Aqualung Mentor: Limited Edition Mistral thread split

[Sam Miller III]

Too early in the collectors market place

Maybe another 10 t0 20 years

SDM

 

[rhwestfall]

"Interesting" concept/design

 

[ffdiver]

I really want to see how they actually breathe underwater but can't with this reg. Is there another double hose reg(vintage) that you can compare it to?

 

[rhwestfall]

deleted

 

[herman]

I really want to see how they actually breathe underwater but can't with this reg. Is there another double hose reg(vintage) that you can compare it to?

I would think some of the older Dacors or maybe the Healthways "Scuba" might come close if you use a restored one. This design was pretty bad as DH regs go, you would have thought AL would have put some thought into it and produced a reg at least as good as the RAM. This reg has a small diaphragm and worse no venturi so it's performance is sub par to a vintage (restored) Royal Aquamaster (RAM) or DA Aquamaster (DAAM) which both have a fairly good venturies. If what you have in mind is trying a DH to see how one performs, then it's a poor choice. A restored DAAM, RAM, Mistral or Healthways Gold Label are all much better choices. The Argonaut Kraken is the next level above those and is as good as a DH reg gets.

 

[Fibonacci]

I don't understand why Aqualung released the 'new' Mistral when they had already designed the Mentor... which seemed to address all of the negatives of the Royal Aquamaster to be its logical successor?

http://www.aqualung.com/militaryandprofessional/product_information/108568_Mentor_Tech_Manual.pdf

Unless as it was developed under military contract it was totally restricted for civilian sale?

 

[runsongas]

might be a CE certification issue. I don't recall any double hose regs being CE certified.

 

[JackD342]

Sounds like it was limited run, made to order, to keep a very important customer happy and also keep them in the family.
Aqualung Mentor

 

[W W Meixner]

View attachment 502877 Folks...

First time I'm seeing the Mentor...can't comment other than to say it has that vintage ''dive jewelry'' look...

I did have a new Commemorative Mistral/DIN fitting...dove with it twice...once fresh out of the box...and once after considerable stage tweaking and change-out of the flimsy mouth-piece valves...with valves that actually sealed...it breathed considerably better the second time than it did the first...

Having said that...depending on positioning...its WOB ranged from fair to terrible...

With all the RD that went into the piece it should have breathed like magic...it didn't...if it only breathed as good as it looked...

I also had a DA Aqua-Master...fully fitted out with all VDH up-grade parts Bryan had at the time including the Cyclone first stage/new second stage/diaphragm...new yellow silicone hoses...mouth-piece...wagon wheels...mushroom valves/cans black powder coated/re-worked Mares MR-22T yoke...etc...it worked reasonably well down to 60 ft...90 ft...not so much...dove it with an ''H'' valve with redundant reg set...first...second...SPG...

The VDH Kraken is apparently...considerably better...seems to be more than the usual ''used units'' showing up for sale...Haven't seen any posts on Kraken performance/depth...

Best...

Warren