IST Regulators

[dpbishop]

I have been diving an IST for a couple of years. Bought it at Costco as a back up reg, it moved to first string when I couldn't get my Dacor serviced anymore. Never had a problem with it in over 50 dives.

 

[divinginn]

mine has been pulling backup duty for me for a few years without problems,been using the second for a octo for the last 6 months,it is starting to breath harder,might be time for its first rebuild.

 

[martzak]

Here is my two cents...I bought my ist r-20 off the internet as well. I first used it in a quarry in the midwest, in April, 40F water. No problems what so ever. The regulator breathed great with a little bit of a gurgling sound from the second stage when upside-down, but no water leak that I could tell.
I've used this reg on only 10 dives, so I don't know how it's gonna do long term, but so far I have no complaints. Although if you buy one, you might want to put a more comfortable mouthpiece on it.
I also own oceanic CDX5 (my favorite), and aeris atmos sport (discontinued, but a great reg). All three regs breathe about the same.
I understand what people are saying about supporting LDSs, and I agree with that, but I also have a limited budget and if I had to purchase all my gear from them, I would have to choose a different hobby.
The point is you can't learn scuba or get refills over the internet, so that's one thing LDSs will always have a monopoly on. And by the way, there is no reason why they can't sell they're gear online...but it might mean a slimmer profit margin.

 

[Captain Larry]

Here is my two cents...I bought my ist r-20 off the internet as well. I first used it in a quarry in the midwest, in April, 40F water. No problems what so ever. The regulator breathed great with a little bit of a gurgling sound from the second stage when upside-down, but no water leak that I could tell.
I've used this reg on only 10 dives, so I don't know how it's gonna do long term, but so far I have no complaints. Although if you buy one, you might want to put a more comfortable mouthpiece on it.
I also own oceanic CDX5 (my favorite), and aeris atmos sport (discontinued, but a great reg). All three regs breathe about the same.
I understand what people are saying about supporting LDSs, and I agree with that, but I also have a limited budget and if I had to purchase all my gear from them, I would have to choose a different hobby.
The point is you can't learn scuba or get refills over the internet, so that's one thing LDSs will always have a monopoly on. And by the way, there is no reason why they can't sell they're gear online...but it might mean a slimmer profit margin.

We have a LDS as well as an on-line store. We are restricted by manufacturers as to how low we can advertise a product on the web, called a MAP (minimum advertised price). When you shop on-line from a manufacturer's authorized dealer you'll notice that most of us have the same price on items, usually the MAP. If you come into our LDS you'll find that most products may be actually lower than anything you'll find on-line because we can deal more freely.
Any gear that works for you, makes you happy, and fits your budget is the right gear for you. We offer a wide variety of manufacturers, prices, and styles. Of course I have my personal opinion on what is best, at least for me, and I'll probably steer you towards it if you ask me. But everyone who shops should at least review the manufacturer's website and learn what you can about the gear you are placing your life into.
Happy Diving
Larry

 

[diveguy1]

I've owned several IST regulators and found them to be well built, durable, and reliable. They've all breathed well and have never had a problem with them.

 

[martzak]

We have a LDS as well as an on-line store. We are restricted by manufacturers as to how low we can advertise a product on the web, called a MAP (minimum advertised price). When you shop on-line from a manufacturer's authorized dealer you'll notice that most of us have the same price on items, usually the MAP. If you come into our LDS you'll find that most products may be actually lower than anything you'll find on-line because we can deal more freely.
Any gear that works for you, makes you happy, and fits your budget is the right gear for you. We offer a wide variety of manufacturers, prices, and styles. Of course I have my personal opinion on what is best, at least for me, and I'll probably steer you towards it if you ask me. But everyone who shops should at least review the manufacturer's website and learn what you can about the gear you are placing your life into.
Happy Diving
Larry

Thanks for chiming in Larry...I was not aware of MAP, I thought everything was MSRP and LDS owners had a free hand to price things as they pleased. I also was not aware you could haggle with the LDS. When I bought my first pieces of equipment from an LDS I just paid the sticker price and later kicked my self in the rear when I found the same pieces of equipment on-line at 30 and 40% cheaper. But I do get what people are saying about the advice, education and more importantly warranty that comes with every piece of scuba equipment you buy from an LDS.
Like you said, in the end it's a trade off, save a couple bucks but forgo the piece of mind that comes from buying at an LDS.
Thanks for taking the time to write your comment.

-Martin

 

[Captain Larry]

Rarely does a manufacturer insist that MSRP is the only price an item can be sold at. Shops that sell at MSRP only do so because they have no competition and can get away with it.
I have to laugh when I hear the blanket judgments made by some on this board about the LDS. Go online to the mega-big box mail order people and buy your gear if you think you're really getting a deal. We have an on-line store too and sell at the same MAP that the big guys do.
Come into my shop and I will most likely sell it to you for less, assemble and test and adjust your new gear, throw in free labor on overhauls for a few years, and send you out the door with a full fill of air in your tanks and a smile on your face and some money left over to actually go dive or take more courses. We'll even take you to the dive site on our boat and teach you. Let's see the mega big box mail order stores do that.
Larry

 

[H2Ocean]

Hi offthewall1, i see this is an old post but thought i'd get in on it. i just bought a new ist r-10 first and second stage online dec 12 2010. its got 32 dives in rough, some deep conditions, i paid $127+tax free shipping. its the first dry regulator i've used, nice. its getting some freeflow action going on, that adjusting the now stiff adjuster screw seems to momentarilly stop. its under warrantee, i'll send it in. just finding something else to use in the meantime is more of an inconvenience than anything. the way i look at it, if this last a year, there's almost no point in servicing it unless its less than 25 bucks. if the servicing is gonna be near 100 dollars, just buy another one, and use the first one until it starts to fail. i know this is going against all industry standard. its like an extended warrantee plan, paying 100 bucks a year to keep a 127 dollar onsale item just don't make sense to me. would i pay 310.00 bucks for it, probably not. does it work well? i'd say so. another way to look at it. a total of say 140 bucks with 30 dives on it mean its costing right now 4.66 a dive. thats alot. with 140 dives which we'll get this year under warrantee, it'll be costing 1 dollar a dive, for the last 140 dives. not bad.

 

[kdsmithjr]

All I can say is when you need an air fill see what the price is on the internet. Sounds harsh? Maybe so - but the more that is bought on the net the more profit is lost at the LDS and eventually they are no long around. Remember they are not just selling equipment, they offer air fills, classes, trips, they have taxes, insurance and lots of expenses and are there basically for us not for "profit".

Just my opinion
Becky

Hmmm.....Is there such a thing as 'not for profit' capitalism? Is there "magic" business somewhere. Everything a dealer does is for profit. Even so called "loss leaders" are intended to increase profit. If a dealer is no longer in business, they were not very good at being in business. Sometime cheaper is not just cheaper; sometimes cheaper is cheaper and better. You should support a dealer who supports you. That means they give you good service and good deals. One who only does one and not the other should step aside; if they don't someone will kick them to the curb.

 

[reefvagabond]

I was in your shoes a few months ago, new diver looking to buy regs. I found, as someone else on this thread mentioned, that IST regs are from a well known OEM from Taiwan. My guess is that the OEM is ocean divers. Keep in mind a few things, the first being that the same exact reg is rebranded and used for other companies, some of which are big names. The main difference between these companies, at least as far as the first stage is concerned, is that the quality control from IST vs these other bigger companies. You may find that the smaller distributors like IST do not have the ability or resources to do as thorough a check on things like the intermediate pressure and other internals of a regulator. Their support for it also probably does not stack up to the bigger names. The other things that may concern you is the country of origin. Taiwan is not China despite their fuzzy political situation and the products that come out of there are of better quality than Chinese products.

At the end of the day, I would have no problem buying their regs, or any ocean divers reg, especially if I were on a budget. In fact I own a reg that is made from ocean divers but rebranded by a bigger company with a better support and service plan. I paid more because I valued the support from the company, but it's basically the same reg. With IST you will run into local dive shops that will refuse to service it and tell you that your life support equipment is going to kill you, but I'm sick of these dive shops that act like you owe them. You don't, it's a business, they need to find a way to compete.