Help needed buying my first regulator...

[elan]

I would go with Apeks they seem to have a better resale value at least here.

As for the fins get blades. They give more precise control. If you worry about miles per hour get a scooter.

[Colliam7]

leaning towards the AL Titan Lx - I'm struggling to find anyone with anything bad to say about it

Good reg, nothing wrong with it. I happen to like Apeks regs, myself, but you won't be unhappy with the AL Titan. Should be serviceable in Thailand. However, one comment - your OP said you are going there to do DM. I presume you have already linked up with the / a training center, where you will do DM. Not a bad idea to be sure that they don't have expectations of DM candidates with regard to brands of gear they want them to use. Probably, not an issue. But, best to be sure before you arrive and find they want even the DM candidates to use 'X', 'Y', or 'Z' brands, which don't happen to be Aqualung or Mares.

As for the console - thanks got the suggestions - I hadn't really considered 'slimming down' to just the SPG - I've got a dive computer already (Suunto D4), so why over complicate and duplicate thins I guess..?!

Definitely a better way to go. I, too, find the 1.5" SPG a bit on the small side. Either a 2" or 2.5" should work well. Also, I personally find a compass on a retractor, clipped on a should strap of my BCD, to be easy to use u/w. Some people really are opposed to retractors, but I am not one of them. I also dive a wrist mount compass and it works well. Either approach is as / more efficient than a console unit.

Has anybody got an opinion on Mares Raptors, or split fins in general... as in, how do they compare to performance of more conventional blade fins?!

Given what you are going to Thailand to do, I would suggest that a simpler, sturdier - and, less expensive - set of blade fins would be preferable. If you like Mares, why not go Quattro, or X3? Cheaper, better propulsion. If you are young and fit, have good knees and leg strength, do you need splits? Or, depending on YOUR bouyancy / trim characteristics, even a set of ScubaPro Jets? Heavier, but good propulsion, to swim after those tourist OW divers who are sinking because they are overweighted, or drifitng away in the current?

[Fishpie]

Fins......cant go wrong with Mares HP or Tre full foot.
Still the best non freediving fins around and about the least expensive.

[beaverdivers]

The White Scubapro Nova fins are excellent for DiveMasters. Very easy to follow!

[Fishpie]

I use different colour fins.....more expensive but you've always got a spare set and you know which one goes on the right foot!!!!

[beaverdivers]

Great Idea!

[Fishpie]

I've been using Mares HP ff for more than 20 years.....I liked the orange and neon green combo but they haven't sold the orange in years.
Current colours are neon yellow and green.
I do like white.....great in lower vis. Had a DM with some white Liberators....stuck out like a sore thumb.

[Jim Lapenta]

I'm curious as to why you do not yet have all your own gear if you are entering DM training? What is the operation in Thailand providing in the way of gear? You may get there and find out they have full sets of rental stuff you can use. Unless you plan on staying there for the long haul and working I'd not spend a butt load of money on gear. A basic warm water reg set that can be easily serviced and used but still serviceable BC would be fine. How many different gear configurations have you used. I'd expect a DM I trained to at least have tried most of the recreational ones and have some knowledge of all of them. As a DM you should be able to take any set of gear and look good in it. Now I am biased to a degree as a dealer and someone who services their own gear but I also do not recommend stuff based solely on brands I sell.

Reg choices would be:
Edge Epic Cold set and take a few kits with me
Sherwood Brut set
Zeagle Resort
HOG D-1 with cold kit
I would not choose Aqualung or Scuba Pro out of principle but that's just me.

BC
Zeagle Express Tech basic with 30 or 35 lb bladder
HOG Al plate and 23 lb travel wing
HOG SS plate and 32lb wing
Used jacket BC that you would not mind leaving or tossing when it gets too grungy

Fins:
Basic lightweight paddle fin of damn near any brand. I would not pay more than $100 for a pair of fins

[halocline]

You are going to be a Dive Master, a diving professional. You need the best gear that you can get for your money, the best value. Scubapro is the best value.

It would be good if a mod could send you a polite message about using this forum as blatant advertising without any identifying feature disclosing you as a scubapro dealer. For the OP, disregard his post as nothing more than a sales pitch.

The aqualung titan is a fine reg, and is MORE than sufficient for divemaster. The DM program is still recreational diving, and a large part of it is demonstrating skills to OW students in less than 20 feet of water. Believe me, any reg will work. some of the hardest working DMs in Cozumel, guys that guide many hundreds of dives annually, use regulators that most dive shop monkeys might tell you are not suitable for a bathtub.

The first step is to find out if the shop you're interning at (and the area in general) uses primarily DIN or yoke fittings. Buy accordingly, or you'll regret it.

Next, along the lines of what Jim said, is the idea that you are apparently unfamiliar enough with dive gear to know whether or not you can change hoses....not a good sign for a budding DM. But, you can learn this stuff pretty easily in the right situation.

I'd stay away from a console, and get a wrist computer and a simple SPG instead. Take a look at some websites that discuss hogarthian dive gear principles, and you'll be surprised at how much of a departure technical divers' set ups are from the typical 'fat-ass-BC-with-octo-inflator' (sorry that might have been a bit out of line....) that's pushed by OW classes and many of the shops. Anyhow, the reason I mention that is that if you do end up working as a DM someday, it's nice to bring something different to the education of new divers. There are some things that the hogarthian guys have figured out that really do make OW diving more fun, convenient, and possibly safer.

Of course, that's only my humble opinion....but don't listen to the hype about ' high end regulator X is needed for being a DM"