Reg selection

[Frozen_Flipper]

Hi,

I've been browsing the board for awhile, there's a wealth of info here! I'm from Canada, dive mostly in cold water (Great Lakes, St-Lawrence waterway, St-Lawrence Gulf) and recently got interested in more technical dives. I'm already familiar with low temperatures and shallow wreck sites with little penetration (if any at all) and I'm now looking at deep diving and cave diving.

I've been using a Sherwood Blizzard reg so far (5 years now), never had a trouble with it, but I want (and now can afford!) a more rugged primary reg for more "technical" dives. I'll take the DIR Deep Dive course this summer, so I'm looking mostly for cold-water and silt resistance, reliability, great depths performance and if possible Nitrox (up to EAN40). Field maintenance is also a plus, although I'm not too tech-savvy yet, so I'd still trust a skilled technician twice a year with my reg, not myself!

I take it the Apeks regs are very popular here, but I don't have any experience with them, neither with SP and Poseidon. Outside my own reg, the only other one I tried is the USD Legend Supreme. I've been looking at Apeks, only I'm not really familiar with their line, Aqualung Titan Glacia (anyone tried it?) or Legend Supreme (I liked it, don't know how it performs deep down, though) and finally Beuchat VX10 Iceberg (again, anyone familiar with it?).

From what I've read so far there seems to be alot of arguments in favor of the Apeks, but I'd like to know what combinations are the best for what I intend to do. I take it the ATX series is okay with oxygen, up to 40% and the 1st stage is well-protected, but how is the breathing effort deep down? What is up with the large gauge HP port? Is it hard to find adapters? Is the 2nd stage big?

All inputs are welcome, thanks for your time!


Cheers!

 

[jonnythan]

Frozen_Flipper once bubbled...
Hi,

I've been browsing the board for awhile, there's a wealth of info here! I'm from Canada, dive mostly in cold water (Great Lakes, St-Lawrence waterway, St-Lawrence Gulf) and recently got interested in more technical dives. I'm already familiar with low temperatures and shallow wreck sites with little penetration (if any at all) and I'm now looking at deep diving and cave diving.

I've been using a Sherwood Blizzard reg so far (5 years now), never had a trouble with it, but I want (and now can afford!) a more rugged primary reg for more "technical" dives. I'll take the DIR Deep Dive course this summer, so I'm looking mostly for cold-water and silt resistance, reliability, great depths performance and if possible Nitrox (up to EAN40). Field maintenance is also a plus, although I'm not too tech-savvy yet, so I'd still trust a skilled technician twice a year with my reg, not myself!

I take it the Apeks regs are very popular here, but I don't have any experience with them, neither with SP and Poseidon. Outside my own reg, the only other one I tried is the USD Legend Supreme. I've been looking at Apeks, only I'm not really familiar with their line, Aqualung Titan Glacia (anyone tried it?) or Legend Supreme (I liked it, don't know how it performs deep down, though) and finally Beuchat VX10 Iceberg (again, anyone familiar with it?).

From what I've read so far there seems to be alot of arguments in favor of the Apeks, but I'd like to know what combinations are the best for what I intend to do. I take it the ATX series is okay with oxygen, up to 40% and the 1st stage is well-protected, but how is the breathing effort deep down? What is up with the large gauge HP port? Is it hard to find adapters? Is the 2nd stage big?

All inputs are welcome, thanks for your time!


Cheers!

Get the DS4 or the first stage that comes with the 100 or 200.

The HP port is a standard size, as are the LP ports on the DS4. On the other first stages, there is one 1/2" high flow LP port - 1/2" to 3/8" adapters are easy to find. I hear the port layout for both designs is great for doubles, and the DS4 is easy to find by itself.

I can't comment on the performance any deeper than 90 feet, but it's pretty darn good there.

The TX second stages are... big. Not as bulky and weird as the Poseidon, but *much* larger than the newer Sherwoods. The ATX are quite a bit smaller, but still significant. The size of the TX doesn't bother me, though.

Just from my general knowledge of the product line, I'd suggest a DS4 (standard port sizes) with a TX50 second. The DST has a swivel, which kinda scares me, whether that's justified or not. The ATX series has pretty annoying bubble interference from what I hear, but I'd consider using one for my backup.

The TX series is Ok out of the box for 40%, too. At least, that's what my manual says

 

[rogerhelmich]

I am a scuba pro man with a D400 in my mouth and a 550 around my neck. I have an tech50d(apeks) on the O2. I spent a year up in Minnesota diving Superior and never had a problem with free flows. The D400 breathes better at depth than any reg I have ever used, including the apeks.

I have seen people have problems with free flowing though and if I was gonna recommend a reg for cold and deep I guess I would have to recommend an apeks. I will keep the scuba pro because it does just fine by me.

But if you want to know how an apeks breathes at depth dont ask the people here just read this
http://www.dive-technical.com/news.htm

nothing in the world wrong with a sp or apeks.

good luck

 

[Frozen_Flipper]

Thanks for the advices!

 

[Charlie99]

Frozen_Flipper once bubbled...
I've been using a Sherwood Blizzard reg so far (5 years now), never had a trouble with it, but I want (and now can afford!) a more rugged primary reg for more "technical" dives.

It sounds like your current reg is doing just fine. Why change to the "flavor of the month"? If nitrox compatibility is an issue, take care of that at the next regular servicing.

Charlie