I would actually consider switching just to support a small company that manufacturers their regs in the USA,
My feelings! If Atomics gets into Diaphram designs and they are able to make one as good as their piston then I would not buy anything else. I love Atomics but not the ideal reg for my purposes.
---------- Post added November 12th, 2014 at 02:26 PM ----------
Copying from another website. I am wondering if anyone else has had similar experience:-
Strange to read these experiences that y'all have had - they seem very contrary to my own.
I'm diving somewhere in the vicinity of 500 dives a year - that's like 2-3 dives per day, anywhere from 3-4 days a week. Most of my diving is of the seriously dirty variety, with almost no vis, if any at all. My local waters are very salty and silty - and if I'm not cleaning boat bottoms, I'm digging in the mud for fossils. About twice a month I head offshore, where there's vis and blue water - which is still salty and full of plankton. About every other month I actually hit freshwater.
My gear is rarely dry - nightly it goes from the back of my truck into a rinse tank, and then back into the truck the next morning. I keep my regs pressurized almost all the time, since I'm either breathing on them or they're sitting in the rinse tank.
For these reasons, I wanted to avoid any regulator with any grease or silicone exposed to the water. So when I decided to try a Scubapro reg, I decided to use a MK16/S550/R380 combination.
The MK16 lasted about three months before becoming inoperative due to it refusing to hold intermediate pressure. I serviced all three stages of the regulator, and frankly was completely unimpressed with the grade of materials being used inside of them. While Scubapro may brag on their use of "advanced materials" like carbon fiber, graphite-impregnated plastics and titanium, my impression was not good - it all looked (and wore) like cheap plastic, in my opinion. Critical parts should be metal and rubber, in my opinion - stainless steel, brass, and aluminum, depending on the the application... And none of it should be exposed to waterborne contaminants such as silt or salt.
A quick exerpt on this: I do not understand why any regulator manufacturer would make a regulator who's critical parts are exposed directly to the water. With microscopic contaminants even in the cleanest of water, sealing all critical components seems like a good idea in most cases, and necessary in mine. Sealed regs also tend to work better in colder climes than unsealed regs, if you're into that kind of thing. And with no disadvantages to sealing a reg (it's not like it reduces it's performance or anything), why would any regulator NOT be sealed? Anyway, that's just my opinion...
My rebuild seemed only partially effective - it wasn't but a couple of weeks before the MK16 began to leak IP again. So... I had them professionally serviced this time by a local Scubapro dealer, who frankly, was ticked off that I didn't buy the regs from him (they were a Leisurepro purchase - a good thing - which I'll explain in a second) and charged me accordingly. $150 lighter, I went to pick up my regs and caught crap from him about using a long hose primary - which resulted in me finally getting quite insulted by his ignorance and arrogance. To this day, I don't do business with his shop any more - a seriously stupid financial move on his part, given that I'm a working diver and a dive club operator. 'Nuff said on that topic...
Anyway, when I got the regs home I found that not only was IP still not being held in the regs, but my $150 had actually made the problem worse. Frustrated, and with only something like 8 months on the regs, I contacted Leisurepro to ask them for their advice. They told me to send the regs in and that they would service them - but when I explained to them my dive schedule, they offered me - get this - a 100% credit for the price of the regs. I promptly purchased an Apeks ATX200/ATX50 combo and set it up Hogarthian style. Kudos to Leisurepro!
I put almost two years on that reg setup before having it serviced - and not only did it never fail, but it never failed to breathe silky-smooth and dry. I've serviced the regs myself (and been impressed with the quality of the working components of the regs) and had them serviced by authorized dealers (not the same guy as above). These regs are great. They not only outperform any other reg that I've compared it to (usually a Scubapro, Sherwood, or Genesis that my buddies have played with), but do so despite their obvious frequent use in piss-poor conditions.
Since purchasing the ATX200 (which I did to get the improved routing of the ATX200 first stage), I have purchased many additional regs - all of which are ATX50/DS4/ATX50 combinations. If I had to do it all over again I wouldn't bother with the extra expense of the ATX200 - internally, the ATX200 combo and ATX50/DS4 are the same reg - in fact, they even use the same rebuild kit. The difference is simply cosmetic and the fact that the ATX200 first stage is shaped differently than the DS4. Interestingly, the company's "wowie" reg is the "Black Pearl," which is simply an ATX200 combo with a cool gunmetal finish, some etching, and a limited edition number. Funny, though, how the big scuba magazines all give grossly varying reports on the regulators in their "gear tests" - if I remember correctly, the Black Pearl was their vast favorite, with the ATX200 getting rave reviews and big recommendations - yet they weren't at all crazy about the ATX50/DS4 combo, which is internally the same reg. Or something like that... I just remember them having wildly differing opinions on the same equipment when there were different price tags attached.
Anyway, I now own several ATX50/DS4/ATX50 combos - which breathe exactly like my ATX200 combo. And - they not only last, but outperform everything else I've compared them to while being abused. Truly, I'm impressed.
For those of you who don't know, Apeks is owned by Aqualung, and is considered to be Aqualung's "high line," similar to Acura and Honda, Lexus and Toyota, V-dub and Audi, etc.
I'm not sure why anyone here is even talking about the Apeks DST - while otherwise identical to the DS4, the turret on the DST is not only completely unnecessary with DIR hose routing (with either the single or double tank configuration), but provides a totally unneeded failure point - in a first stage (a critical life support piece of gear).
APEKS vs Scubapro - Page 2
