Atomic B2 or Z2

[catskill diver]

Love my 2ZX, Got the wife a Atomic custom length hose for her Sherwood as well. Dont think about the extra point of failure thought? Only rec diving to 100' Last regs were free flowing or hard to breath after put away clean and shelved for months. Cant go wrong with Atomic, besides they are made in the USA.

 

[coralcruiser]

You might wanna bring your BC to the dive shop, mount it on a tank, put each reg ON the tank, hook everything up JUST LIKE you were going to go diving, route the hoses JUST LIKE you want, and see how it goes, to get a better idea of if you need the 1st-stage swivel.

I'm with James though, I prefer the Atomic swivel hoses for all my primary 2nd-stage hoses (although I'm using MIFLEX hoses pretty much everywhere else) I think the Atomic hoses are less 'floaty', making reg recovery easier, (and less prone to vibrating/flopping about in current)also, the Atomic hoses have a very professional look/finish to them where they join the 2nd-stages, versus the bare/raw metal 'crude' look of plain MIFLEX (or conventional) hoses.

That's a great idea! Will do that tomorrow when I head over to the store to buy my new reg!

 

[Akimbo]

…I've also been thinking about the aqualung legend, mainly due to the ability to have work done it almost anywhere in the world (and all my diving is international) and their ACD system…

The disadvantage of the ACD is you cannot visually inspect the first stage inlet filter. Since a badly clogged filter is virtually the only thing that can create a regulator failure that can reduce delivery to hazardous levels, I can't see the advantage of ACD — especially since it is not reliably waterproof.

Broad international service is a consideration that favors Aqualung/Apex and ScubaPro. I wouldn’t get to obsessive though. You will have a difficult time finding a bad regulator sold anywhere in the North America and Europe. You can spend well under $200 and get an easily maintained regulator that will last more than 30 years and work far deeper than makes sense without being paid.

 

[coralcruiser]

I am now the proud owner of an Atomic Z2!

One of the shops in my area had a 25% off sale on the atomics regs that were in stock and the deal was just too good to pass up.

All I need to do now is change out their hose for my miflex.... the guy at the store didn't want to do it since he didn't know how to take the hose off my omega2.

Oh well, I'm sure someone at the shop that services my gear will do it for me... just too bad they were unable to match the deal or I would have bought it through them.

 

[fdog]

That is a possibility. There has been several second stage hose swivels marketed over the years, though they may well not have been so well executed as Atomic's. Given this and a lot of other "prior art", I would be surprised if their Patent is so strong that an equally functional variant could not be marketed without infringement. I suspect that most manufacturers don’t think they are loosing sales because of it, so don’t want to add cost to their products (emphasize this is a guess on my part).

In any case, the fact you like it is useful input. To put my view in perspective, I am just as happy with an unbalanced second stage in my mouth all day.

Note to others: Balanced second stages require less force on the valve lever so can use a smaller diameter diaphragm to get the same performance as an unbalanced. The smaller diaphragm allows a smaller housing so the whole assembly typically has less weight and hydrostatic drag.​

Question: In hindsight, would you buy all Z2x now or are there other applications that justify the M1 and B2 in your view?

Hi Akimbo. If I was to do it all over again, all I'd get would be the Z2x's. The only exceptions would be my deco regs: for these I believe the Monel components are perfect for high oxygen concentrations. Also, the M1's first stage swivel is perfect for routing the deco reg comfortably behind the neck, and stows quite low profile, too.

Cheers!


All the best, James

 

[catskill diver]

coral - who's having the sale?

 

[coralcruiser]

coral - who's having the sale?

Ultimate Dive & Travel... the sale is good in store with coupon through the end of July or until they run out of the regs they have in stock (not good if they need to order one for you).

 

[fnfalman]

B2 has more bling, Z2 performance slightly better on the breathing apparatus.

 

[Akimbo]

B2 has more bling, Z2 performance slightly better on the breathing apparatus.

I have never found reports that indicate that. There is always some variation but all the reports I have seen are within the tolerance of the simulator and/or normal manufacturing tolerance. Are the reports you are citing available? Atomic does an Ansti test series on every regulator the sell, but unfortunately they do not let customers have a copy.

 

[scubafanatic]

I have never found reports that indicate that. There is always some variation but all the reports I have seen are within the tolerance of the simulator and/or normal manufacturing tolerance. Are the reports you are citing available? Atomic does an Ansti test series on every regulator the sell, but unfortunately they do not let customers have a copy.

yeah, I've never heard any such thing either.