New Regulator Advice

[scubadada]

DVT has always seemed like an unnecessary gimmick to me. The has been at least one recall due to quality/safety issues

 

[eelnoraa]

What do you guys think of the Oceanic Delta 4 or 4.2 FDX10? Other options include the Zeagle Envoy II, Scubapro MK2-Evo, one of the Sherwoods maybe, etc.

Without side tracking the original question, I will give my experience on Oceanic Delta4/FDX10. It was my first or maybe 2nd set of reg. I bought it without know much regulator, and without see many. In terms of performance, it is good. The true is at recreation level, nothing is really that bad.

In terms of build quality, the first stage in general is very solidly build. DVT is a bad feature. The 2nd stage is more or less crap like many AUP 2nd stages. The Delta4 is market as "mechanically balanced". It is in fact can't be considered as balanced. Build quality is on the low side. The worst aspect of Oceanic reg is that, if at all, you realize you need something different, the resale value on them such big time. So not recommended.

 

[Ghosty]

Well it's not too late to return it, still new in box. I read no other bad or even mediocre reviews on it. I will continue to research, but probably will stick with this Oceanic. Thanks for the heads up eelnoraa & scubadada.

 

[flyboy08]

My heads swimming and dang near toxicity!

 

[Ghosty]

Dove five tanks in the Keys a couple weeks ago. Four were with 32% Nitrox, the single (~20ft. shallow) night dive tank was regular air. My deepest dive was the Spiegel Grove wreck, ranged from 80ft. to 100ft. I had no issues with my new Oceanic Delta4.2 / FDX10 setup. Everything good, no issues, no gripes. I played with the manual flow adjustment knob a bit. Only noticed a slight difference in "breathability", so just left it all the way to the "free-est flowing" setting for all the dives. As for mouth fatigue, seemed similar to prior regs, I might consider trying a different mouthpiece to feel it out. Otherwise the reg felt and performed as good as any prior reg I've used.

One note, I do like the swivel connection, but really not a big deal. I would take that off my list of "wants" in future reg shopping.

Unrelated issue: I did get a wake up call with my Aeris A300 CS computer constantly losing connection with the transmitter. Read about this problem on some other reviews, and will be contacting Aeris/Oceanic ASAP. Very dangerous to dive this computer without a backup "mechanical" SPG. I might post a new thread about this, after I talk to Aeris tech-support.

 

[halocline]

Unrelated issue: I did get a wake up call with my Aeris A300 CS computer constantly losing connection with the transmitter. Read about this problem on some other reviews, and will be contacting Aeris/Oceanic ASAP. Very dangerous to dive this computer without a backup "mechanical" SPG.

It should certainly not be very dangerous to dive without a back up SPG. After all, you have a buddy, correct? And always have immediate access to the surface? And some reasonable idea of your air consumption? If your life depends on your AI computer, you're doing something wrong.

Inconvenient, sure. Maybe a little unsettling or scary? Sure. But not very dangerous. That said, this is yet another example of why AI is not something I would bother with.

 

[Ghosty]

Just a personal opinion, but I agree with your points. Yes my instructor was my buddy, I had a reasonable idea based on time under and past dives of rough amount of air left, keeping dive time under 45mins, etc. I wasn't saying your life depends on it, heh. Just "best practices in safety".