What makes one regulator better than another?

[ssssnake529]

Newbie to SCUBA. Looking to purchase my own gear.

Looking at all the regulators on the market, there is a very wide price differential between them.

What do you get when you spend the extra money?

My wife doesn't really like the rental regulator we are using for our classes. She says it's hard work to breathe in and out of. Will an expensive regulator provide for easier breathing?

 

[Marie13]

Expensive doesn’t necessarily equate better.

 

[Jimchris]

The rental regulators are probably in need of a re-tune/overhaul. Most inexpensive regulators within reason can be tuned and adjusted to breathe as well as the high dollar ones.

 

[Scuba Client]

The rental regulators are probably in need of a re-tune/overhaul. Most inexpensive regulators within reason can be tuned and adjusted to breathe as well as the high dollar ones.

Most Asian dive operators I've been involved with look after their equipment for the very reason they are struggling to make a living. And there reputations are at stake should anything go wrong.

 

[BoltSnap]

Most inexpensive regulators within reason can be tuned and adjusted to breathe as well as the high dollar ones.

This is so not true especially once you start to go underwater in the sea/ocean let alone when you are huffing and puffing in a current or deep or whenever you have to work hard.

 

[Cdncoldwater]

Newbie to SCUBA. Looking to purchase my own gear.

Looking at all the regulators on the market, there is a very wide price differential between them.

What do you get when you spend the extra money?

My wife doesn't really like the rental regulator we are using for our classes. She says it's hard work to breathe in and out of. Will an expensive regulator provide for easier breathing?

If your recreational only look at your dive goals etc. A good mid range regulator will more than suffice for most people and every brand has different levels. Do you have beads you are considering or that your LDS sells and services? I've had great luck with my Aqua Lung, Apeks and Dive Rite regulators.

There is differences in quality, features and ease of breathing between some brands but most if a quality company are good if used within intended range, maintained and tuned. What are you using on your course?

 

[Jimchris]

If your recreational only look at your dive goals etc. A good mid range regulator will more than suffice for most people and every brand has different levels. Do you have beads you are considering or that your LDS sells and services? I've had great luck with my Aqua Lung, Apeks and Dive Rite regulators.

There is differences in quality, features and ease of breathing between some brands but most if a quality company are good if used within intended range, maintained and tuned. What are you using on your course?

Words in bold cover what I meant by my post above.

 

[Centrals]

No regulators in the market is unsafe or difficult to breath.
One thing is certain, I can guarantee that, there is absolutely no need to buy any top range from any manufacturers.
Wide price differential? Same as car, mobile etc etc.

1. How often do you dive?
2. How much would you like to spend on one complete set of regulator?
3, 4 , 5 etc etc.

Plenty of similar posts on SB.
The most recent one on the topic and I believe the OP was looking at Deep 6 or DGX at the end .Not well known brands but you have to read his/her reasoning.

DGX Custom - DGX Gears D6 Streamlined OW Reg Package

DGX Custom - Dive Rite XT Streamlined OW Reg Package
$200.00 more

Excursion Recreational Regulator Set


Good luck.

 

[GF99/99]

Newbie to SCUBA. Looking to purchase my own gear.

Looking at all the regulators on the market, there is a very wide price differential between them.

What do you get when you spend the extra money?

My wife doesn't really like the rental regulator we are using for our classes. She says it's hard work to breathe in and out of. Will an expensive regulator provide for easier breathing?

There are a couple factors that influence the price of regulators. The main one being the features you get, but also your geographical location (some countries have very high import tax) and brand name. Basically the same things that makes any consumer product more expensive.

The main thing you will get when spending more money is additional luxury features just like if you bought a Toyota vs. a Lexus. Ill use Apeks for example:
I literally just ordered an Apeks US4 1st stage last week for approximately 120-140 USD depending on where you order from. Now this is about as basic as 1st stages get and would be what I would call the "Toyota" now on the other end you can the "Lexus" which would be the Apeks DST for about $260-$300 double the price. Well to answer your question what your paying for to more than double the price is, environmental sealing and a swivel turret. The US4 has the exact same internals as the DST but it lacks all the fancy features. But depending on your application you may want/need these feature. So you have to determine your diving needs then base your regulators on that.

I also mentioned location. So location matters because some of the most popular regs out there like Scuba Pro and Apeks have a significant price difference in the EU vs. the USA and even worse in Australia or Asia where there is extremely high import tax on diving gear. Me personally I have owned both these brand and I always buy them from the EU as they are significantly cheaper. And vice versa, Hollis products in the the EU are crazy expansive compared to what they cost in the US.

Lastly brand, just like anything you tend to pay for the big brand names. Ill use Apeks for example again. As I mentioned be for the Apeks DST is like a Lexus so of course your going to pay more for that but many companies out there "copy" it and sell it for a lower cost because its such a popular regulator. Think Coke vs the generic Costco Kirkland brand "cola". There is nothing wrong with this an actually is a great way to get a very high performance reg with all the fancy features for a lower cost. Just off the top of my head here is a list of companies that make an Apeks DST's variants for a lower cost; Deep6, TDS, DGX, Dive Rite, Tecline, HOG, Hollis, Scubaforce, IST, etc.

For your second questions, no expensive regulators will not always breather better if tuned correctly. For example you could buy a Tecline R2 with Tec2 second stage and breathe it next to a Apeks DST with XTX200 and they would breather almost the exact same. Only difference is the Tecline setup would be half the cost maybe more.

 

[Wibble]

Price doesn't necessarily mean anything better.

There are some excellent lower price regulators around, such as the Apeks DS4 + ATX40. These are a fraction of the price of the more expensive ones and work just as well. There's nothing new with regulators; the problem was solved decades ago; the only difference is marketing BS. If you like fashion, hand over your money for bling. If you want good, reliable regulators, then look at the ones the tech divers use.

I've got 7 sets of Apeks regulators (9 if I count the two on the rebreather) and have never had a failure. They rarely get serviced and they're well used in cold conditions.