Best regulator for the money

[jim2386]

I can only speak for scubapro since those are the ones I own, but something to think about, and I'm not sure if all companies do this. If you buy a scubapro regulator and get it serviced yearly, they throw in the replacement parts FREE. You may pay a little more up front but in the long run it might save you some cash.

I dive the MK25 + s600 + R395 and a MK20 + G500 + Air 2

MK25 + S600 has worked well for me in everything from the tropics to near freeze drysuit dives.

YRMV

-Jim

 

[Jimmer]

Well I think I'll add another one to the pile. My favourite bang for the buck reg is the Zeagle ZX-DSV. Enviro sealed for cold/dirty water, conical HP seat in the first stage which has better life than the knife edge designs in other regs, second stage has an all metal air barrel with a heatsink for cold water. Can't go wrong in any and all conditions. Plus I know for a fact it breathes exactly the same at depth in cold water as the higher level flatheads do.

Elan, we should get together for a dive sometime. Do you have much options for winter diving in your area?

 

[elan]

Jim, I cannot help but agree with your about DS-V, though ! As long as Zeagle express run their FHVI close out sale FHVI would be probably the better option I got 2 FHVIses this winter from them So I now have 4 FHVIses. I love the reg, though I want to replace the mouthpiece for the one from Aqualung. My wife got Apeks Tek3 set and I love their mouthpieces Other that that I failed to find a better reg for the buck yet (and not for the buck either ). I have stocked some service kits from them and after I got the spanner with your help I think I'm set for another couple - tree years.

We should definitely get together for a dive. In fact we do not have many options here. Open water is only available at Humber here - which we dive every Saturday/Sunday. The rest is iced over and for that you have to get a team. If you guys do ICE dives I can join you. Not all of my buddies are certified so we just do OW at Humber. We go there tomorrow and most likely next week. So if you want you are more than welcome to join us or if you guys do some dives in your area I would love to join you as well. The temperature now is 36F, vis was 5-20 feet a couple of weeks ago. We usually swim for an hour or so in the afternoon. St. Lawrence I was told is all iced over now. The last time we did Rockport dive on Kinghorn was on Christmas and the ice was already setting.

Send me a message when you are available and we can set something up. I dive pretty much every weekend except the weekend when we go to Ottawa (once a month).

 

[sdiver68]

I bought my Oceanic Delta 4 / FDX10 w/DVT for $280, full warranty from an authorized dealer. Enviro sealed, diaphram-type, DVT, NOAA reliability test endorsement, free tune-up parts, and widely available.

 

[Akimbo]

... So, if a regulator has a balanced first and second stage, diver adjustable air flow, large enough second stage (for air volume), never diving in water below 40 degrees, is a name brand, THEN why spend huge money on a regulator??? If they are available for $300.00 then why spend much, much more??????

I suggest your requirements may be excessive for the application:

Balanced First Stage:

In my view, balanced diaphragm first stages have gotten a little too good at low tank pressures. A distracted diver can breath a bottle down to 100 PSI before noticing abnormal resistance. Most modern unbalanced pistons produce perceptible resistance at 300-400 PSI, yet still allow sucking the bottle down to 100 PSI if really necessary. We used unbalanced piston first stage regulators below 600' on HeO2 in the early 1970s with acceptable performance. They are far better today.

300 PSI remaining will inflate a BC just fine. 100 PSI will fill it, but there won’t be much left to inhale. If you plan to never fall below 500 PSI, you will never see any difference.

Adjustable Air Flow Second Stage (as opposed to a venture adjustment to prevent free-flow on an Octopus)

I see no reason for an adjustable air flow second stage unless you are using surface supplied air/gas, or your first stage can't hold its intermediate pressure closer than +/- 25 PSI. Kirby-Morgan Corporation developed the "dial-a-breath" in the 1960s. They modified a US Divers (AquaLung) second stage on their full face mask for commercial divers. Air was supplied from the surface by a hose from low pressure air compressors, maybe putting out 150-185 PSI. Naturally, the regulator would free-flow at that pressure when on the surface.

The diver would increase the spring pressure on the second stage seat so it would stop free-flowing and breathe easily on the surface. The diver would back-off the dial-a-breath on descent as the differential pressure reduces. For example, 160 PSI – 29.4 PSI at 66' = 130.6 PSI over bottom pressure. A first stage of a Scuba regulator maintains in the neighborhood of 130 PSI over bottom pressure so there is no need for the diver to adjust the second stage. A properly serviced second stage should deliver optimum performance without diver adjustment. The exception here is if you run a hose from the surface connected to a compressor or large gas bank for decompression. Adjustment is needed in that case just like the surface supplied diver.

So why did the Dial-a-Breath migrate to Scuba regulator? Tell me you don’t see the cool factor here!

I recently suggested a procedure in another forum section for selecting suitable regulators that you may find useful:

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/5027324-post18.html

You can get new well-proven name-brand regulator for less than $170 that I would not hesitate to use under any sport diving conditions that is more than 5° above freezing temperature of the water.