When to reassess regulator choices? A question to tech divers..

[DiveTucson]

Honestly the bang for the buck with the Dive Rite XT1/XT2 is awesome. They are a great reg. I prefer to keep all my regs the same and I am up to 10 or so of each now for doubles, single tanks, bailout, and stages. I have breathed on them at over 400’ and I’m still here to talk about.

It’s nice to be on a trip or if something happens to have the same service kits for everything and to be able to scavenge parts of necessary.

 

[sea_ledford]

Just buy another Dive Rite and be done with it. Or swap your single tank reg to doubles and not buy anything. Unless you are going back and forth all the time it isn't that big of a deal... 5 minutes of work maybe.

I have dove Scubapros, poseidons, and dive rites. While at depth, the poseidons are great, tuning them is a pain, parts kits are expensive, and there are a multitude of special tools needed, some of which Poseidon doesn't even make. Scubapro has tight control over service kits and who and where service can be done, so self service (unless associated with a scubapro dealer) is difficult logistically. There are also reg specific tools needed, but at least those are easily obtainable from Scuba tools.

The XT series Dive Rites are basically rebranded Apex, common tools, service kits are easier to come by. Service and tuning is stupid easy. They don't breath as well at depth as the poseidons, but I've had them down to 180' and no problems.

I've been contemplating swapping brands too, to get rid of the scubapros and poseidons, and even if cost is not a factor, I'm having a hard time justifying anything other than the DRs.

 

[tbone1004]

I try to keep them somewhat consistent for convenience at service time. I am heavily invested into Poseidon and Scubapro, but have some onesie twosies of others. I have Scubapro 1sts with Poseidon 2nds on them for backgas due to hose routing, all Poseidon for stages, and Poseidon 1st and Scubapro 2nds on deco.

When looking at most of the Apeks type regs, Dive Rite, HOG, Deep6, etc. the service procedure is basically the same for all of them so if you put a DST and a XT1 in front of me, you could give me either manual for rebuild and you can use it on the others. Hell, that's what we did for years when HOG first came out and didn't have manuals.

In your case, I'd either commit that spare set to deco, and then get a backgas set of whatever you choose that you think may be better or just different, and go from there.

If you still have those Salvo regs though, just because Salvo is gone, doesn't mean the parts for those regs are gone...

 

[tbone1004]

Just buy another Dive Rite and be done with it. Or swap your single tank reg to doubles and not buy anything. Unless you are going back and forth all the time it isn't that big of a deal... 5 minutes of work maybe.

I have dove Scubapros, poseidons, and dive rites. While at depth, the poseidons are great, tuning them is a pain, parts kits are expensive, and there are a multitude of special tools needed, some of which Poseidon doesn't even make. Scubapro has tight control over service kits and who and where service can be done, so self service (unless associated with a scubapro dealer) is difficult logistically. There are also reg specific tools needed, but at least those are easily obtainable from Scuba tools.

The XT series Dive Rites are basically rebranded Apex, common tools, service kits are easier to come by. Service and tuning is stupid easy. They don't breath as well at depth as the poseidons, but I've had them down to 180' and no problems.

I've been contemplating swapping brands too, to get rid of the scubapros and poseidons, and even if cost is not a factor, I'm having a hard time justifying anything other than the DRs.

For the special tools, these are actually really legit. The only one that I don't think they have is the vice for the Cyklon seconds.

Special Tools for Poseidon® Regulators

Also check out the Deep6 regs on your quest, the regs breathe much better than the Dive Rites and the parts are more standardized than the Dive Rites since the XT's are not made by a single manufacturer, they come from a combo of ODS, WMD, and a third company that does the diaphragms.

 

[a878bob]

I have been fortunate enough to dive apeks for over 20 years. So have never thought of switching. But if I was the op, I would just stick with the diverite regs. Easy to service, easy to get parts, friends say the like them and no issues.

Far less outlay to find another set, especially used.

 

[CuriousRambler]

Honestly the bang for the buck with the Dive Rite XT1/XT2 is awesome. They are a great reg. I prefer to keep all my regs the same and I am up to 10 or so of each now for doubles, single tanks, bailout, and stages. I have breathed on them at over 400’ and I’m still here to talk about.

It’s nice to be on a trip or if something happens to have the same service kits for everything and to be able to scavenge parts of necessary.

That's impressive. I'm pretty sure 400' is the deepest report I've seen regarding DR's - how would you review them in those conditions? I won't be hitting those depths anytime soon, if ever, but I've found it difficult to find reports of folks using them in really extreme environments. I figure that's either because it's just so common nobody even talks about it, or it's because it rarely happens for whatever reason hah.

Standardizing service parts/tools is definitely something I'm weighing heavily, and a large driver for this thread. Logistically, it makes sense to just keep the same thing on everything. I'm just afraid of winding up with ten of the same reg before I discover some Shangri-La solution that I should have been loyal to all along.

Just buy another Dive Rite and be done with it. Or swap your single tank reg to doubles and not buy anything. Unless you are going back and forth all the time it isn't that big of a deal... 5 minutes of work maybe..

I think this was my logic behind what I bought. Leave the right post reg set up for the doubles all the time. Switching the left post reg between singles and doubles is then just adding or removing the long hose, which I can leave rigged to the "spare" XT2. Whatever the logic was, it was the product of a younger me, on a much younger person's income.

I try to keep them somewhat consistent for convenience at service time. I am heavily invested into Poseidon and Scubapro, but have some onesie twosies of others.

Do you strive to keep your services aligned? Set aside a weekend to service a bunch of regs all at once, or do you just service them one or two at a time as they come up? Like I mentioned above, simplifying things seems smart. But if I'm servicing on two year intervals, I also don't think having alternating Poseidon/Dive Rite service years would really muddy things up that much.

In your case, I'd either commit that spare set to deco, and then get a backgas set of whatever you choose that you think may be better or just different, and go from there.

And that begins an entirely new debate: what regs do I buy next? There are so many I want to try! More seriously though, I have no complaints at all about the DR's, so it would take a relatively compelling reason to get me to switch right now. I'd love to try some Poseidons, but there's no way I'm going to shell out $800+ just to try them and see. Maybe I'm ignorant, but I don't imagine D6's, or even Mk25/G250's are going to perform that much better to make up for the cost difference and the "now I need different parts/tools" factor.

If you still have those Salvo regs though, just because Salvo is gone, doesn't mean the parts for those regs are gone...

I don't have them around anymore. They were well past due for service and I wanted to dive, so I offloaded them to finance the Dive Rites. I started out hunting for parts to service the Salvos and keep them alive, but a deal popped up that made switching to the Dive Rites easy and cheap, so I abandoned the parts search and switched flavors.

 

[Bigbella]

I have dove Scubapros, poseidons, and dive rites. While at depth, the poseidons are great, tuning them is a pain, parts kits are expensive, and there are a multitude of special tools needed, some of which Poseidon doesn't even make. Scubapro has tight control over service kits and who and where service can be done, so self service (unless associated with a scubapro dealer) is difficult logistically. There are also reg specific tools needed, but at least those are easily obtainable from Scuba tools.

Aside from torque wrenches, hemostats and screwdrivers, which no scuba manufacturer actually produces, I cannot think of a tool which Poseidon doesn't make, for their regulator servicing; and, as for for parts kits, Scubapro has already met or exceeded them in terms of pricing, in any number of markets. As for tuning, I have never had a problem in twenty-plus years of working on them, nor have ever understood that common claim.

Scuba Clinic, to be sure, makes a number of after-market Poseidon tools, some of which are simply duplicates of already existing or discontinued items; just riffs off of their two combination tools; some others, actually interesting, but largely unnecessary . . .

 

[Ouvea]

I'll echo the prior recommendations to remain with the Dive Rite regulators for now. Since you're just getting started, I wouldn't start buying regulators left and right. You have balanced sealed diaphragm regulators with low pressure ports for optimum hose routing. Someone with more service experience can chime in, but the design & construction of these regulators all appear to be based on the Apeks first and second stages.

Unless you could not purchase the service kits and required service tools, I would remain with the Dive Rite regulators. I remained with Atomic regulators, since I can purchase the service kits for them on-line and have the service tools. In addition, if I make a mistake or cannot figure a problem, I have local support from my LDS. To boot, I do like how they breathe and their simplicity, which makes servicing them very easy.

Performance wise, you're not going to notice any difference. If the ergonomics of the second stage don't work with you or you can't service the regulator in the manner you prefer, then switch. Otherwise, you're fine with your Dive Rite regulators. I have breathed off Apeks (DS4 & DST), Scubapro (MK25/S620-S600-A700), Hog (D1s), Atomic (all of them) and cannot discern a performance difference. Each has a different accoustic difference during the inhalation but that's all I have noticed.

There is absolutely no need to buy regulators, which you won't use for quite some time. Use your Dive Rite and buy more regulators as you need them. Evaluate your purchase decision at that time. Brands may introduce new models with newer features or they may alter some after-sales policy that may make their ownership advantageous.

 

[Marie13]

If the DR ones you have work fine, just stay with them. You can get service kits off DGX if you want to service them yourself.

 

[CuriousRambler]

Thanks everyone. I was leaning toward sticking with what I've got, but it definitely helps put my mind at ease to get pretty unanimous consensus that I'm not missing some obvious and much better alternative.

I'm in no real rush to buy anything just yet. I likely won't even take the doubles in for hydro for a few months. No point starting that expiration clock ticking if I'm not going to be getting in the water in the midst of the end of the world.