Do I NEED an adjustable 2nd stage for 95 ft diving?

[GrandpaScuba]

I am going to dive the Meg Ledges in NC next week, and I do not have an adjustable reg. I hardly ever dive over 60ft and it breathes OK there, except with exertion.
Help fast...
Thanks

For deep diving like that it's more important that you have a balanced 1st stage. After that, an adjustable 2nd stage can be helpful. But I've dived to 132ft without ever touching the adjustment knob on my 2nd stage.

 

[tbone1004]

Grandpa, sorry to undermine that but the adjustment knobs are not helpful for anything on a primary regulator other than the ability to detune them when you are on a stage/deco bottle, or on an octo when it is around your neck. They are supposed to be dove wide open when you are breathing on them, and tune them back when you are not using them. It is completely unnecessary to manipulate at any point while you are actually using the regulator itself, and the only one you should ever really touch in recreational diving is the secondary IF you donate your primary. Poseidons are some of the highest performing regulators in the world and they don't have adjustment knobs, the Jetstream has a dive-predive switch that pushes the diaphragm farther away from the needle which is effectively what the adjustment knob is for, keeping the regulator from freeflowing while you aren't using it. Has nothing to do "adjusting" while you're using it.

 

[Michael Guerrero]

I am going to dive the Meg Ledges in NC next week, and I do not have an adjustable reg. I hardly ever dive over 60ft and it breathes OK there, except with exertion.
Help fast...

Thanks

A reg should breathe EASY. Period!

If you're diving a reg that only breathes OK, throw that 1970s **** away and buy a modern, 21st century reg for under $200 that breathes like a champ under all conditions.

Honestly, I don't understand the resistance to a desire for well-functioning gear on behalf of anachronistic equipment. You can have a 1st and 2nd stage manufactured to high quality for so cheap these days. WTF!!!

I still don't understand what you mean by adjustable, cracking pressure, venturi, what? But either way, if your reg doesn't breath effortlessly at whatever depth, you should spend a little money and buy a decent reg.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Or have it tuned by someone who knows what they are doing. You do not have to buy a new reg. A properly tuned and serviced older reg will work just as well. From someone who sells new regs.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

]Grandpa, sorry to undermine that but the adjustment knobs are not helpful for anything on a primary regulator other than the ability to detune them when you are on a stage/deco bottle, or on an octo when it is around your neck.[/B] They are supposed to be dove wide open when you are breathing on them, and tune them back when you are not using them. It is completely unnecessary to manipulate at any point while you are actually using the regulator itself, and the only one you should ever really touch in recreational diving is the secondary IF you donate your primary. Poseidons are some of the highest performing regulators in the world and they don't have adjustment knobs, the Jetstream has a dive-predive switch that pushes the diaphragm farther away from the needle which is effectively what the adjustment knob is for, keeping the regulator from freeflowing while you aren't using it. Has nothing to do "adjusting" while you're using it.

Not true at all. If you are swimming down an anchor line in a strong current, the current may press against the diaphragm and cuase a freeflow, so you screw the adjustment knob down a little and it stops. The same can happen on a really fast descent.

Once I reach the bottom, I may back it off a little and make it easier to breath. The adjustment knob is nice because you can have the seat adjusted "loose" so when you store the regulator which is 99.9% of the time, there is little pressure on the seat. Then when it is time to dive you can crank it down one turn. The adjustment knob also gives you a longer period of time between mandatory seat adjustments (during normal wear).

I have an adjustment on my old SP 109 and use it pretty frequently.

Of course none of this is needed or required, but the adjustment knob does have some benefits that I make use of, often.

 

[tbone1004]

In those cases I just rotate my head a few degrees so my face isn't in the current, but I guess that is a practical use of it, though it is still an exception to the rule of needing one since you can tuck your chin to deflect or what I've seen a lot of people do is turn into their elbow if it's just for descent. The seat wear is a nice feature of it, but if you're following normal service schedules they will usually beat the seat wear.

 

[Michael Guerrero]

It's nice to be able to de-tune the reg around my neck when scootering.