Apeks Flight

[MarkUK]

It gives one flexibility in terms of servicing and repair.

Yes, in fact, you would be a fool not to carry a spare Flight hose in your save-a-dive kit. Miflex hoses are lightweight and abrasion-resistant...but they can fail.
Also, many divers prefer to dive their reg setups with certain hose lengths. Something tells me that if a Flight owner wants to select a non-standard hose length, he is not going to get favorable pricing from Apeks.

I fully understand the concept of having flexibility in terms of servicing and repair, what I meant by 'why would you want to put a normal hose on a Flight?' is why lose the lightness. You would only want to put a normal hose on in an emergency, and as I said you could just take a spare Flight hose with you to counter that issue. If you really want a lightweight reg you can stick any old hose on, get the Mikron.

Mark

 

[Tortuga68]

I think by "normal" hose he means one without the 'no tool' fitting on the second stage eg a standard miflex hose, which are available in various lengths

 

[gxtoast]

Flight tool-less hose assembly looks good to me. Robust, secure and not going to come apart on you. As for carrying a spare hose, I guess that depends on your 'perception' and trust of the hoses. I doubt you would see any Apeks Lightweight and Flexible hoses failing any time soon. Their fittings look noticeably better than Miflex hoses to me. That said, I just bought a bunch of Miflex hoses for my new XTX50/XTX40/DS4 set (thanks Mark, for all your help... even though I did not end up getting the Flight).

I think it is only a matter of time before the Flight gets more of a reputation for being an excellent regulator for travel, etc. I got the XTX regs because I've purchased a 7' hose for my primary. I think primary donation to an OOA diver is the way to go... approach your dives with this in the back of your mind and you'll be in a much better position to handle the panic of an OOA diver.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

I fully understand the concept of having flexibility in terms of servicing and repair, what I meant by 'why would you want to put a normal hose on a Flight?' is why lose the lightness. You would only want to put a normal hose on in an emergency, and as I said you could just take a spare Flight hose with you to counter that issue. If you really want a lightweight reg you can stick any old hose on, get the Mikron.

@MarkUK: I understood what you meant by preserving the lightweight aspect of the rig by sticking with the Miflex hoses. I think Miflex hoses are great for travel regs. To clarify, I object to Apeks engineering a special end onto a standard hose. It locks the customer into using only Apeks-branded hoses with the special connector. Why not give the customers a choice? The tool-less fitting could very easily have been designed to slip over a standard hose swivel nut. In fact, there are special nuts that already exist on the market with just this function.

I'm curious. How much did you pay for your spare Flight hose? I suspect it cost more than a standard Miflex hose of equivalent length.

 

[MarkUK]

@MarkUK: I understood what you meant by preserving the lightweight aspect of the rig by sticking with the Miflex hoses. I think Miflex hoses are great for travel regs. To clarify, I object to Apeks engineering a special end onto a standard hose. It locks the customer into using only Apeks-branded hoses with the special connector. Why not give the customers a choice? The tool-less fitting could very easily have been designed to slip over a standard hose swivel nut. In fact, there are special nuts that already exist on the market with just this function.

I'm curious. How much did you pay for your spare Flight hose? I suspect it cost more than a standard Miflex hose of equivalent length.

Thanks for the link to the Butler Nuts, I had never seen them before, don't know if they made it across the Pond. I can see where you are coming from, but I suppose I can also see it from Apeks' point of view - you want the lightest travel reg out there, you have to use their hoses.

When Apeks launched their Miflex-style hose, with their hose protectors on either end, in the UK at least, they came in slightly under the price of equivalent Miflex hoses. I honestly don't know how much a spare Flight hose would cost, I haven't got one. I said if you were worried you could get one, but I haven't bothered. I guess once it has got several hundred dives on it I might think about getting one, but I have Miflex hoses that have done over 1,000 dives on my ATX200 Black Pearl and they still look as good as new, so to be honest I am not concerned about the hoses on the Flight failing anytime soon.

Mark

 

[pelan-pelan]

Interesting. Thanks MarkUK for the reports and everyone else. Have been diving on Miflex hoses for over a year now. They are excellent - light and flexible. London Dive Show comes around soon, will be looking at any good prices on the Flight.

 

[Tortuga68]

I had a look at these last week in the shop - didn't get a chance to dive - but they are very small and light, impressive - if I wanted a warm water recreational travel reg I'd definitely get some

 

[BradButler01]

I'm not an expert on the subject of lightweight diving by any means (Compared to twin HP 100's and an AL 40, the weight of my regulators is negligible) But isn't the whole idea behind a lightweight travel reg to save a few ounces in your baggage? That way you can pack another pair of boxers and stay under the airline weight limit, right?

In that case, I would opine that it would have been better for Apeks to use a slightly heavier standard connector rather than force those of you who want to be self sufficient to carry an extra proprietary hose (which is presumably heavier than the metal added in using a standard connector).

As for the person asking about "in-water" weight, I would imagine that most travel regulators rarely see much besides a single AL80, and I would imagine that the vast majority of people diving travel regulators and AL80's are wearing weight belts to compensate for the giant cork strapped to their back. In that case, any weight you shave off of your regulator would need to go right back on your weight belt to maintain the buoyancy characteristics that you are used to... In any case, the weight savings in swapping your old Dacor Extreme boat anchor/regulator for an Apeks Flight is still not significant enough (IMHO) to notice in the water, let alone spend money to achieve.

Having said all that... What do you guys think of the Flight as a deco reg? Rich in green, lean in black? Seems pretty cool to me... You could shave another 1/4" or so off the profile if Apeks made a 200 bar DIN fitting for it.

-B

 

[MarkUK]

I'm not an expert on the subject of lightweight diving by any means (Compared to twin HP 100's and an AL 40, the weight of my regulators is negligible) But isn't the whole idea behind a lightweight travel reg to save a few ounces in your baggage? That way you can pack another pair of boxers and stay under the airline weight limit, right?

In that case, I would opine that it would have been better for Apeks to use a slightly heavier standard connector rather than force those of you who want to be self sufficient to carry an extra proprietary hose (which is presumably heavier than the metal added in using a standard connector).

As for the person asking about "in-water" weight, I would imagine that most travel regulators rarely see much besides a single AL80, and I would imagine that the vast majority of people diving travel regulators and AL80's are wearing weight belts to compensate for the giant cork strapped to their back. In that case, any weight you shave off of your regulator would need to go right back on your weight belt to maintain the buoyancy characteristics that you are used to... In any case, the weight savings in swapping your old Dacor Extreme boat anchor/regulator for an Apeks Flight is still not significant enough (IMHO) to notice in the water, let alone spend money to achieve.

Having said all that... What do you guys think of the Flight as a deco reg? Rich in green, lean in black? Seems pretty cool to me... You could shave another 1/4" or so off the profile if Apeks made a 200 bar DIN fitting for it.

-B

The Flight can be bought with either the non-snag Yoke/International fitting or a 300 bar DIN fitting - the DIN version is obviously a bit lighter than the Yoke version, and smaller.

The Flight is neutrally buoyant in the water - it is really bizarre, take it out of your mouth and it just hangs in the water in front of you.

Mark

 

[O'Ren]

Hello,

I tried my new Apeks Flight regulator set last WE and LOVED IT ! Amazingly light, but not only, its very flexible hoses makes it super easy to carry, pack and unpack. I can't believe how light it is, it's a pure bliss

It performed flawlessly during the dives (hot water), even when I only had 10 bars left in my tank, I couldn't feel the difference when breathing.

I now need an SPG that would match its lightweight. My old SPG is waaaay too heavy for it.

Do you guys have any model in mind you could recommend for being lightweight and compact ? I only need the SPG, nothing more as my diving computer does the rest. I would need it in bars if possible, but I'm sure i can manage with imperial too.

I Googled it but online shops rarely mention the wieght of the gauges. Only that it's "compact" but that doesn't tell me much about the weight which is the issue here as I am hoping to find a mini SPG that would be really really light.

Many thanks in advance if you can help !