hello new diver, looking into buying midrange gear, maybe used and just get them serviced at a local dive shop(for the regs) found a couple good deals online, need advice on what to choose.
Frankly, as a new diver, I would avoid used regulators like the plague, regardless of the brand, having worked on equipment for years -- and having seen my fair share of regulators for sale, reduced to paperweights by outright neglect or from barely-there maintenance -- and there had even been a clumsy effort at concealing
rodent damage to a pricey full face mask / regulator combo that I had serviced, a few years ago, and whose seller astonishingly asked if the hole could just be patched like a bicycle tire!
All said, after parts and replacement costs and service, that client had eventually been within only about 250.00 of a
new FFM, minus the headaches and the typical eBay / Paypal circle-jerk.
Brass, as a rule, is a decent heatsink, though is notoriously soft as an alloy and easy to damage; and you won't know what you don't know, until you have it serviced. A couple of scratched sealing surfaces = a hefty paperweight, to go along with a tacky nautically-themed office, along with a poncy brass diving helmet and some kitschy, multicolored glass floats.
Even if some used deal looks great online and is nicely photographed (and who cannot produce one nowadays?), there's no telling what you have on hand. I had a friend, when I was in Mexico, who waxed and polished his Chevrolet truck (humorously pronounced "Chevroulette" down there) until you could see your reflection in it along with the blazing Baja sun -- washed it on a weekly basis, if not more frequently; always looked like it came new from a dealership; but he managed to trash the engine by
never checking the oil --
no kidding -- all surface appearance and nothing under the hood.
There are a number of new mid-range regulators, nowadays, that won't break the bank or cost hundreds in maintenance (HOG, DGX, etc), after those inevitable used gear overhaul charges and the frequently cracked hoses that have to be replaced. I would also advise you to purchase brands that will eventually sell you their parts and service kits, should you ever desire to work on your own gear, down the line -- otherwise, it's just a manufacturer's con.
It's far more likely, for example, to get serial offers for Rick & Morty blotter acid during any five minute walk in San Francisco, than it is to legitimately obtain ScubaPro service kits.
I recently worked on a regulator for a friend, who, in horse-riding parlance, "rode it hard and put it away wet." It looked superficially OK, but all four hoses eventually required replacement and they're not cheap; some rubberized components in the second stages had to go; and it required two trips through an ultrasonic cleaner and action with an old electric toothbrush before work could even be begun -- there had been that much saltwater corrosion and verdigris. Surprisingly, aside from a slightly discolored sintered filter, you'd have little idea the extent of damage inside.
It was nearly 200.00 in hoses before any real servicing began; close to 100.00 for the internal 2nd stage components; and almost 100.00 in rebuild kits (the first stage and two seconds) which I sold to him at my cost. The servicing itself had been on my dime but could easily run over a hundred dollars, if not far more, at a local dive shop -- and they would have never put in the time that I did to get it back to specs, since servicing makes the least amount of money for the shops, for the time involved -- mostly, it's from those padded WTF classes and trips to Micronesia.
Save yourself the headache; don't buy someone else's problem, and buy new; the rodent bite to that full face mask component, alone, ran a cool US 250.00 . . .
www.piranhadivemfg.com
