Recommendations for Easy Breathing Regs?

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cogito222

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I finished the pool portion of my SSI Open Diver certification yesterday. I had the less-expensive rental regulator and less fancy BC. I don't know the brands. The reg looked plasticky. I labored to breathe all day. The instructor said he wanted us to be used to both a better regulator (Scuba Pro S600?) the first day and a typical rental one the 2nd day. What a difference.

I loved diving the first day right off the bat. Yesterday was a bit of a struggle to breathe, so much less fun.

I'm wanting to spend around $600 or less but it's worth it to me to breath effortlessly.

Can any of you recommend what you use? I'm planning on recreational dives only.

Thanks!
 
So many to choose from...

Deep six
HOG
Apex
.......
 
I had an Apeks combo of FSR first stage and XTX200 (identical to XTX50 and XTX100 apparently) that was insanely easy to breathe from, eventually felt that it was too easy so I switched to Halcyon which turns out was just as easy to breathe from...
Did a course a little while back where the instructor had identical Halcyon regs and his were a lot harder to breathe from.
His were tuned a lot different from mine and that makes the biggest difference IMO.

If I had to recommend a single setup I would say Scubapro Mk25 and G250V, a mate has these on his doubles and they breathe so great that I nearly cry whenever we do gas sharing drills and I try his.
 
I finished the pool portion of my SSI Open Diver certification yesterday. I had the less-expensive rental regulator and less fancy BC. I don't know the brands. The reg looked plasticky. I labored to breathe all day. The instructor said he wanted us to be used to both a better regulator (Scuba Pro S600?) the first day and a typical rental one the 2nd day. What a difference.

I respectfully call B.S.

Within recreational depths, no properly serviced/tuned regulator will be difficult to breathe. The difference in work-of-breathing between top-of-the-line regs and good-value workhorses like @flyboy08 mentions should be nearly imperceptible. Call me a cynic, but my suspicion is that your instructor had you breathe from a poorly tuned reg, perhaps so he could sell you a "better" (i.e., properly tuned) one.
 
I respectfully call B.S.

Within recreational depths, no properly services/tuned regulator will be difficult to breathe. The difference in work-of-breathing between top-of-the-line regs and good-value workhorses like @flyboy08 mentions should be nearly imperceptible. Call me a cynic, but my suspicion is that your instructor had you breathe from a poorly tuned reg, perhaps so he could sell you a "better" (i.e., properly tuned) one.

In my area, a number of shops (including two that went out of business) provide poorly maintained regulators to students. So I'm not surprised this occurred. I've seen the "hey, get a more expensive reg that will breath better" pitch to students. One shop for which I used to teach that is thankfully out of business, after teaching an OW course with them, I loaned my student one of my regs, BP/W, fins. I asked him afterwards how he liked the BP/W compared to the jacket style BCD. "I don't know, I just loved how well this regulator breaths."

Though I did throw a couple regs in the trash that were made from cheap parts, broke frequently. I won't name them as I don't want to start a debate with anyone. There are some cheap regs that are of poor design/construction that they don't last long.
 
Any new regulator from the major brands will breath better than a beat up poorly maintained rental reg.

You can narrow down your choices by answering a few questions.

What kind of diving will you be doing (Cold water, warm water, salt, fresh)?
What kind of diving do you see yourself doing in the future (vacation recreational, tech, cave)?
And most importantly, what brands do your local dive shops service? (Edited to add) And whether you mind mailing your regulator to get it serviced.
 
. . .
Though I did throw a couple regs in the trash that were made from cheap parts, broke frequently. I won't name them as I don't want to start a debate with anyone. There are some cheap regs that are of poor design/construction that they don't last long.

Although I can understand your reluctance, that information would actually be more useful to prospective reg buyers than a recommendation of regs that someone on the internet swears are "easy breathing" (compared with some other, likely unspecified regs). From what I have read on this forum, the consensus seems to be that all modern regs, properly maintained/tuned, breathe just fine within recreational depths. However, whether there are some that last for decades and others that break within a few years doesn't seem to be as widely discussed here. It doesn't seem easy to determine from mere appearance--the eight HOG second stages that I maintain look every bit "plasticky" (to use the OP's word), yet the plastic bodies seem to hold up just fine.
 
I bought the Divers Supply Sea Elite Covert regs -- a budget diaphragm regulator set -- and they have breathed just fine for the last two years. The rental regulators I have used have mostly been OK -- one that really wheezed, but I could breathe. As everyone says, I think it has more do to with adjustment than the type of regulator.

For what it's worth, I tend to think that what you are really paying extra for with the name brands is a well-established service network. Of course, there are a lot of options to mail in for service for just about everything too, and some of the less expensive brands (e.g., HOG) seem to have a growing number of people that offer service.
 
And most importantly, what brands do your local dive shops service?

That's not important at all when you can mail them to a shop that does a proper job. In my area, I have had a number of shops screw up my regulators prior to my Deep 6 days. Then I started mailing them to Octopus Gardens, across the Puget Sound in Port Townsend.

Although I can understand your reluctance, that information would actually be more useful to prospective reg buyers than a recommendation of regs that someone on the internet swears are "easy breathing" (compared with some other, likely unspecified regs). From what I have read on this forum, the consensus seems to be that all modern regs, properly maintained/tuned, breathe just fine within recreational depths. However, whether there are some that last for decades and others that break within a few years doesn't seem to be as widely discussed here. It doesn't seem easy to determine from mere appearance--the eight HOG second stages that I maintain look every bit "plasticky" (to use the OP's word), yet the plastic bodies seem to hold up just fine.

I just don't feel like getting into another argument from someone whose shop with which they are affiliated that sells that brand. Not today at least.
 
I have AquaLung Legend LX Supreme for single tank and Apeks XTX50 for doubles. The Apeks XTX50’are less expensive and breathe just as well.
 

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