Scubapro Balanced Adjustable - have you seen this version?

[Kupu]

Not all 156 have a CE stamp but all large exhaust valve 156 that I have seen have the CE stamp.

The defining characteristic of a Balanced Adjustable 156 is the G250 size exhaust valve. A Balanced Adjustable is not a 156 unless it has this feature. There are at least a few 156 with G250 exhaust valve but no CE stamp.
All Balanced Adjustable with 109 size exhaust valve are always either 150 or 152, but of course nobody uses the term 150 so referring to them simply as Balanced Adjustable makes sense and keeps things straight.

It's a minor thing that does not really matter, except when creating confusion for those searching for the real 156. But once the difference is understood, it comes to mind every time a "156" is listed on ebay or discussed in a thread.

The lack of information about the real 156 is what prompted me to start this thread over 4 years ago, when I was searching for one and trying to sort thru the mixed and conflicting information about which Balanced Adjustables would have the G250 exhaust valve. I had no idea what to look for. Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this thread!

 

[Kupu]

Being curious where or when the habit of referring to the Balanced Adjustable a 156 without taking into account the difference compared to the 150/152 may have started, I searched the threads from the early years of Scubaboard. The first reference to 156 shows up in March 2006 in a thread with posts by DA Aquamaster and AWAP. They were both highly regarded and knowledgeable members, after they referred to the Balanced Adjustable as 156 it soon became common habit. In the following years certain posts would make statements such as how one could upgrade a 109 to 156 status by switching to balanced poppet.
All posts in the years prior to the March 2006 thread refer to the regulators more correctly as 109 Adjustable or Balanced Adjustable.

I stumbled on a 2006 post from my hero Couv, where he asked "How to tell the difference between a 109 and Balanced Adjustable?"
So much knowledge has been shared and spread since those days.

 

[Nemrod]

I worked for a Scubapro store in the 70s and up until I completed grad school in 1980. I bought one of these 109s and it came with a twin port Mark V. I was given the other by the owner of the store for services rendered. In those days I preferred (and still do) the AL 1085. One of them was never dived. Notice they have the clip slot:



My CE 156 was given me by Robert and we both preferred the classic looks so knobs and covers have been changed to match the typical "109" look. I have a R190, a couple actually. Couv may have had dyslexia like I because he would then inform me that R109 was not the catalog number, it was 109! Yes, Robert, but I am talking about a R190, not a 109.



And for that I would owe him a BAM! Even though it says R190 on the cover. He was funny .

 

[Kupu]

I dropped the hint to Couv a few times that I would be quite interested in one of his 156 if he ever decided to let one go. Very nice that you have one from his collection.

Looking at your picture, I see the recessed clip style also had a couple styles.
One style is flush with the air barrel and then your photo shows a clip that extends past the air barrel.

 

[Nemrod]

I dropped the hint to Couv a few times that I would be quite interested in one of his 156 if he ever decided to let one go. Very nice that you have one from his collection.

Looking at your picture, I see the recessed clip style also had a couple styles.
One style is flush with the air barrel and then your photo shows a clip that extends past the air barrel.

That clip is a hardware store hitch pin clip I use during tuning for various Scubapro regs. It allows me to quickly pop the clip out and change springs or whatever I might want to do. It is in that regulator because I am setting them up for my wife to dive with this spring. It is possible to take the stainless hitch pin clip and cut the legs off and then it is a perfect fit.