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I would still recommend a sealed reg. Especially if you will be diving saltwater or local conditions where there is silt, sand, or any thing that you would not want getting into the workings of the first stage. Rinsing a sealed reg is easier, they usually require less work at servicing if the owner has been less than meticulous with rinsing in my experience, and the difference in price is minimal, ie $20.00 for the Epic cold vs non sealed. I've seen regs at one shop I was affiliated with come in with salt crystals packed in the cracks and crevices of piston regs that were not sealed in some way. The owners dived them, gave em a quick dunk, the tossed em in the bag and let them sit for a couple months before the next trip. Brought them in to be checked and ended up paying extra just for the labor to get them cleaned out. Would not have been nearly.as bad or even an issue with a sealed reg.

Just because it says cold does not mean you have to dive cold water with it.

Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk
 
Ahh.. did not know that a cold rig was sealed.... I just thought it was designed to not freeze up with temp.... Good to know

Highflier
 
Hi all, Just signed up to try and get some unbiased recommendations...

I'd suggest that unbiased would mean that recommendations shouldn't come from people with a vested financial interest in your purchases (i.e. salespeople).

Just food for thought....


Hog does make quite decent regs though (and I don't sell them). They'd definitely be on my short-list, along with Apeks and Scubapro.
 
Zeagle is "across the road" and they make great regs.

IMHO You do need a wetsuit to dive in the keys. I mostly dove from november to may and even in 5/4/3 with a hood it was a bit chilly at the end of a second dive.
Once you start relaxing and do not waste your energy it starts getting cold pretty fast.
 
+1 on the wetsuits.
Water will be in the low 70's for the next several months.

Here's my usual list of very good mid/low price regs that equal or exceed the performance of their more expensive cousins.
All are balanced diaphragm 1st stages with balanced 2nd's.
They are as rugged and reliable as they come.

Apeks XTX20
AquaLung Titan/Micron LX
Zeagle Envoy
HOG/Epic

Other option is to get a used US Divere Conshelf for about $100, get it serviced, and you now have a full set with octo and gauges for less than $200.
 
I wouldn't imagine that you would need very much weight, diving where you are. But we have found, diving off our boat, that it is nice to be able to remove the weights first and either throw them into the boat (possible on RIBs) or clip them off to the gear lines, and then get out of the BC. It can be difficult to do this with BC weight pockets, but it's pretty easy to do with a weight belt (add a D-ring on a keeper to clip onto). Of course, if you are using small weights, clip the BC off first, and then undo quick releases, it probably won't matter much.

There are a lot of good middle-of-the-road regulators. I will give a vote for the HOG regs . . . my husband and I are using them for open water and cave diving, and for students. Good value for the money, I think. You may have to send them off for servicing, though, which may not be an issue if you dive infrequently, but becomes more of one if you want to be in the water all the time. (Of course, it can take our local shops two weeks to turn around a set of regs, too, even for walk-in customers!)

The biggest thing with a BC is that it HAS to fit. This is usually not too difficult for standard sized men (although a lot of people need a size smaller than they think, or than shop employees think) but it can be quite a challenge for smaller women. If the BC won't sit comfortably AND stably on the diver, the tank can slop around, and that simply isn't fun.

I prefer back-inflates, as I think many women do, because they don't clutter or compress my chest, and I don't have to make real estate for big, wrap around flaps in the front. I'm a big fan of backplate/harness setups for small women, because I think it's far easier to get a correct fit than it is to try to shop around to find a woman's BC that works. Ask Blue Sparkle about comfortable gear for women diving in warm water!
 
I have did a little googling for Hog/edge service dealers in marathon, There are none, closest one is a 3-4 hour drive :( (it seams the aqua lung is the unit of choice at the local dive shop)

What does it take to get the training for reg service?

It sounds like everybody likes a BC/W better, is that ok for a novice diver?

Jim what type of upcharge would the BC/w be?

Should I be checking to see if the local shop has tanks with a yolk vs Din? I have not researched what pro vs cons there are on that. Just noticed that I found more info on the HOG's then the Edge.

Highflier
 
We are now in the process of relocating to the Florida keys, Plenty of good opportunities down there. My wife does not like the idea of going real deep, Thus most of the time we will be diving a reef 30 ft depth or less

I bet she will love Keys diving then. So many of the dives are shallow (<30'), sunny, pretty reef dives - with adjacent sandy patches if you want to practice things without worrying about accidentally dropping down onto coral. I have done just about all my dives there, and for me it's been a great place to start diving. (Oh wait I see you have snorkeled there, so you know what it's like :))

My instructor did not like BCD's with weights built in, But with our boat it will be very hard to get on with gear, therfore we will probably strip it off in the water, seems like the weights in the BCD would be a nice convience, and comfortable also.
I tend to think along the lines that TSandM mentioned above on this. For the past year (due to an injury) I have been doffing my gear in the water, handing it up to the DM, and then getting aboard myself. So that's a bit like what you will be doing on your boat. I wear around 2# on my tank (for trim) but the rest on a separate belt. I like how easy that makes it to separate the weight, and not be handing a staggeringly heavy BC up to the DM (or pulling it in tied to a line). That's not to say you would want to do everything the way I do, but just to give you another perspective.

I don't plan on buying a tank, Those are cheap to rent :)
I hear you on that. If I were diving elsewhere I think I would want to buy my own tanks; but for shallow boat dives in the keys, it's pretty handy/cheap/effective to go with rentals. A note for your wife: I rent AL63s and not AL80s. They are a bit shorter, and seem to fit me better. You do have to still be sure that she would be carrying enough reserve air for you -- I find that it still works out that I'm carrying more air than my buddy pretty much throughout the dive (obviously not at the very beginning, but then it doesn't matter when we are both at ~60 cubic feet of air in 25' of water).

On a related note: I see that some people have recommended HOG regs. They do look like fine regs (I wanted them myself), but they are currently "native" DIN valve regs. That means that to use them on the typical Keys rental tanks, which have yoke valves, you would need a spin-on adapter. That could be fine, but it does make the reg "stick out" more. For me, that would not leave me with enough head clearance, so I went with a different-brand reg that has a native yoke connection (it can be changed to DIN with a bit of surgery, should I change my diving habits and start using steel/DIN tanks regularly). HOG have just said they are going to come out with a native yoke option, but for the moment they are DIN only.

a extra second stage for the buddy is in the plans
I would consider that mandatory (maybe that's how you meant it).

On the wetsuit: My usual buddy and I are pretty much at the opposite extremes in cold-water tolerance, and yet even he (the warm one) still wears a wetsuit in the Keys in winter. I wear a 3mm full suit from about 80º to about 75º (somewhat dependent on whether it is a warm or cold day up top), and below that a 5mm and sometimes a hooded vest. Last winter I did quite a few dives there when the water was in the 60's. Brrr. I was just barely warm enough in my full getup; my buddy was pretty cold in his 3mm suit with 7mm hood. Without a wetsuit? I can't imagine it.

The biggest thing with a BC is that it HAS to fit. This is usually not too difficult for standard sized men (although a lot of people need a size smaller than they think, or than shop employees think) but it can be quite a challenge for smaller women. If the BC won't sit comfortably AND stably on the diver, the tank can slop around, and that simply isn't fun.

I can really relate to this comment! I stayed away from diving for close to five years after I was first certified -- ill-fitting BC's basically drove me away. I loved snorkeling and then all of a sudden this horrible GEAR was just ruining my inner fish. Ugh! Everything was either sized for average men or, apparently, women who weren't me.

Ask Blue Sparkle about comfortable gear for women diving in warm water!

Practically invited to rant! :wink: Seriously though, I did have a hard time finding a BC to fit. I'm not overly short (5'5"), but I'm really short-waisted. Even trying on a small or extra-small women's jacket BC (I tried on at least half a dozen), when I would fasten the cummerbund around my waist (where it had to go), the shoulders would be up around my ears! That equates to the tank slopping around in the water. Maybe I could handle that now (not that I would want to), but when I was first starting out it was just unworkable. I always felt like the BC was running the dive, not me :( Not to mention that there was so much... stuffing, pockets, and etc. under my arms that I felt like a Michelin Tire Woman. I just don't have any real-estate to spare there.

Your wife may be taller or simply not have a problem finding a BC to fit, in which case... never mind! I, however, was flummoxed. I just quit diving, until I came to Scubaboard in 2010 and asked around about some options. I found the option of the backplate/wing, and that has worked really well for me. I got my inner fish back :) It's basically just a metal plate and some straps, infinitely adjustable (and the plates come in sizes; the one I have is almost too short for me, believe it or not), and leaves your underarms and chest free and open. Ahhh. I love it.

For a more "usual" BC, I have been intrigued by the Zeagle Zena. It's a relatively thin corset-style bodice, and is available in a variety of waist, torso, and chest sizes (all differently configurable in one BC). I wasn't aware of these when I was shopping, but I think one might have fit me.

Very exciting being divers and moving to the Keys!

Blue Sparkle
 
Thanks for the long reply Blue Sparkle.

My wife is 5'5" but on our few dives she did not complain about the BCD not fitting well, but she does not feel comfortable at all times, Maybe it is becuase the BCD is running the dive. She snorkles just fine, In fact she is faster in the water then me.

If the water is to cold for out wetsuits we will wait till it warms up. That will be one of the advantages of living in a dive area. Just like fishing I will be able to pick and choose my days. My warmest wet suit is a nice one. It is a full length sleeveless one, but then I have a long sleeve top tha goes over it effectiveling double covering my core which is the area I tend to get cold. But again I am not worried about the Wetsuit, They will come and go as they age and so do I. The Reg and BCD I hope to own for a long long time. Got to get that right.

I did a little more reading and it sounds like a Hog is the wrong way to go since I will be renting tanks. The Edge on the other had is still a option, But I am not fond of the fact that there is no service techs in the keys, Perhaps I can get certified and do that on the side. I do most of my own maintence on the boat and house, so I would say and am mechanically inclined.

So far our favorite snorkle spots are Sunbrero light (real close to our house) and the coffin patch. A little further but we did it several times as the condo I rented was close to that spot.

After my WU starts getting more comfortable in the water I will have to start finding some new spots that are in the 30-50' depth.

Highflier
 
Oh forgot to mention on all of the dives to date, She sucks down way more air then I do. I think once she dives more freqeuntly she will learn to relax and even control breathing a bit. But as we all know, At 15' depth there is a lot of air in a single tank.

Highflier
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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