Ok, I finally had to break down and try it . and you know what... well before I tell you I'll give you a bit of history.
I have been diving for 30 years. and I have come full circle. in the early 80s I was given a chrome plated brass relic. US Divers Calypso. I had what in my early years of diving seemed to be an old piece of junk. all of my diving friends had really cool plastic regs with neon colors. I was ashamed of my junk until.... I had my own plastic piece of crap. well to make a long story short I soon realized that my old Calypso was really a trusty friend that would never let me down, and would out last all of the modern High tech junk that I had spent alot of money on. as the years passed I found myself acquiring alot of really cool old regs that were born years before I was. and I have truly become a minimalist. my favorite way of diving is alone, no wet suit no BCD no Spg just a "J" valve on my tank and my Royal Aquamaster. and occasionally I'll dive my trusty Calypso in the same fashion so it wont feel abandoned ever again. So now That Ive become a Salty old bastard ( maybe not that old) with thousands of dives to reminisce on and many successful dives on various Double hose regs. just to be clear any successful dive is one that I return from. So... with all that being said, I wasn't very surprised when everyone poo pooed the new Mistral. My own gut reaction was that its a plastic piece of garbage and not worth wasting your money on. well maybe its worth taking a second look at. A new dive shop in town here had one on the shelf, the owner A french guy is a diver that I respect. when I asked him how that thing performed and expecting to hear the worst because of my own biased opinion and because of all the negative press that I have read, I was surprised when he told me It was very nice and in his opinion better than the relics that I dive with. time passed and the thought of that thing out performing my Royal Aquamaster festered inside me. I had to try it
so without high expectation I did a solo dive with the new Mistral. I wanted it to breath poorly, but it didnt. I wanted it to be uncomfortable, but it wasn't. I oriented my self in just about every position and I'll be Damned, it really out performed my RAM in every way, I had to have it. I traded my French friend a sweet Poseidon Cyklon and a Scubapro S600 with a mark 25 first stage for it.
Ok.. it's ugly kinda makes you look like the predator, and that short LP hose is stupid. Aqualung could have come up with a much better design. I like it, well I love it. the adjustable mouth piece is great. The hoses are perfectly weighted thanks to Frenchy. It breaths oh so nice very smooth I wonder if it came out of the box breathing well or if Frenchy tweeked it. This particular one is a carbon fiber 50th Anniversary reg.
Before all of you Vintage divers start calling me a trader you should test drive one and formulate your own opinion about it. cheers
I have been diving for 30 years. and I have come full circle. in the early 80s I was given a chrome plated brass relic. US Divers Calypso. I had what in my early years of diving seemed to be an old piece of junk. all of my diving friends had really cool plastic regs with neon colors. I was ashamed of my junk until.... I had my own plastic piece of crap. well to make a long story short I soon realized that my old Calypso was really a trusty friend that would never let me down, and would out last all of the modern High tech junk that I had spent alot of money on. as the years passed I found myself acquiring alot of really cool old regs that were born years before I was. and I have truly become a minimalist. my favorite way of diving is alone, no wet suit no BCD no Spg just a "J" valve on my tank and my Royal Aquamaster. and occasionally I'll dive my trusty Calypso in the same fashion so it wont feel abandoned ever again. So now That Ive become a Salty old bastard ( maybe not that old) with thousands of dives to reminisce on and many successful dives on various Double hose regs. just to be clear any successful dive is one that I return from. So... with all that being said, I wasn't very surprised when everyone poo pooed the new Mistral. My own gut reaction was that its a plastic piece of garbage and not worth wasting your money on. well maybe its worth taking a second look at. A new dive shop in town here had one on the shelf, the owner A french guy is a diver that I respect. when I asked him how that thing performed and expecting to hear the worst because of my own biased opinion and because of all the negative press that I have read, I was surprised when he told me It was very nice and in his opinion better than the relics that I dive with. time passed and the thought of that thing out performing my Royal Aquamaster festered inside me. I had to try it
so without high expectation I did a solo dive with the new Mistral. I wanted it to breath poorly, but it didnt. I wanted it to be uncomfortable, but it wasn't. I oriented my self in just about every position and I'll be Damned, it really out performed my RAM in every way, I had to have it. I traded my French friend a sweet Poseidon Cyklon and a Scubapro S600 with a mark 25 first stage for it.
Ok.. it's ugly kinda makes you look like the predator, and that short LP hose is stupid. Aqualung could have come up with a much better design. I like it, well I love it. the adjustable mouth piece is great. The hoses are perfectly weighted thanks to Frenchy. It breaths oh so nice very smooth I wonder if it came out of the box breathing well or if Frenchy tweeked it. This particular one is a carbon fiber 50th Anniversary reg.
Before all of you Vintage divers start calling me a trader you should test drive one and formulate your own opinion about it. cheers
. I was lucky enough to find two 8lbs rolls of lead in the river a while back so i figured id make use of it to fashion some rings. I made a prototype 1/2lbs ring and it looks quite professional so im gonna make a few more.
