Gear purchase woe's

[The Chairman]

i work for a shop

Fair enough. I had lots of opinions about cars when I was a mechanic... but I actually turned the wrenches. I didn't automatically accept the opinions of my peers though. Too often a "Ford/Chevy" opinion gets couched in absolute terms which don't apply. It's the "I don't dive it, sell it or teach it, so it must be crap" mentality that spreads a lot of misinformation about gear.

 

[Bryan@Vintage Double Hose]

It's the "I don't dive it, sell it or teach it, so it must be crap" mentality that spreads a lot of misinformation about gear.

This

 

[rsingler]

What did they do to the first stage? They used to have a non-replaceable filter in the piston.Then moved to a replaceable (but not cleanable) filter in the body. Then I noticed they have something called a laser cut filter that supposedly can be cleaned. Are they still using a flow-by piston or have they switched to a flow-through one?

Though I don't dive them often, Sherwood has several very interesting engineering features not common in other brands. It results in performance which they have reason to be proud of. The first feature, which is not new, is in the use of a floating HP orifice. The reg responds to decreasing tank pressure by using a series of spring washers to move the orifice away from the seat, maintaining IP despite a decreasing tank pressure. It is very stable.

In the SR1 and SR2 first stage, the reg stays dry inside through the use of an external diaphragm to sense seawater pressure. Yes, a diaphragm. This connects to the back of the piston to transfer increasing sea water pressure through the use of low friction heavy plastic legs. The diaphragm is part #19 on the exploded view, the pressure transfer device is parts #18 and #6. This was last used decades ago in a brand that I cannot recall. But the advantage of keeping your internals dry and free of floating sand and salt are obvious.

In the newer Brut models, the way they keep the reg dry inside is also through the use of a diaphragm, which in this case presses against the back of an old fashioned Schrader valve. This allows the IP to remain at the tuned gradient over sea water pressure. The parts in question here are #'s 31 and 18.

As I said, very different from the approach of other manufacturers. The SR series retains the huge flow of a flow-through piston, while the flow-by Brut stays dry inside, and yet with the spring washers, retains a stable IP with decreasing tank pressure.

For piston lovers, this is engineering worth appreciating. If, like me, you hate the damage to the piston land that occurs with the entry of floating grit into the environmental chamber behind the piston, these regs are sweet.
They don't command the cachet of the sealed piston Atomics, but even Scubapro Mk25 EVO has a wet environmental chamber in its piston series since it gave up the SPEC boot of the Mk 10. Sad.

 

[Bob DBF]

i should have been more clear.....the previous post had mentioned the blizzard. from what i am told, the old style blizzard was very good. the newer version is not.

What is the year or number of the new Blizzard, and is the first second or both changed?

Diving Sherwoods I am always behind the times, as they just seem to keep working. My Magnum from '80 is now my Pony reg with only one rebuild on the first, probably necessary prematurely from the tank I started to use that was contaminated with oil early in its life. My Blizzard is from 2009 and will probably outlast me. Most of the time I use old metal seconds so the second stage gets little use.


Bob

 

[rick00001967]

take what i am saying for what it may be worth......i am not a repair tech. but even though the first and second stage are new, i believe the main concerns were with the second stage. all the new versions got a thumbs down from our repair guys. the current blizzard first stage i believe is the same as on other models. i used to have a brut as a pony reg. it is also the same as the genesis gs2000 first stage. our shop sells a bunch of the genesis regs. i have used one for 4 years teaching. never had any issues with the first stage. even ice diving. i cannot tell you specifics on why our guys were not happy with the newer second stages. here is s couple of pics of what i recognize as the old style and new style blizzards.

 

[Bob DBF]

Mine is the one on the left, I figured it must be older as I've had it for almost 10 years. Overall I believe it was a better overall performing reg than my previous Sherwood. The only issue I had on the second was that it was a pita to take apart, I always felt I was going to break it at any moment, the old seconds were a peice of cake. I could see a tech not liking the newer second if it was as bad, or worse, to work on.


Bob

 

[gfaith]

@Scott Mclaughlin would check this out before purchasing an Avid.

Avid BC / Broken strap holder (lower)

 

[rjgiddings]

Zeagle ranger bought off a guy on CL...dove this for a bit. Very solid BCD. Love it. About to trade up into a BP/W. It's now become the market where a backplate/ wing set up ( $ 350.00 for wing/ SS plate/ one-piece harness/ knife) can be cheaper than a new BCD. I * never * thought that day would arrive.

 

[Eptel]

I have about the same number of dives as you are and I recently purchased my 1st ever regulator and BCD. After some research I went with BP/W setup ( DiveRite Lite Stainless backplate + Voyager wing ) and Deep6 regulators (Deep 6 Gear - Deep 6 Signature Single Tank Regulator Package ). Before this I was only diving with rental regs and BCDs
I just had 4 dives in Tobermory, Ontario past weekend with my new setup. it was 8 degrees C at 24m depth and Deep6 regulator performed flawlessly. They are designed for cold water and are good bargain in terms of pricing/performance.

 

[CT-Rich]

What is the year or number of the new Blizzard, and is the first second or both changed?

Diving Sherwoods I am always behind the times, as they just seem to keep working. My Magnum from '80 is now my Pony reg with only one rebuild on the first, probably necessary prematurely from the tank I started to use that was contaminated with oil early in its life. My Blizzard is from 2009 and will probably outlast me. Most of the time I use old metal seconds so the second stage gets little use.


Bob

My Sherwood Magnum set was 1980 also. Still works great. I like it as much as my Scubapro set which is 25 years its junior. My daughter has been using it with no problems.