Do it all regulator.

[DiscoVolante]

Hi all,

I have been lurking a couple of weeks and now decided it was about time to post.

I'm planning a 1 year long dive trip around the world and have decided to buy and bring a regulator. Now, since I am a total noob when it comes to this piece of equipment I need your advice.
I will be diving warm waters like Truk-Lagoon as well as really cold ones (Antarctica).
I plan on doing some recreational single-tank diving, but also to get started with deep technical double-tank diving (by deep I mean down to 55 m or so).

I guess what I am saying is that I need a setup which can do it all (cold/warm water, deep, nitrox, trimix etc.). Is this possible?

From what I have been able to understand (i hope), I need to buy a twin-set? I can then use one half (of the twin-set) when diving with the single tank configuration, and the full twin-set when diving with the doubles? Man are these questions stupid ehh?

Found some twin-set-regulator packages on a site called dirdirect, but couldn't post the url.
Is any of the following setups ok for the diving I plan on doing?
Apeks 2 x DS4 / XTX50 / XTX40
Scubapro 2 x MK17 / S555 / R395


Thanks and have a nice day

 

[rcs9250]

Both of those are ideal choices for the full range of diving you will do. You would not be disapointed in either one. Parts are available world wide. Where you live might influence your choice as far as what your LDS services.
You will find people from both schools promoting one over the other.

One place where they are not comparable is the second stage. The S555
is not an adjustable second stage where as the XTX50 is. Most people rarely use the adjustment. Some may argue it's necessity. If you want the Scubapro with the adjustable second just move up to the S600.

I have 2 DS4's, 4 XTX50 , 2 ATX200's, 3 MK25's, 2 MK17's and 6 G250V's. All excellent performers in all conditions. I take MK25's under the ice without problems.

Two things you may consider though if you are planning on the tech route.
DIN is sort of the norm for first stages, most likely in Switzerland anyway, as DIN is pretty common in Europe. The other thing to consider is using the same second stage for primary and your backup.
Best of luck on your trip. Many would give a lung for that opportunity.

 

[TSandM]

Switching back and forth between doubles and single tanks is not as simply as just using half of the reg set for the doubles. When you use a single tank, your LP inflator hose and drysuit hose (if you are using one), pressure gauge and both regulators are coming off a single first stage. With doubles, you split those functions up between the two first stages, so that you have redundancy in both breathing gas and buoyancy. So, if you want to use doubles regs for single tank diving, you have to take them apart and move the hoses. It takes about ten minutes or so to do, but it's a PITA to do day after day, which is why almost anybody who dives both ends up owning three first stages and four second stages.

 

[AquaNSun]

Technical diving is quite different from recreational diving and usually people have 2 sets, one for each. Tech diving is serious and it's better to be trained first in order to know what you need (if you haven't already). You'll probably need to have dedicated regs for tech diving if using high O2 application. One size doesn't always fit all.

Edit: meant to say 1 setup for tech diving and 1 setup for recreational diving.

 

[elan]

If you go SP route get MK17-G250V. forget about S600 and S555 they will not work in cold water - they start flowing often in temperatures less than 40F (4C).

Apeks is a tested choice, a technician from my LDS used them in doing diving in Arctics. People here use mostly Apekses and SP MK17/G250V for dives in cold (<40) water

And doing tech dives you need more than 2 regs

 

[Kunundrum]

If it were me I would get 3x XTX50 + 1 extra XTX50 Second, 2 are setup for doubles and 1 setup for Single Cylinder, the XTX50 is a Great Regulator set and you would hard pressed to find a better reg for you range of Diving. Don't get me wrong the MK17 is no slouch but I personally prefer the Apeks.

With 3x First stages and 4 Seconds gives you uniformity/redundancy in the gear and means in a pinch you can reconfigure/change things around if you get a malfunction (say in the Arctic) move a 1st or second stage around and off you go. because you won't always been near a Dive shop.

just my 2psi though.

Sounds like one hell of a trip though.

 

[DiscoVolante]

Thanks everyone for your help.

If I understand everything correctly, the 2x(MK17-G250V) and the 2x(DS4-XTX50) setup would both be good choices both when it comes to performance and reliability.
I will drop by my LDS and see if I can get a good deal on any of them.

I will probably gear up and boost the redundancy when I reach Ushuaia-Argentina. I plan on staying there for a couple of weeks and get down and dirty with the cold water diving, before hitting Antarctica. Before that I will mostly be diving in places not so desolate, so if something should break I should be able to get a hold of spares or replacements.
Since I will be backpacking all over the place, I try to pack light (more or less).

Yes I sure also think it will be one hell of a trip. I will try to cram everything in there, wrecks, big fishes, caves, u-boats, sunken cities. Its great fun just planning it. Will post a thread in the travelling section when I have a more solid base plan.

Cheers

 

[Thalassamania]

'... the Poseidon Xstreme was the only regulator that suffered no free flows at McMurdo, and is also the only regulator that never free flowed during NEDU's rigorous 2004 testing program for cold water regulators."

Lang, M.A. and M.D.J. Sayer (eds.) 2007. Proceedings of the International Polar Diving Workshop, Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard, March 15-21, 2007. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. 213 pp.

 

[Puffer Fish]

'... the Poseidon Xstreme was the only regulator that suffered no free flows at McMurdo, and is also the only regulator that never free flowed during NEDU's rigorous 2004 testing program for cold water regulators."

Lang, M.A. and M.D.J. Sayer (eds.) 2007. Proceedings of the International Polar Diving Workshop, Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard, March 15-21, 2007. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. 213 pp.

Thal, huge fan of Poseidon regs, but getting part and service (if ever needed) sort of sucks around the world. If one could, then I would be the first to get rid of all my Apex 200's and scubapro regs...(mk25 and 250V's)..

 

[RJP]

Switching back and forth between doubles and single tanks is not as simple as just using half of the reg set for the doubles.

Nor is it much more difficult.

All you need is an allen wrench, a box wrench, and two minutes. If the OP was going to switch back and forth from dive to dive, day in/day out, every day for a year...I'd say bring a doubles set and a singles set. But based on what the OP is describing - a bunch of separate trips strung together - I'd think switching won't be a big deal.

Of course if he/she is serious about things like "tech and trimix" then he's gonna be carrying so much more stuff... that toting an extra reg or two really won't be a big deal.