Mixed Apeks 1st stages - DS4 left, DST right?

[Johanan]

Hi!

Someone wrote he used an Apeks DS4 on his left post and a DST on the right. The DST has its LP's on a swiveling turret. He felt, it made the air sharing situations easier because the long hose was not bent or strained so much.

What say you?

 

[Tortuga68]

If your long hose is bent or strained during air sharing then you're doing it wrong... also you're introducing another 2 o-rings/potential failure point with the turret. In short I think the potential benefits are limited and it's not without downside

Having said that, I do like DSTs for deco regs for exactly that reason (turret) but failures on stage bottle regs are a bit easier to deal with than backgas

What regs did you wind up buying, the Tek3/DSTs?

 

[Johanan]

Still hesitating. I considered The Tek3 but they turned out to be quite expensive and I read that they are not so much different from the DS4. I read also some very positive reviews on the FST. In fact for my needs the DS4 should be more than enough. Only the non standard LP port puzzles me. Which one of the three would you preffer?

My thoughts on the hose bending were more theoretical. So far I had to share the air only during the drills. But if it was a good idea, I still have a chance to buy DS4 + DST.

There must be a deep night in Shanghai now? :shocked2:

 

[Tortuga68]

It's after 1am, nearly bed time... mid-Autumn holiday on Monday, although I'll be working anyway

The internals & performance of most Apeks regs, with the exception of the Flight, are fairly similar. Tek3s are closest to FST but designed as a left and right pair for better hose routing on doubles - not so handly for singles

It depends what you think you're going to do in the future but I wouldn't be buying dedicated doubles regs at this stage of your diving if I were you. Most people wind up having a dedicated single tank reg still anyway even when they go to doubles

I would suggest looking at an FST, the performance is as good as FSR or Tek3, but they're better suited to single tank use, and you can use them as a pair for doubles later if you want

Alternatively you could get a DST or DS4, and convert it to a stage/deco reg later. I guess by 'non-standard LP port' you mean the 1/2" port, which was only on the earlier ATX series, not the current XTX. There's no benefit to the 1/2" ports and the downside is that you need to use either a dedicated hose, an adaptor, or plug them and use another port (the latter is easy to do on DSTs but not so on the models with fixed port positions)

 

[Johanan]

Thanks for the advise!

The internals & performance of most Apeks regs, with the exception of the Flight, are fairly similar.

This is what I heared also about the second stages - XTX 200, 100 and 50, that technically they are all the same and differences are just cosmetical. Is it really so?

It's after 1am, nearly bed time...

Have a good night rest!

 

[Tortuga68]

This is what I heared also about the second stages - XTX 200, 100 and 50, that technically they are all the same and differences are just cosmetical. Is it really so?

Yes, they are identical apart from some cosmetics. The parts are interchangeable, function is identical

Even the 40s and 20s are the same with the exception of the breathing adjustment knob and the heat exchanger - both of which can be retrofitted (in other words, you can convert any Apeks second stage to any other model just by swapping a few parts)

BTW feel free to send me a PM if you want, easier than finding your threads - since I seem to be the only one responding!

 

[Centrals]

I am using a DS-4 on the left post with a swivel joint for the octo.
An old FSR(ATX) for the right post. The 1/2" port is bad design.
A DST with a 40" hose for the 100% deco.
There are enough o-rings in the system so an extra one in DST shouldn't make much difference.

A DST wth the 5th port might be a good idea on the left post. I can do without the swivel because the octo can attach to the 5th port stress free.

 

[Tortuga68]

FWIW it's 2 extra o-rings with the DST, not one (compared to DS4). Then you've got your swivel joint as well...

Personally I like to keep things that are behind my head where I can't see them as simple as possible

 

[Johanan]

Yes, they are identical apart from some cosmetics. The parts are interchangeable, function is identical

Even the 40s and 20s are the same with the exception of the breathing adjustment knob and the heat exchanger - both of which can be retrofitted (in other words, you can convert any Apeks second stage to any other model just by swapping a few parts)

Yeah, it's funny to come to this conclusion at the end - after reading so many reviews where 50, 100, 200 are treated as different models which perform and breathe differently... I think, I stay with the XTX50s and save some euros on cosmetics to afford the FST.

BTW feel free to send me a PM if you want - since I seem to be the only one responding!

Thank you! I appreciate that! Have a good day and happy mid-Autumn holyday!

Jonh

P.S. What the FWIW and HTH stand for?

 

[Johanan]

Thanks, Centrals for your input! I feel, I have still a long way to go to the 100% deco bottles... But thanks anyway!