Aqualung vs Hog

[Lorenzoid]

If you read the sentence before I mentioned about quality, I did says both will work just fine. I owned both HOG and AL Legend at this point. Been HOG owner/user for a long time. Legend was given to me by a friend, so nothing here is "I pay more for it, so it must be better"

In terms of functionality, both work just fine. I couldn't tell the difference between all the reg I have. That include Atomic M1/B2, Mk25/G250V, and HOG. So no knock on HOG's performance. In term of build quality, fit, finish, attention to detail, feel of hands, to me, Legend is one level above HOG. . . .

Thanks, Aaron, I get it. So the "quality" comparison is analogous to my "quality" comparison of dive computers and the illogical reason I own a Shearwater for recreational diving when a Suunto Zoop would do just as well: "fit, finish, attention to detail, feel of hands . . . ."

 

[tbone1004]

yeah that is not anywhere near a fair comparison..... The Shearwater does SO much more and is truly a high quality product. A better analogy would be driving a Lincoln Navigator instead of a Platinum Edition Expedition from Ford. For all intents and purposes they're the same, but one is ever so slightly better, but on logic is not worth the premium in price, you only do it based on emotion.

 

[Lorenzoid]

yeah that is not anywhere near a fair comparison..... The Shearwater does SO much more and is truly a high quality product. A better analogy would be driving a Lincoln Navigator instead of a Platinum Edition Expedition from Ford. For all intents and purposes they're the same, but one is ever so slightly better, but on logic is not worth the premium in price, you only do it based on emotion.

Your analogy is better, but I was thinking scuba not cars.

From what I can tell from those ScubaLab tests from Scuba Diving magazine, most divers won't notice any difference in breathing among various regs, assuming they are properly tuned (and even the ones that might require more frequent tuning can easily be tuned by a diver with an IP gauge). As far as durability, even those that feel like they have a lot of plastic rather than metal are durable enough to outlast the diving careers of most divers. To reiterate, I have no experience servicing regs, but from what I see others saying, they all seem to be remarkably similar and foolproof. Choosing based on factors such as cost (factoring in service cost) and routing flexibility (turrets, etc.) makes logical sense to me, but a vague notion of "quality" as a factor does not.

 

[undrwater]

Give me a full and near empty psi, and I'll get you some numbers. At least, what near empty might look like.

Just curious.

The D1 seems to be a clone of the Apeks DST and I haven't had a lot of them on my workbench, but just two days ago I had to repair two of them and they came up with the same thing I had seen before.

I'm not a fan of HOG, and one reason is that all HOGs I was working on up to now had an IP difference of 8 - 12psi between full and near empty tanks.

With Apeks/ Aqualung 1sts I have usually between 0-5psi IP difference.

Maybe some HOG owners could check, since I have been working only on about five different HOGs, those quite lousy qualities might be coincidence.

 

[The Chairman]

I've dove a lot of both AL and Hog regs and like them both. However, the hose routing for the HOG is pretty sweet. Currently, I dive hogs in the caves (side mount) and my Atomics in the ocean (single back mount). Never any verdigris on the the Atomics. I can't say that about the Hogs. Having gone through Atomic, Poseiden, Zeagle and AL reg classses, they all have their finicky spots. I do teach the Hog class and find it to be about as simple as they come. In fact, I would put Dive Rite, Zeagle and Hog all in that "simple" category. Except for the seats and diaphragm, all the orings in all those regulators are pretty straight forward. I would just as soon buy the seats seperately like I do for Seac regs and use bulk o-rings to rebuild them.

 

[axxel57]

I haven't taken the HOG service class yet, so please excuse any ignorance my post may reflect. Specifically what problem are you referring to by "the same thing I had seen before"?



Is that the "thing"?

If this is an inherent problem in the HOG design, then if the Apeks DST and HOG are truly identical designs, how could the Apeks not have the same problem? Have you serviced a lot of Apeks DST? I'm guessing from your statement that you don't know the answer, but I thought I would ask it in case someone else has an opinion.

I'm interested in all this because at this point, between my wife and me, we have two sets of doubles regs and two sets of singles regs, all HOG D1 1st stages. The deciding factor in my decision was being able to service all these myself and not having to learn to service multiple brands. The dive shop service cost for just one singles reg set--a 1st and two 2nds--is around US$100 where I am (almost in the company's backyard).

Don't worry, if I should be right (and that's up to now not confirmed), the 'thing' is practically no 'problem', it would be just another substandard diaphragm 1st stage ( like the MK11-17 of SP).
I don't know how many DSTs I have serviced, but since one customer used them, strange enough, as fleet regulators, I have done quite a lot of them.
Here around HOGs are quite uncommon, so I haven't worked a lot on them.
If some more guys find the same qualities as I, I will have a more thorough look on the components next time I get one HOG on my workbench.

Give me a full and near empty psi, and I'll get you some numbers. At least, what near empty might look like.

A full tank would be like 3000psi and a near empty tank would be like 200-500psi.

 

[Nemrod]

I was just get the Core LX (Supreme) and a second Core for air sharing. N

 

[gcarter]

Also Aqualung has a 2 year service interval so in effect your service costs are basically the same for either if you plan to follow the mfr's recommendations.

Hog service interval is 2 years as well.