What Reg to get?

[jonb347]

Im somewhat new into diving and I am finally getting my own gear. I have a knighthawk bc and need some reccomendations for a regulator. I'd prefer to buy a good used one and have it checked out but don't want to spend 300+. What regs should I be looking at? Thanks guys!!

 

[Kryssa]

Decided I'm not qualified to answer this one

 

[Malpaso]

What did you use for your certification? Did you rent? Did you use different makes/models? That was the way I decided, was by using different rental ones in the pool and the open water. Most things in life you try before you buy, no?

I ended up with an Aqualung Legend LX Supreme, but only because I liked the Aqualung regs better than any other that I tried. Had I not tried various ones, I would have probably purchased an "economy" model, not knowing any better, not liked diving with it, and not known there was anything better (for me) available.

 

[Scuba_Noob]

Often it depends on the temperature of the water you're diving (some regs work the best in warm water). BUT mostly it depends on what regulator is the most comfortable for you. What did you dive in training? Ask your LDS what they'd recommend (they'll try to sell you something, but try to filter that stuff out). Plus your LDS probably stocks regs that are made for your environment.

I dive an Aqualung Titan LX, which worked well in 5 degree Celsius waters up to 28 degree Celsius water (41 and 82 degrees Fahrenheit respectively).

Just remember that this is one of the most important things keeping you alive underwater, and $300 isn't that much for scuba . And if you buy used, you're going to have to get your regs serviced anyway (probably $50).

 

[Paladin]

I have dived US Divers/Aqualung Regs for almost fifty years and really like them. I currently dive a Conshelf 14 (one of the last ones made) and it is perfect for me. That said, I have recently been introduced to the Edge/HOG line and find I cannot say enough good things about them. I bought my son an Edge and he totally loves it. Zeagle is another good choice. If I were in the market for a new reg, it would probably be an Edge or a Zeagle.

 

[NJDiver_Chris]

You can always check out ebay, just make sure to ask a lot of questions and get it serviced when you get it

 

[Agility]

To start with you might want to have a look at Comparative Gear Reviews
I got my first 1 year old Apeks XTX 200 with XTX 40 octopus and SPG for €250 and revision cost me another €70 which would bust your budget.

IMHO the regulator ist the most important part of equipment so you have to be comfortable with it and have absolute confidence in its performance.

 

[herman]

Nothing wrong with good used gear, the issue for you is making sure it's good. Honestly brand is not of much importance these days as long as it's one of the major brands. You will want to stick with a major brand so you can find parts and service. Avoid any old brands like Dacor, not before they were bad but services is near impossible. Pretty much any reg of equalivant price point (low end vs low end/high end vs high end) will perform so close to the same, you need a machine to tell the difference. Now how good the tech who tuned it is a totally different matter. Anyone who says a brand X breaths badly and a brand Y is great is either fooling themselves or had a poorly tuned reg, neither is the fault of the reg. Do a search on used equipment, there are plenty of discussion on it.

 

[DivemasterDennis]

Everyone has their favorites. I have several different brands, but as a new diver, and for my wife, I chose a Sherwood Oasis. Durable, simple, reliable, comfortable, and certainly a local shop near year will service Sherwood. Just another option to consider.
DivemasterDennis

 

[SnorkelLA]

I'm also currently diving an AquaLung Titan LX that I got a whole set, (AquaLung Titan LX, Aqualung octo, Suunto SPG) for $350 with 9 dives on it. Nice durable regulator that performs good in cold water, but once you take it to depth the performance changes, and since my thread I made on it I've dove 2 more in the same conditions (to any of you who may have been involved in that discussion) of the same year and model make, and I got the same result: less performance (very very very light performance drop at around 40ft, the further you go the greater the performance drop). Topped out at 74 REAL FEET- not the "add 10 for cold water" rule and that's about where it got to the point (on all 3 regs, all different setups, tuned and serviced and owned by different people) where it was too iffy to comfortably go lower with the dive

EDIT: Just to clarify, these were all AquaLung Titan LX regs from the exact same model year (I think somewhere around 2006, it was when the first stage was labeled "Aqualung Titan", and the primary second stage only had "LX" on it)