Cold Water Gear Advice

[USdiver1]

The Mares Abyss 22 Navy II is a very good cold water regulator. I recommend it without reservation for someone starting out their diving life in cold water quarries (I know because I've been diving them for decades). Go with the Abyss, you have picked a winner.

 

[jscan1]

I've dove the mc9 in so cal water temps down to high forties, it's a decent regulator, but ultimately I switched to scuba pro, because I only seemed to get about 80 dives out of the cressi before it started breathing poorly, and getting it serviced, was expensive! It was during one of those services I borrowed a friends scubapro mk25, G250 combo, it breathed like butter! I switched and haven't looked back , I picked up a used MK17 (perfect for cold water), and an old G250 for about $175 total and had rebuilt as my primary, and then picked up an mk10, and another G250 for a total of $100 for my pony.....these regs are bulletproof, very affordable, and can't really imagine any regs breathing better

 

[TheRealScubaSteve]

I've got about 180 dives on my MC9 (Ellipse Titanium) between servicing and have had no issues. It performs nice, but it's a royal pain to find dealers around here that stock parts. In NY, I suppose you won't have the same issue. The primary nag I have about it is that the adjustment knob becomes very, very, stiff after diving with it for a while. Babying it or neglecting it does not seem to make much difference in how smooth it is.

I bought a Seac-Sub Synchro "D" ICE as a backup a few years ago. I thought it was going to be junk given how cheap the thing is, but it performs pretty much just as well as the MC9. So far there's probably 60-100 dives on that one. If you're on a budget, I'd recommend that, though there does not seem to be many dealers on the east coast.