help appraising older Poseidon

[randini]

Hi all,
A pair of co-workers have asked me for guidance in establishing a fair price for a reg that one wants to sell to the other. As far as I can tell it looks like a Poseidon Cyklon 300 with a 2305 1st stage and a 1133 2nd stage. Apparently it was serviced "a few years ago" and put into storage and has not seen water since.

The regulator has been impeccably cared after, there is not a spot of rust or salt or verdigris on it anywhere. The yoke adapter spins off perfectly. IP holds a solid 165psi.

The 2nd stage hose is an original Poseidon hose and looks mostly ok, except for a very small tear starting near the connector to the 2nd stage. Mouthpiece looks good, but the purge button looks aged and might have a small pinhole in it.

SPG is a newer Tusa that was added more recently and looks fine and the BCD hose looks OK, it seems to work fine and operation is smooth, but it looks old.

 

[randini]

More pictures

 

[Whitrzac]

$50, maybe

 

[Tracy]

SPG has the most value of the set. Probably worth around $50-60 for everything.
Older cyklon firsts were metric thread, so you need adapters to change hoses. Older cyklons require actual poseidon hoses as I haven't ever seen a cyklon adapter for standard hoses.
It is old enough to not have much value, but not old enough to really be collectible.

 

[randini]

Thanks everyone.
The buyer will be happy about that, the seller not so much.

 

[Bigbella]

I disagree with that low-ball price given to the Cyklon 300 set, since there is still a thriving secondary market for them, especially in Mexico and overseas -- and spare parts are readily available and still supported by Poseidon, thirty-one years after the model was discontinued. I have rebuilt a number of them within this last year or two for pony and stage bottles for clients and friends and still use them myself.

I'd place the value anywhere between US 100-150.00 depending upon how much servicing would be required.

A friend recently dropped about 300.00 on a very clean set from the mid-1980s, in a mouldering original box with a weird green flocking interior, made to look like felt(?) -- just a nice first and second stage.

True, adaptors are required for modern hoses and are still offered (you'd only require an additional one for another LP hose, for a potential octopus, judging from what I could see); and Omni Swivel adaptors are available for the Cyklon second stages paired with any common LP hose (see below), which cuts down on some cost.

The issue will ultimately come down to the price of servicing, regardless if it is currently holding a stable IP. The first stage will require a rebuild and the valve piston a decent Micromesh polishing if necessary (thanks to @rsingler for that valuable insight), since that part is no longer manufactured, but is still occasionally available from dealers as old stock.

Many would pay good money if it were just sold for parts. I'd personally drop 100.00 on it and you could keep the SPG.

Even if the first stage superficially looks clean and free of verdigris, you won't really know what you have until you crack it open; and that failing hose should be the first to go.

The second stage will require a service kit as well; a new purge button from what was shown above; and probably both the inhalation and exhalation diaphragms, since, dollars to doughnuts, they were never replaced and are far more perishable than that of the purge button. Those three rubber parts alone could retail for about 80.00.

You'd ultimately spend around 200.00 in service kits, spare parts, and labor; but the 300 was also among the most dependable and tough regs ever made and dirt-simple to service -- what one SB contributor had colorfully described as the "AK-47 of regulators;" and, having put them through their paces for decades, would still trust them more, especially in cold water, than most anything else currently on the market . . .

 

[p_kos]

Just finished rebuilding these two beauties. Crack at .8” and 1” respectively @165 psi IP, breath great. Omniswivel adapters cost more than the regs . One needed a new spring though, luckily I had a beater for parts as well.

 

[scrane]

The best way is to monitor completed eBay auctions.

 

[Bigbella]

Just finished rebuilding these two beauties. Crack at .8” and 1” respectively @165 psi IP, breath great. Omniswivel adapters cost more than the regs . One needed a new spring though, luckily I had a beater for parts as well.

Beautiful!

What do those Omni Swivel adaptors run in the Great White North!?

 

[p_kos]

Beautiful!

What do those Omni Swivel adaptors run in the Great White North!?

It was cheaper to get them from DGX!