Bulletproof reg with a design that's been around forever?

[AbyssalPlains]

Here you go. Poseidon :: Regulators

Not many can stand shoulder to shoulder with poseiden.

From what I hear poseidon regs do fit that description, but check with your LDS about servicing. Some shops have a hard time servicing them especially in the US. Also, some people (including me) don't like them due to a reputation of being pretty much the regs known to freeze in a closed position.

 

[scubafanatic]

dude, the chances of your MK2 R190 'beating' one of my Atomics or Apeks XTX 200's are slim to none, and 'Slim' has left town! ...just sayin'.......

 

[KevinHoward]

Apeks

 

[nwdiver2]

Sherwood products are bomb proof and cheap.

 

[aquaregia]

dude, the chances of your MK2 R190 'beating' one of my Atomics or Apeks XTX 200's are slim to none, and 'Slim' has left town! ...just sayin'.......

That depends entirely on who serviced them. "My" Mk10/109 blows away my buddy's "professionally serviced" Mk25/S550.

 

[elan]

DA Aquamaster ? Those regs were made half a century ago and still ar better then some of the mordern ones ? The reg does not seem to freeze even in a liquid nitrogen

 

[SDAnderson]

Actually The SP MK2 R190 breathes much better than many of the much more expensive models from Atomic, Dive Rite, Apeks etc...

The MK2 breathes easier than any of the top end modern regulators? Argon is an inflation gas, not a breathing gas - you really gotta stop huffing that stuff.

When I travel on vacation I dive with a MK25 S600... just because I wanted a new toy... but to be honest, the best regulator I ever had for pure breathing ease and comfort was the MK 25 with the G250HP 2nd stage.

I've got a couple of older MK20/G250's that I do love for warm water diving. Of course, they were expensive, especially after I installed the cold-water upgrade and the adjustment cap upgrade.

 

[elmer fudd]

Having just rebuilt an old Healthways Scuba, I don't think I've ever seen anything simpler. I understand the original Aqualung Mistral is similarly simple though and parts are more widely available.

I'm not really sure how important being bulletproof really is in a regulator however. There are lots of regulators out there that will hold up for years of diving without much more than a rinse off after use. Old single hoses are typically dime a dozen too, so what I'd do is pick up a couple of old MK5's or Conshelfs as you find them for cheap and then use one as a backup. Then pickup a third when someone offers you one their uncle used to dive with, or whatever the story is. I paid $10 for a Sherwood Brut, $20 for a MK5, was given another MK5 and a MK7, got a Waterlung as part of a $50 package deal along with a set of old doubles and got a MR12 as part of another package. Typically, I inspect the diaphragms, inspect the hoses, make sure there are no free flows or IP creep and that they breathe OK and then take 'em out and dive 'em.

Some of those old regs don't breathe all that spectacularly, but others like the MK5/R109's breathe just about as well as my MK25/G250V. The real issue is whether they were performance regulators to begin with.

 

[drbill]

I've dived the SP Mk10/G250 for many years and it has been bulletproof. Of course I have to buy them used. Have been in waters as cold as 47 F and I failed well before any sign of failure on the reg's part. In fact, I had one Mk10 breathe fine on an extended (8 week) trip to Belize and Honduras only to discover the whistling sound it was producing was due to two "large" cracks in the barrel. It still breathed great to depths of 150 ft.

 

[elmer fudd]

I've used my MK5 & MK25 down to about 40 degrees regularly and never had a problem. Neither did my buddy with his Atomic, which I understand is a MK10 clone. When I bought the MK25, I asked the dive store manager, (a very experienced diver and instructor), about freezeups with the MK25 in Puget Sound and he said it was practically unheard of. Now our temperatures usually run between 45 and 55, but in the wintertime in shallow water colder temperatures are quite common.