My wife has been pushing me to "modernize" my gear. I haven't bought a significant piece of dive gear since 2005. I recently taught my daughter to dive and told my wife that I would re-kit one of my older regs for her.... She cocked her head, said, "no f*n way you're giving some of that old 'junk' to her to dive with"..... which lead to the discussion if I really should be diving with "old junk" myself.
I never saw it as old junk. I have a calypso, an impulse, a titan, a first-generation legend, an an Aquarius from something like 1972..... it all works so I was like .. what's the problem?
But one of my regs is down and I can't dive with it until it has been serviced. One (the calypso) was a purchase I regret. I've been using it as a stage reg because it has a low-profile 1st stage but ... in actual fact... It's kind of retarded to do so because we dive in water in the winter that gets down to about 2C.
The legend needs all new hoses and a rebuild.
the titan needs 2 new hoses and a rebuild.
The impulse needs all new hoses and a rebuild. Moreover, the primary is free-flowing and it's the calypso design from like 1998 or something. The free flow can be stopped but I've been using it in the pool and it hasn't been serviced ... "for a while". That's the reg that's down.
The calypso works fine but I put the Impulse octopus on it for using in the pool and my daughter told me that it was breathing wet when we did some of the OW exercises in the pool.
So I'm like... ugh...... I'm staring down the barrel of 500-600 Euros of maintenance costs (much of it overdue).
I talked to my buddy about it today and asked him if he was as worried about my gear as my wife. I'll spare you the whole discussion but the advice I got from him was
1) sell the impulse
2) sell the calypso
3) turn your titan into your stage reg
4) turn your legend into your pool kit / vacation reg
5) buy two new regs for your open water gear (we dive in doubles)
He told me to sell the Aquarius too but that was my uncle's reg. I have no intention of diving with it but it's the ONLY thing I have to hold on to that's his. He was one of my favorite people EVER. He died in 1988 and he's the one who got me into diving. I'm emotionally attached to it ... and I made about 500 dives with it when I was newly certified.... I can't let that one go even if it has no function.
A fin.
My buddy told me to buy two Apeks regs. A... (I think) DS4 and an XTX20 or XTX200 or something. He said they're cheaper than Aqualungs and pretty much as good.
I have no experience with Apeks regs. All my regs (as you can see) have been Aqualungs and none of them are modern. I'm nervous about trying a new brand because I've made a fucton of dives with aqualung regs and I've come to trust them intrinsically. But I REALLY need to do something about this overdue maintenance problem and new Aqualungs are REALLY expensive where I live.
So..... functionality.
I presently dive to a maximum of about 50m and I don't see myself diving deeper than about 75 meters at any point in the near future.
I dive with a twin set and don't make more than about 1/2 hour of deco on a dive.
I make about 100 dives a year. About 1/2 of those are technical in nature. The rest could be described as "puddle stomping".
I dive in cold water, down to 2C or below in the winter
I'm accustomed to diving with an aqualung so the work-of-breathing needs to be the same ball park
I have a hard head about balanced 2nd stages. I'm not willing to buy a new reg that doesn't have a balanced 2nd.
So two questions:
1) could the apeks really fit that need?
2) is there another reg that's widely available in western Europe that could do the same for a not too astronomical price?
R..
I never saw it as old junk. I have a calypso, an impulse, a titan, a first-generation legend, an an Aquarius from something like 1972..... it all works so I was like .. what's the problem?
But one of my regs is down and I can't dive with it until it has been serviced. One (the calypso) was a purchase I regret. I've been using it as a stage reg because it has a low-profile 1st stage but ... in actual fact... It's kind of retarded to do so because we dive in water in the winter that gets down to about 2C.
The legend needs all new hoses and a rebuild.
the titan needs 2 new hoses and a rebuild.
The impulse needs all new hoses and a rebuild. Moreover, the primary is free-flowing and it's the calypso design from like 1998 or something. The free flow can be stopped but I've been using it in the pool and it hasn't been serviced ... "for a while". That's the reg that's down.
The calypso works fine but I put the Impulse octopus on it for using in the pool and my daughter told me that it was breathing wet when we did some of the OW exercises in the pool.
So I'm like... ugh...... I'm staring down the barrel of 500-600 Euros of maintenance costs (much of it overdue).
I talked to my buddy about it today and asked him if he was as worried about my gear as my wife. I'll spare you the whole discussion but the advice I got from him was
1) sell the impulse
2) sell the calypso
3) turn your titan into your stage reg
4) turn your legend into your pool kit / vacation reg
5) buy two new regs for your open water gear (we dive in doubles)
He told me to sell the Aquarius too but that was my uncle's reg. I have no intention of diving with it but it's the ONLY thing I have to hold on to that's his. He was one of my favorite people EVER. He died in 1988 and he's the one who got me into diving. I'm emotionally attached to it ... and I made about 500 dives with it when I was newly certified.... I can't let that one go even if it has no function.
A fin.
My buddy told me to buy two Apeks regs. A... (I think) DS4 and an XTX20 or XTX200 or something. He said they're cheaper than Aqualungs and pretty much as good.
I have no experience with Apeks regs. All my regs (as you can see) have been Aqualungs and none of them are modern. I'm nervous about trying a new brand because I've made a fucton of dives with aqualung regs and I've come to trust them intrinsically. But I REALLY need to do something about this overdue maintenance problem and new Aqualungs are REALLY expensive where I live.
So..... functionality.
I presently dive to a maximum of about 50m and I don't see myself diving deeper than about 75 meters at any point in the near future.
I dive with a twin set and don't make more than about 1/2 hour of deco on a dive.
I make about 100 dives a year. About 1/2 of those are technical in nature. The rest could be described as "puddle stomping".
I dive in cold water, down to 2C or below in the winter
I'm accustomed to diving with an aqualung so the work-of-breathing needs to be the same ball park
I have a hard head about balanced 2nd stages. I'm not willing to buy a new reg that doesn't have a balanced 2nd.
So two questions:
1) could the apeks really fit that need?
2) is there another reg that's widely available in western Europe that could do the same for a not too astronomical price?
R..
