Welcome to ScubaBoard, an online scuba diving forum community where you can join over 205,000 divers diving from around the world. If the topic is related to scuba diving, this is the place to find divers talking about it. To gain full access to ScubaBoard (and make this large box go away) you must register for a free account. As a registered member you will be able to:
Participate in over 500 dive topic forums and browse from over 5,500,000 posts.
Communicate privately with other divers from around the world.
Post your own photos or view from well over 100,000 user submitted images.
Gain access to our free classifieds marketplace to buy, sell and trade gear, travel and services.
Use the calendar to organize your events and enroll in other members' events.
Find a dive buddy or communicate directly with scuba equipment manufacturers.
All this and much more is available to you absolutely free when you register for an account, so sign up today!
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact the ScubaBoard Support Team.
I've been diving doubles with my current regs ( Aqualung Titans) for about 2 years now. They have worked great with well over 100 dives. Ive taken them to 130fsw with no issues at all. The only complaint I really have with them is the hose routing.Hose routing was never an issue when I used them for single configuration. My hoses tend to spider out of my first stages and at one point two hoses cross in front of the isolation valve on my manifold. The routing issue has always botherd me, but I managed to deal with it. Not until I saw a video of myself shot with my buddies Go-Pro camera did I realize how bad the hoses actually were. I've decided that its time to get a set of regs strictly for diving doubles. I have been doing some research and have narrowed down to 3. The top three choices I have made are Apeks Tec 3's with xtx50's HOG with cold water kits, and Dive Rite ( The latter 2 can be seen on DGE website ) I know there are alot of DNYers who dive doubles. What regs do you use, and if you had to pick one of my 3 choices which woould it be. Of course if there is another out there that I should give another look at, please feel free to let me know which one. Thanks for any input you may have.
HOGs. No brainer for me. Even before becoming a dealer they are the route I went. High performance, self serviceable, and the price was less than half of all the others I looked at. Been diving them for three years now with no issues at all.
I dive Apeks Tek-3 regs on my doubles. They're "dolled" up DS4 regs really. The difference being slightly better hose routing, but I still like to have Miflex hoses on the wing inflator and back-up reg to deal with the tightest bends. The upshot is very "clean" hose routing.
I briefly owned a set of Hog regs and dove them on doubles, and the hose routing is really nice with the port at the bottom of the turret.
I've also dived a set of ScubaPro MK10 regs, paired with G250 2nd stages, and that's a very nice set-up as well, with the long hose coming off the bottom port in the turret. Similar to the HOG regs, but without the balance chamber peeking out in front of the valve handles. Those too had very clean hose routing.
The Apeks DST regs with the 5th port upgrade is a nice option too - essentially identical to the HOG regs ... or vice versa
The new ScubaPro regs - MK25 I think - routes similar to the HOG and Apeks DST and old SP MK10, but is supposedly trickier to service, and - like the MK10 - requires a dealer willing to sell you parts on the side.
As for service and parts availability (if you do your own service), Apeks and SP are less easy to get parts for. That said, I've stocked a healthy stash of parts for both with no problems ... other than cost The old SP regs are very easy to service, and the Apeks aren't too bad either. I have no experience with HOG or new SP regs.
So, if I were to choose, I would probably go with diaphragm 1st stages. And second to that choose the reg that gave me the - to me - nicest hose routing.
I dive Apeks Tek-3 regs on my doubles. They're "dolled" up DS4 regs really. The difference being slightly better hose routing, but I still like to have Miflex hoses on the wing inflator and back-up reg to deal with the tightest bends. The upshot is very "clean" hose routing.
I am not sure if the cause was the particular isolation manifold valve I owned, but the hoses coming down from the Tek-3's I formally owned were bent quite a lot while bypassing the cylinders...
I am not sure if the cause was the particular isolation manifold valve I owned, but the hoses coming down from the Tek-3's I formally owned were bent quite a lot while bypassing the cylinders...
I know H valves are a tad shorter than say the Thermos I have. Maybe by 1/2" or so. AFAIK some cylinders have a slightly shorter neck as well.
And yes, the inflator hose and the back-up reg hose *do* bend quite a bit, even with the angled outlet of the Tek-3s and (taller) Thermo valves. It's been done for years with no apparent problems, so I'm thinking it's not really an issue. But I still use Miflex hoses there for exactly that reason.
As an aside: I don't really care for Miflex hoses anywhere else - well, my drysuit inflator hose is Miflex as well, but that's it.
I'll throw my 2 psi into the mix, but I'm repeating what most people have already said. The Apeks TEK3 or DS4's will give you a fairly neat routing, but can put a lot of bend in some of the hoses. Going with something that has a bottom port makes hose routing very clean without the stress. I currently use the ScubaPro MK25's with S600's. I am slowly working to replace those with Apeks DST's with the fifth port. I have one reg at this point waiting to find another one on line for not too much money. I may also sell the ScubaPros and buy the second reg. As mentioned, the MK25's are great regs, but are complicated to service (I sat through it), and I like the compact DST diaphram regs.
2Likes
LinkBack URL
About LinkBacks
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by HenrikBP
