Help me decide

[carrielsal]

I love my XTX200's. I own 4. Right now you may not notice a difference between the regs, but as your dive experience grows and you start diving deeper depths, this is where you start seeing the difference in the regs. One of the things you want to look at is WOB (work of breathing). The XTX200's have some of the lowest WOB ratings.

Breathing performance of regulators
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breathing_performance_of_regulators
A diving regulator is a device that reduces the high pressure in a diving cylinder to the same pressure as the scuba diver's surroundings. The breathing performance of regulators is a factor in choosing a suitable regulator for the type of diving to be undertaken, as it indicates the ability of a regulator to meet the demands placed on it at depth and under high breathing loads. It is desirable that breathing from a regulator requires low effort even when supplying large amounts of air. It is also recommended that it breathe smoothly without any sudden changes in resistance while inhaling or exhaling. Although these factors may be judged subjectively, it is convenient to have a standard by which the many different types and manufactures of regulators may be compared.

 

[carrielsal]

As a comparison, here is a WOB chart for an Oceanic Alpha 8. See the difference?

 

[Fishpie]

I think if a XTX20 (cheapest Apeks) and a XTX200 (most expensive Apeks) were hooked to a 3500psi gas source with the gas passing through a tank valve their WOB would be identical, since the tank valve limits the performance of the 1st stage and the 2nd stages are the same on each model.
Same goes for the Envoy and Flathead.

 

[mj3396]

Did you consider Poseidon Regulators, I know several of the world's navies once used them and I have heard they are teally easy breathing.

 

[galvanni]

Now I realize that I was probably over-thinking this. I'm now looking at some of the mid-range offerings now - XTX50 Apeks looks decent from that vendor. I would like to consider a Z2x Atomic but that's not sealed - and apparently they ALL breathe well. Looks like a good bang-for-the buck performing identically to its more expensive big brothers.

 

[Belce]

The fact the 1st stage in a regulator system is able to pass more air than the tank valve it connects to can ever provide is a good thing. The tank valve is something that when opened correctly to the proper amount is fixed. Your first stage is something that contains moving parts and has to quickly respond to changes in air requirements and in conditions that can change very much as well. I think you would want a 1st stage that can operate well within its optimum or to say another way, it should all be easy for the 1st stage and that is how they are all engineered and built.

Since any 1st stage can vastly exceed the amount of air the tank itself can provide it is possible to remove that part from contributing to better WOB scores. The amount of air a tank valve can provide is a constant and would be in testing so when testing reports better performance in a regulator system compared to another it is because it performs better and provides better WOB results working with the same stuff as the regulator system that didn't do as well. This is one of the things for instance that the US Navy tests for and accepts or does not for its selected regulator systems.

So there is a difference in performance that can be measured in a lab and there is also a difference that can be experienced using them. Low end vs high end the difference is most notable. There is certainly an applied rule of diminshing returns applied to expense vs benefit in this hobby as in others.

 

[Nitrodiverrr]

Poseidon might breath well but; Where will you get it serviced ? How much more expensive will the parts/service be compared to other brands ? Poseidon's distribution network for the USA has changed a few times over the past few years. Is there a USA distributor currently ? Just seems like to many "ifs" in the equation compared to some other brands.

 

[galvanni]

Well, I think I gave into an impulse buy this afternoon. I went to the LDS to see the Aqualung Legend LX ACD and was informed that the special that includes the Legend Octo for free was still on until the end of the month. They did not stock the Supreme but I figured if I'm plunking down that much cash, then I might as well pony up another 12 bucks for the Supreme. I probably did not make the wisest choice - but my guess from reviews is that I at least will not be dissatisfied with the performance.

I just hope you really can remove that lip guard for when I'm using it in warm water.

 

[SangP]

I too have gone the legend lx route & I recently purchased a few sets for myself and my gf. I have always loved the way the legend breaths and it's built like a tank.

I owned an Legend initially till I was "persuaded by a local store" that scubapro was a better buy. One of the worst decisions I have ever made. The mistake was not that the sp mk25 were bad but rather listening to the store was bad. The promise of free parts for 5 years disappeared when I mentioned about O2 cleaning... what's the point of getting stuff from a distributor if I'm not going to get free parts.

I sold off all my scubapro mk25/600s recently and quite a few of my apeks n I'm happily returning to the legend lx.

SangP

 

[SangP]

They are all Apeks regs. Aqualung's business is to travel the world affiliating itself with other companies or taking them over.
They make squat that is any good any more.
Zeagle just made an excellent choice.

I disagree, aqualung makes great great gear. The legends are easily the equal or better than the apeks and their bcds are pretty good too.

SangP