new conshelf 14

has anyone bought a new conshelf 14 recently,i didnt know they still made them anymore till i was crusing als websight,was wondering how much they are going for. hard to beat those old work horses and not many brass bodied regs any more,thanks for any info.

am i the only one that likes brass second stages?

Not at all. I love them. When I am diving single hose regs, they are either Conshelf XIVs or Conshelf XIs. My seconds are a mixture of the various brass 2nds that came on the different Conshelf, Calypso and Aquarius models. Since I don't dive with 2 spgs or 2 lp inflator hoses(thus, staying within the boundaries of the 1 hp, 3 lp) I have no issues at all with them. I even rebuild them myself. Even when I have a double hose reg hooked up to my double tanks, I have a Conshelf hanging off of my second post.
Granted, I never bought a new one. I scored 2 XIVs for $35 from a gentleman in Canada, so I laughed all the way to the bank.

I have numerous brass cased Scubapro Balanced Adjustables and I like them as they offer excellent heat exchange and virtually no dry mouth.

Brass cased second stages are also incredibly durable and I own some that were made in the late 60's. Even after 40 years of use, they have only minor scratching and look much better than the average 2-3 year old plastic cased second stage.

If you ever drop a tank on a plastic cased second stage, you are done diving until you can get the case replaced. Do the same thing with a brass cased reg and, at worst, you'll have to knock out a dent before you continue your diving day.

Plastic cased regs were NOT an improvement in diving technology, they were just a means of reducing production costs and increasing profit margins for scuba companies.

DA Aquamaster:

I have numerous brass cased Scubapro Balanced Adjustables and I like them as they offer excellent heat exchange and virtually no dry mouth.

Brass cased second stages are also incredibly durable and I own some that were made in the late 60's. Even after 40 years of use, they have only minor scratching and look much better than the average 2-3 year old plastic cased second stage.

If you ever drop a tank on a plastic cased second stage, you are done diving until you can get the case replaced. Do the same thing with a brass cased reg and, at worst, you'll have to knock out a dent before you continue your diving day.

Plastic cased regs were NOT an improvement in diving technology, they were just a means of reducing production costs and increasing profit margins for scuba companies.

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I totally agree.

I still think that the Scubapro adjustable second stage is overall the best second stage ever (whether it has been converted to balanced or not). I have converted some of mine to balanced, but not all and they all breathe great. I have bought some used ones that the chrome is in poor shape, but I am sure that they would still work OK after an overhaul.



The Conshelf is also a great regulator (I have about 4 first stages and a couple of second stages). Both the first and second stages are reliable workhorses with excellent performance. I think highly of Aqua Lung (USD) for keeping it around. I suspect the reason they still produce it is due to military and/or commercial diving demands, but my guess is that the volume of sales is still small. It would be real shame if they discontinued it. This regulator has been around for close to 40 years virtually unchanged and there is no need to change it.

i have been using brass seconds and probably wont use anything else,i retired my plastic second,hate the dry mouth. i have a calypso from the early 70s,a aquarious from about the same time and a sp r109, plan on sending that one to DA to work his majic on when dive season slows down some.

I've been getting mine off Ebay and once off scubaboard used and rebuilding to good as new. My wife and kid and I all use them. The new ones can be had thru a dealer, and cost a mint. I never get dry mouth w/ them, and I don't worry on international trips about having to take them as carry on, or having them in my backpack. If they get crushed in transit nothing else I owned survived as well.

red_barbarian:

I've been getting mine off Ebay and once off scubaboard used and rebuilding to good as new. My wife and kid and I all use them. The new ones can be had thru a dealer, and cost a mint. I never get dry mouth w/ them, and I don't worry on international trips about having to take them as carry on, or having them in my backpack. If they get crushed in transit nothing else I owned survived as well.

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That's how I started, with a pair of XIVs off of ebay. I now have a pair of XIs(and 4 double hose regs) as well. The XIV is so far my favorite single hose.