Dive Rite Xt Vs Hog D1/classic For Doubles

[Bigeclipse]

All,
I have pretty much determined I will be buying either Dive Rite XTs or Hog D1/Classic for my doubles setup. I will be taking my tec Padi course next summer which gets you deco dives to 165ft so I am interested which set you would prefer for this type diving. I understand there are better regulators (Scubapro for example) but I am sticking with these two for cost benefit along with decent quality. I think either should be fine for the diving I will be doing. Please let me know if you think this is wrong and these are only meant for recreational dives.

Importance to me:
1)Breathability at depth between the Hog and Dive Rite (think 100-165ft) I am not sure who wins this?
2)Shop Support (I know Dive Rite wins here)
3)Self maintenance (Hog edges out Dive rite because they offer training on their regs but both offer parts kits to the consumer)
4)Cost (Hog edges out Dive Rite here)

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

They are the same regulator and it is top of the line in sealed diaphragm design. If I have to choose between Scubapro MK-17 and Diverite Hog, I would actually buy DR/Hog because during my ice diving course, MK-17s was showing a tad more free-flow prone than Dive Rites. I am not sure what contributes to that but my ice diving buddy owns both and prefers DR under ice.

 

[tbone1004]

don't believe that there are better regulators out there, because the difference is all in personal preference and how they are adjusted. With this amount of experience, if the regulators are tuned properly, you should not be able to notice anything significant between these or any other comparable regulators on the market. There are subtle variations, but not one that is stopping divers from using both of these regulators on deep expedition. We have balanced first stages, with balanced second stages, the breathing is determined in the case design and some other subtle things, but it's really not a huge difference. I dive Poseidons, which are a HUGE difference, but it's a completely different regulator design

1. breathability is more in the tuning, but the XT breathes better in my experience. Marginal, not enough for me to sell a bunch of D1's and buy XT's, but enough that if I was buying new, I would go with XT's.
2. Dive Rite has more, but both are serviced by some of the best shops in the country, Dive Rite obviously has better global support
3. draw here, though if you want to take the course, you do have to own a hog reg, or at least borrow one from somebody. Service procedures are the same though, and you can find the Apeks DST manuals out there, just follow them. That's what we were doing before Hog got around to publishing the manuals.
4. edges out, but barely.

@ Sinbad, no they are not the same regulator, they aren't even made by the same company. Dive Rite's previous series was OEM'd by ODS who makes the D1/Classic, but the current regs are made by a different supplier. They are of similar design, both roughly following the Apeks DST first stage, but the second stages are very different from each other. Personally I believe the XT is a better breathing regulator. The Hog D3 is even better, but again, marginal. The D6 regs are even better than that, but again, marginal.

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

don't believe that there are better regulators out there, because the difference is all in personal preference and how they are adjusted. With this amount of experience, if the regulators are tuned properly, you should not be able to notice anything significant between these or any other comparable regulators on the market. There are subtle variations, but not one that is stopping divers from using both of these regulators on deep expedition. We have balanced first stages, with balanced second stages, the breathing is determined in the case design and some other subtle things, but it's really not a huge difference. I dive Poseidons, which are a HUGE difference, but it's a completely different regulator design

1. breathability is more in the tuning, but the XT breathes better in my experience. Marginal, not enough for me to sell a bunch of D1's and buy XT's, but enough that if I was buying new, I would go with XT's.
2. Dive Rite has more, but both are serviced by some of the best shops in the country, Dive Rite obviously has better global support
3. draw here, though if you want to take the course, you do have to own a hog reg, or at least borrow one from somebody. Service procedures are the same though, and you can find the Apeks DST manuals out there, just follow them. That's what we were doing before Hog got around to publishing the manuals.
4. edges out, but barely.

@ Sinbad, no they are not the same regulator, they aren't even made by the same company. Dive Rite's previous series was OEM'd by ODS who makes the D1/Classic, but the current regs are made by a different supplier. They are of similar design, both roughly following the Apeks DST first stage, but the second stages are very different from each other. Personally I believe the XT is a better breathing regulator. The Hog D3 is even better, but again, marginal. The D6 regs are even better than that, but again, marginal.

So can you use the second stage service kits of Hogs in place of DRs?

 

[tbone1004]

service kit compatibility doesn't make them the same. Apeks has 2 service kits *not including the flight/egress*, one for the first stage, whether it is DST/DS4/UST/FSR/FST whatever, and one for the second stages, TX/ATX/XTX 20/40/50/100/200. They are different, but use the same kits. The service kits are stupid simple, o-rings, diaphragms, and seats. All they are is sealing off things, it is easier to design around the same service kit but change the rest of the internals, whether that is the shuttle, the springs, levers, whatever, the kits do not matter, the design does.

 

[Bigeclipse]

only 2 votes?!? Come on lets get some more votes.

 

[James R]

I tested both on a bench with magnehelic gauge a few years ago, with the XT a winner by a hair - I could tune it a tiny bit lower than the hog without freeflow. In use, I highly doubt anyone could tell the difference. Internally they are not the exact same regs as mentioned above, but close.

I ended up picking the XT since the shop I teach with is a dealer. I did a bunch of deep dives with them, no issues at all. They work great. I know guys with Hog regs that can say the same thing.

Pick which you like, they're so close it doesn't matter as long as they're tuned properly and maintained as needed IMO.

 

[Reku]

As long as you service them every few years or so and they are tuned the way you like them - both would work. Go with what is more convenient for you. That said - I have a bunch of hog d1s.

 

[Michael Guerrero]

If you think you'd like to service your own gear the HOG regs are supported by TDI with a service course. This does save money over time, particularly if you start getting more sets of regs. I have 4 first stages and 6 or 8 2nd stages, and doing the servicing myself on all those saves me a lot of money.