The New Scubapro Regulator

[Mpscubatoytech]

Has anyone dive the new Scubapro A700 yet? How was it? what do you like about it?

 

[Belce]

I sent Scubapro an email this week on this and the reply was they had not yet released the A700 outside of Scubapro, so the only info on this reg would be that from Scubapro presentations such as their media event back in January.

 

[MarkUK]

I dived a prototype MK25/A700 at the launch event in Italy in January, and I am supposed to be getting a production model in the next week or two for our group top-price reg test. I was impressed with the look and the performance of the prototype, and I presume the production version will perform exactly the same. Be good to get hold of it and take it for some proper dives here in the UK.

Mark

 

[Belce]

Well here I have been informed that the arrival of this item is for the Spring meaning June/July....

 

[redacted]

Diveinn says they will have it in a month: Scubapro MK25 A700. Regulators Regulators, Scubastore.com, buy, offers, scuba

 

[Belce]

No doubt, I am in North America though and things are different.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

It sounds like the usual SP release pattern - limited testing by their sales reps in warm water pretty fish locations and media folks followed by an introduction in Britain with (maybe) a later release in the US - which is about when any bugs in the design or production processes show up.

Just once I'd love to see them send them to real users (cave divers, technical divers, cold water/ice divers etc) and SP technicians who will both use them in demanding conditions and ferret out any potential issues before they ramp up to series production. They'd get a much wider base of testing experience and a lot more input that would speed the evolution of the design without running the risk of a new design getting a black eye from minor developmental problems (like the X650 recall mess that basically eroded confidence in the reg a few months after it was introduced.)

 

[ONESPEED]

Just once I'd love to see them send them to real users (cave divers, technical divers, cold water/ice divers etc)

So divers in warm climates aren't "real" users? Interesting.

I've been offered a loaner MK25/A700 when they arrive and will post a report after diving it even though I am apparently not a "real" user.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

So divers in warm climates aren't "real" users? Interesting.

I've been offered a loaner MK25/A700 when they arrive and will post a report after diving it even though I am apparently not a "real" user.

Real versus not real is not the issue - but warm water versus cold water is definitely the issue. Feel free to take it diving in 32-45 degree water and then post a report that will mean something to everyone, not just warm water divers.

But then again expecting an unbiased or well writtne report may be asking a lot given that you completely changed the context of my quote. When you take:

"Just once I'd love to see them send them to real users (cave divers, technical divers, cold water/ice divers etc)..." but cut off "...and SP technicians who will both use them in demanding conditions and ferret out any potential issues..."

it totally changes the meaning.

In other words, SP needs to send it to:

1. real users (real world divers)
2. technicians (who know one end of the reg from the other and could point out potential service issues), and
3. divers who will use them in demanding conditions (dirty water, cold water, deep diving, etc)

Doing that would tell them a whole lot more about a reg than doing "tests" on warm water shallow reef dives where even a crappy reg can put in an acceptable level of performance.

 

[NudeDiver]

So divers in warm climates aren't "real" users? Interesting. I've been offered a loaner MK25/A700 when they arrive and will post a report after diving it even though I am apparently not a "real" user.

You're making an unwarranted assumption simply because DA didn't post an exhaustive list of diving types and styles in his short list.

But even if DA was motivated to slight the "unreal users" it was pretty clear that what he really was getting at in post #7, which he has since spelled out in detail in post #9 (in response to your objection about being excluded from the real diver list), is putting the product through significant stress testing under extreme conditions - not something that usually comes to mind when one thinks of warm water reef dives.

FWIW, new jet aircraft designs have their wings tested to stresses FAR BEYOND anything they will be expected to face in "real world" use. DA is calling for similar testing in regulator design - with the exception that some people will in fact use them this way. So, in this case, it's really more testing to the extreme edges of real world use, rather than "beyond real world" use - as is the case with aircraft wings.

Please don't go looking for insults when there was clearly no intent to post them