Titan vs. Atomic Z2

Where can I go to find a side by side comparison of the two regulators? I currently have the Titan and it is fairly new...40 dives...and can get a great price on a new Atomic Z2. I would like to upgrade only if there would be a significant improvement in performance. The Titan is ok and the price was right.

Not a lot of shops have the Z2 (or any Atomic in rentals). Regardless, the Z-2 is a great performing reg and tough to go wrong with.

Thanks, I take that as a vote for going with the Atomic Z2.

If that is a Titan LX then I seriously doubt there will be much difference and the difference may be in favor of the Titan. However, it never hurts to have another nice regulator set. N

If you go the Atomic site, Atomic Aquatics - the World's First Titanium Regulator and click on the Product Reviews link there is an article from 2006. I believe it is "Best new regs of 2006" from Scuba Diving magazine that compares the Atomics and several others. There was not a Titan but there were three flavors of legends reviewed. Interesting article comparing the different features and performance.

In my experience trying to sell people regulators, most can't tell the difference in breathing between the bottom of the line regulator and the top of the line $1500 regulator while in the shop. This makes it hard to convince someone to spend another hundred or more on a regulator that really is better. When breathing a regulator at the surface, generally they won't perform as well as they do even in just a few feet of water. A side by side comparison on the surface tells one very little how either of them will perform at depth. This is why the magazines test breathing performance on a several thousand dollar machine.
Secondly, in the all Atomic second stages, they have what they call an AFC. It serves the same purpose as the venturi switch you see on many regulators now, which is to prevent a freeflowing regulator on the surface. However it is done automatically in the Atomics (hence the absence of a switch) and doesn't open up until you reach a certain depth which I believe is about 15 feet. So breathing an Atomic hooked up to a tank in the shop, you can expect that it will do better at depth.

OK, before I go too far off on a tangent, I can assure you that the Z2 will breathe just as well, in any condition as the T2 which cost around 4x more. In addition to this, The Atomic line of regulators consistently tops the charts as the best breathers on the market. Personally, I would buy the Z2.

TimAZ:

Not a lot of shops have the Z2 (or any Atomic in rentals). Regardless, the Z-2 is a great performing reg and tough to go wrong with.

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We put Atomic Z2 in our rental department. I am surprised more dealers don't do this. It wasn't very expensive to do so, and everyone loves the Z2. Mantaining them is easier and cheaper that I ever expected.

Atomic makes the best regulators on the market. You will be very happy with your purchase.

Arcaporale, thank you. I have the Titan (not Titan LX) and anything after 50ft requires more effort. I thought it was me at first and had the req. serviced but no change. I appreciate the input from all. Thanks for the link ChuckWagon.

I have 3 atomics in my fleet of regs they are my first choice for any cold water or deep diving

I have had the M1 dow to 200ft breaths as nice there as it did at 20 feet and have used z2 wich i have 2 down past 165 ft

Even tho these dive were on mix "makes regs breather easyer "

I have been on support diver on a dive were M1's have been down 420 ft in really cold water 32Deg bottom temp

Get the Z2 its a killer and reg and you can make it a awsome cold water reg just by sleaing it up and stealing parts from the m1

I'd try the Z2. My guess is that you will be impressed.

For an extra $20 or so you can get the extra wide exhaust deflector from the M1 - it's worth the upgrade IMO.