 40s and 50s and 100s for all my Tec diving and I have a flashy (but no better) XTX 200 which I use for my single tank dives. I have found them all to be reliable (and as we have a couple of Apeks technicians inour club they are not expensive to service) In the past I have used Scubapro (which always seamed to have a tendancy to freeflow) and Poseidon Jetstreams (which I like because they are not handed BUT were very expensive to service(.
Scubapro does restrict parts sales in the US - but on the other hand, it is rare to not find a parts kit you need on e-bay and if you can't find one, you just need to wait a week. Scubapro has a large dealer network and dealers are always coming and going and the ones that go will sell things on-line. Scubapro as a company has a long history of supporting discontinued regs and it is common to see 40 year old Mk 5 Adjustables still in use.
That is an important point as while another company may sell regs and sell parts kits direct to the consumer, the odds are good that they are selling a liscensed copy of another reg design and selling them in comparatively low numbers, so once that design is discontinued, it becomes very cost prohibiltive for a small company to provide long term parts support. So even if they have a policy of selling parts directly to divers, and even if they have the willingness to keep doing it, they may not always have the ability to keep doing it. Another thing to consider is that your current LDS may drop the brand you currently own and once again, you may lose access to parts unless the company will also sell parts direct to the diver on-line.
Between Marci and I, we have 4 backgas regs, 2 deco regs and 4 stage regs that see regular use, and there are a few more that are either spares or see intermittent use. That's a lot of regs to maintain and very cost prohibitive if you have send them to a shop.
That is exactly why I prefer Scubapro. Annual service parts are readily available on e-bay and if something major happens on a trip, you can still get them serviced almost anywhere. I also have a very high degree of confidence that Scubapro will still be making those parts 10 years from now for my "older" Mk 10 G250 deco and stage regs, and will be making parts 20 years from now on my Mk 17 G250V back gas regs.
Aqualung also has a history of long term regulator parts and service support, but they also restrict parts sales and it is very rare to see their parts available on e-bay.
That is an important point as while another company may sell regs and sell parts kits direct to the consumer, the odds are good that they are selling a liscensed copy of another reg design and selling them in comparatively low numbers, so once that design is discontinued, it becomes very cost prohibiltive for a small company to provide long term parts support. So even if they have a policy of selling parts directly to divers, and even if they have the willingness to keep doing it, they may not always have the ability to keep doing it. Another thing to consider is that your current LDS may drop the brand you currently own and once again, you may lose access to parts unless the company will also sell parts direct to the diver on-line.
Between Marci and I, we have 4 backgas regs, 2 deco regs and 4 stage regs that see regular use, and there are a few more that are either spares or see intermittent use. That's a lot of regs to maintain and very cost prohibitive if you have send them to a shop.
That is exactly why I prefer Scubapro. Annual service parts are readily available on e-bay and if something major happens on a trip, you can still get them serviced almost anywhere. I also have a very high degree of confidence that Scubapro will still be making those parts 10 years from now for my "older" Mk 10 G250 deco and stage regs, and will be making parts 20 years from now on my Mk 17 G250V back gas regs.
Aqualung also has a history of long term regulator parts and service support, but they also restrict parts sales and it is very rare to see their parts available on e-bay.
Diverite RG2500's. I recently dived Eagle's Nest for the first time and they performed flawlessly. Plus, for those of us who service our own stuff, we can get parts!
More definition is required. I will guess shallower than 328'/100 Meters, above freezing, and a 300 Bar DIN connection is a reasonable criterion.
I personally have not seen a mediocre performing regulator (excluding combo octo/BC fillers) in decades — not saying there are aren't any, I just have not had the misfortune in a long time. I suggest the following procedure:
Cut 1: The two best sources I can think of to answer your question are dive shop rental fleets and large regulator repair companies. Dive shops can't afford gear that doesn't withstand far more abuse than good sense allows. Some shops may try to intimidate ill-informed customers into buying the most expensive regulator, but that is not the one that they invest in or are numerically more likely to be sued over. Large regulator repair shops see a lot of products over long periods with rare failures. I my experience, bad regulators are far more likely to be unreliable or difficult to repair than exhibit poor breathing characteristics.
Cut 2: Scratch models that are not available with a 300 Bar DIN option. Most regulators today are so they can sell in other markets.
Cut 3: It is unlikely to have made it past Cut 1, but eliminate regulators that are very new to the market or are not produced in the large numbers. The idea is to let the real world prove all the different aspects that make a good purchase rather than some dork with a financial incentive or a desire to justify a poorly researched purchase.
Cut 4: Examine what's left to see if personal ergonomic preferences emerge. Taking note of specific feature complaints expressed by friends and on forums like this can help you determine what might be important or annoying to you. Indulge country of origin biases at this point if you are inclined.
Cut 5: Rent one or more remaining candidates to make sure things like hose lengths work, bubbles don't annoy you, or the first stage doesn't interfere with gear you already own and like.
Cut 6: All things being equal, there is nothing wrong with choosing the lowest cost regulator from the list. The reason is not to be cheap (as in my case), but your preferences may evolve and you shouldn't be reluctant to upgrade because you spent too darn much.
Let us know how you vote with your money and why.
I personally have not seen a mediocre performing regulator (excluding combo octo/BC fillers) in decades — not saying there are aren't any, I just have not had the misfortune in a long time. I suggest the following procedure:
Cut 1: The two best sources I can think of to answer your question are dive shop rental fleets and large regulator repair companies. Dive shops can't afford gear that doesn't withstand far more abuse than good sense allows. Some shops may try to intimidate ill-informed customers into buying the most expensive regulator, but that is not the one that they invest in or are numerically more likely to be sued over. Large regulator repair shops see a lot of products over long periods with rare failures. I my experience, bad regulators are far more likely to be unreliable or difficult to repair than exhibit poor breathing characteristics.
Cut 2: Scratch models that are not available with a 300 Bar DIN option. Most regulators today are so they can sell in other markets.
Cut 3: It is unlikely to have made it past Cut 1, but eliminate regulators that are very new to the market or are not produced in the large numbers. The idea is to let the real world prove all the different aspects that make a good purchase rather than some dork with a financial incentive or a desire to justify a poorly researched purchase.
Cut 4: Examine what's left to see if personal ergonomic preferences emerge. Taking note of specific feature complaints expressed by friends and on forums like this can help you determine what might be important or annoying to you. Indulge country of origin biases at this point if you are inclined.
Cut 5: Rent one or more remaining candidates to make sure things like hose lengths work, bubbles don't annoy you, or the first stage doesn't interfere with gear you already own and like.
Cut 6: All things being equal, there is nothing wrong with choosing the lowest cost regulator from the list. The reason is not to be cheap (as in my case), but your preferences may evolve and you shouldn't be reluctant to upgrade because you spent too darn much.
Let us know how you vote with your money and why.
OP
BodenseeDiver
Contributor
the best regulator for Tec-Diving are Apeks XTX 50 with DST or DS4
I've been using DS4 w/XTX50, but I've now changed for Tek3 w/XTX50.
The Tek3's have done their part and I have nothing bad to say about them. Only minus is they can't be interchanged. A friend of mine has been using them since they were first released, and they are as good as new today, with no problems.
The Tek3's have done their part and I have nothing bad to say about them. Only minus is they can't be interchanged. A friend of mine has been using them since they were first released, and they are as good as new today, with no problems.
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