Regulators - best of the tests

[redacted]

Tough crowd!

I find the results believable. The Biofin has been topping fin reviews for a decade. Regs breath so well a machine must be used to measure results as us humans do not have the ability. BC reviews are laughable as review sites don't acknowledge the existance of back inflate BC's. All in all the same stuff we have been seeing for a decade.

My thought is equipment is safe and that is good thing.

would you care to offer a list of unsafe regulators?

 

[Griffo]

When's someone going to send them a HOG D1 ?

 

[Thalassamania]

When's someone going to send them a HOG D1 ?

I've already tested it for myself and the D1 is A1.

 

[endurodog]

Is anyone out there doing testing of scuba gear that the critical ones on here are not complaining about?

 

[Thalassamania]

Probably not, it is a small industry (ranking behind Bocce Ball in yearly sales) and there is really not enough interest or need to spark the interest of say, Consumer's Union, so there are some good testers and some manufacturers' shills. Each of us has to decide for ourselves which one is which.

 

[Bombay High]

I own Scubapro, Poseidon, Kirby-Morgan and Mares regulators and I can honestly not tell the difference between them, except the Poseidon allows me to look up without getting a facefull of bubbles.

And the Kirby Morgan is great for high work loads and heavy breathing.

 

[Ozwald]

I wounder how hog reg's would stack up. The hog reg I have breathes better then my apeks

 

[DevonDiver]

I have no problem with manufacturers supply gear for testing,

I don't think it's so much as issue that some manufacturers do supply gear.... more a case that some won't. This means that critical market players will be left out of a review just because they wouldn't or couldn't supply a freebie regulator to the tester. That means a very incomplete market range is compared and reviewed.

Quite often, companies won't supply equipment for testing unless they have some form of assurance that they will get a favorable, or at least positive, review - which leads to reviewers ignoring certain critical faults... or at least, only providing comparison/review based on positive merits (stating the pros, but leaving the cons unmentioned).

On that note.... see if you can spot ANY 'con' comments in these so-called "reviews". Anything? Anywhere?

None of these regulators is anything but perfect (for it's desired market). Really?

:bs:

It doesn't help credibility either that some of the companies reviewed are listed as sponsors... and others advertise on the site.

I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself what a wonderful world.

I see skies of blue and clouds of white
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
And I think to myself what a wonderful world.

The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of people going by
I see friends shaking hands saying how do you do
They're really saying I love you.

I hear babies crying, I watch them grow
They'll learn much more than I'll never know
And I think to myself what a wonderful world
Yes I think to myself what a wonderful world.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Tough crowd ...

Probably the four most-used-in-sequence words on ScubaBoard are "What is the best" ...

How can you answer that question? It depends on a lot of significant variables. People who write magazine and electronic reviews for products attempt to respond to the question, but can only ever do so in a limited fashion, based on the criteria they establish for such tests. And inevitably their results will conflict with the opinions, experiences, and personal tastes of many of the consumers they hope to reach.

I think it's legitimate to question a tester's process and environment. I'm not so sure it's cool to question their motives for performing the test, or accuse them of catering to advertisers. If you disagree with the results, say so and why ... that'd be way more informative.

Personally I own 11 regs ... ScubaPro (3), Apeks (4), Hog (2), Dive Rite (1), and Dacor (1). With the exception of the Dacor ... which is very old and has been relegated to strictly pool use ... they all perform just fine, even under conditions that the typical recreational diver would find to be pretty demanding. Properly serviced, I'd use any of them on dives well below recreational depths, inside caves, and in the cold water environment I typically dive in.

"What is the best" is extremely subjective ... there is no criteria that can adequately answer that question, because every piece of gear in a given price range is going to excel at certain things and have less than optimal performance in certain others, and any real objective test is going to point out what those are rather than trying to come up with a "tester's choice" of one or more that excels at everything.

It's up to the consumer to research, find out what features and functions are most important to them, and choose the equipment based on their personal criteria.

There is no "best" equipment ... there's only "best for you" ... and no test is going to be able to tell you what that is ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[endurodog]

Probably not, it is a small industry (ranking behind Bocce Ball in yearly sales) .

Haaaa good one Thal :chuckle: