Sherwood VS Atomic

[fnfalman]

I just called and talked with Darcy at Atomic. She said that Atomic doesn't recommend soaking the regulators for extended period of time such as like an hour or more. Dunking it in water for cleaning is just fine.

 

[halocline]

I just called and talked with Darcy at Atomic. She said that Atomic doesn't recommend soaking the regulators for extended period of time such as like an hour or more. Dunking it in water for cleaning is just fine.

The problem with this is that after salt water use, it's best to soak regulators in fresh water for an extended time. During a dive salt water gets into lot of places like threads, any tiny opening, etc, and dunking the reg just doesn't cut it IMO. I do believe that atomic dropped the ball on this seat-saver bit. It's very easy to simply design a manual seat saver like the old SP purge button that you could depress slightly, twist, and it would stay put relieving the pressure on the 2nd stage seat. With balanced 2nd stages, adjustable inhalation resistance, and modern orifices with less of an edge, the seat saver is hardly necessary anyway, as there's very low pressure on the seat during storage.

If I owned a reg like this, I would still soak for an extended time, but I'd just position the 1st stage higher in the dunk tank than the second, and when finished soaking, just blow a little air through the reg.

Comparing atomics with the older sherwoods is kind of like comparing a new sports car with an old truck. The old NBP sherwoods are tough, no frills reliable workhorses that have stood up to many thousands of rental fleet dives, but they don't have anywhere near the kind of breathing performance that you get with atomics. (or any high end BP/barrel poppet balanced 2nd)

Now the SR1 is a strange case because the old truck company decided to offer a new sports car, and oddly enough, it looks so much like an atomic that I wonder who's actually building these things. Unfortunately, the first batch did have some problems and at one point LP was selling them in the $300 range. I have a friend who bought one and loves it, but I put an IP gauge on it and it creeped 10 psi in about 5-10 seconds, and had a cracking effort of about 2". Not much of a sports car to me.

 

[just-a-diver]

As someone who knows both regs like the back of the hand , . I would not waste my money on Sherwood. The SR-1 is an Atomic want-to-be , go buy a B2 or a Z2.

Atomic has a lot better QC then Sherwood will ever have.

All of Atomic is built in the US by Atomic , Sherwood has been farming their stuff out to OME companys for the last 8 yrs , they are just a name ,thats it. Just China *****

 

[scubafanatic]

As someone who knows both regs like the back of the hand , . I would not waste my money on Sherwood. The SR-1 is an Atomic want-to-be , go buy a B2 or a Z2.

Atomic has a lot better QC then Sherwood will ever have.

All of Atomic is built in the US by Atomic , Sherwood has been farming their stuff out to OME companys for the last 8 yrs , they are just a name ,thats it. Just China *****

over on the Sherwood forum 'Rhone Man' posted on the SR1 : http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/sherwood-scuba/288248-sr1-noise-while-diving.html

...says a Sherwood tech told him to hold a thumb over the 1st-stage environmental seal to keep from blowing out the 1st-stage piston whenever pressurizing the system !
WOW !!! sure DOES sound like cheap Chinese junk !

 

[scubafanatic]

The problem with this is that after salt water use, it's best to soak regulators in fresh water for an extended time. During a dive salt water gets into lot of places like threads, any tiny opening, etc, and dunking the reg just doesn't cut it IMO. I do believe that atomic dropped the ball on this seat-saver bit. It's very easy to simply design a manual seat saver like the old SP purge button that you could depress slightly, twist, and it would stay put relieving the pressure on the 2nd stage seat. With balanced 2nd stages, adjustable inhalation resistance, and modern orifices with less of an edge, the seat saver is hardly necessary anyway, as there's very low pressure on the seat during storage.

If I owned a reg like this, I would still soak for an extended time, but I'd just position the 1st stage higher in the dunk tank than the second, and when finished soaking, just blow a little air through the reg.

Comparing atomics with the older sherwoods is kind of like comparing a new sports car with an old truck. The old NBP sherwoods are tough, no frills reliable workhorses that have stood up to many thousands of rental fleet dives, but they don't have anywhere near the kind of breathing performance that you get with atomics. (or any high end BP/barrel poppet balanced 2nd)

Now the SR1 is a strange case because the old truck company decided to offer a new sports car, and oddly enough, it looks so much like an atomic that I wonder who's actually building these things. Unfortunately, the first batch did have some problems and at one point LP was selling them in the $300 range. I have a friend who bought one and loves it, but I put an IP gauge on it and it creeped 10 psi in about 5-10 seconds, and had a cracking effort of about 2". Not much of a sports car to me.

I quite agree with you....when I first saw the SR 1 1st-stage, I'd have bet my bottom dollar it was produced by Atomic...they looked identical on the WWW photos I saw (I own an Atomic M1 but have never seen an SR 1 in person. I wondered what unknown 3rd-party was actually manufacturing that 1st-stage for both Sherwood and Atomic....just like TUSA manufactures Scubapro regs. .....or did some Chinese subcontractor for Sherwood try to reverse engineer an Atomic ? (the Chinese are world famous for intellectual property theft.)

 

[oldpeanut]

I have owned both Sherwood Maximus and Atomic T1(2 Regs), M1 for many years. I used to use my Atomic regs primarily for tech deep dive or underwater photography because their first stages won't constantly bleeding a small stream of air bubbles.

I have used both Sherwood Maximus and Atomic T1, M1 regs in cold water and tropical water and they both performed very well in all of my diving even at depth greater than 40 meters/130 feet.

As long as you rinse regulator properly after each use, I would say both Sherwood Maximus and Atomic regs could last a long time before they need service.

The best way to rinse the regulator is rinse it with fresh running water while it is still attached to the tank. Just remember to dislodge all the small air bubbles cling to any small crevices or any metal surface. If this is impossible, remove the first stage from tank valve and carefully dry both 1st stage opening surface and dust cap with either lint free paper towel or towel. Then seal the 1st atge with dust cap. I have seen a lot of divers blowing air with some salt water droplets into their 1st stage regulators. It's always a good idea to keep the first stage higher than the 2nd stage while soak your regs in the water to dissolve salt crystal built up in the crevices and metal surface. But again make sure you shake the regs or use stream of water to dislodge air bubbles which could prevent the water in contact with crevices and some salt crystal so it could not be dissolved in the water and be rinsed away. Soak the regs in the warm water for about 30 minutes is good enough. And rinse the whole set with fresh running water again before hang it dry. Soak the reg in the water too long without rinse it again is actually no good. The key is to make water contact the whole reg while soaking.

I have no experience with the Sherwood SR1, so I could not speak for it. But the reason Sherwood is so popular in the rental fleet is their regs are reliable and easy to maintain. If you choose Sherwood Maximus or Atomic B1, ST1, T2, it would depend on your budget because all of these regs are very good performers based on my personal experience. Hope this helps.

 

[widget]

I would also suggest the the Atomic.

I used to be a big Sherwood fan and used them exclusively in my commercial operation until about three or four years ago. In my opinion quality has dropped dramatically and the price has risen out of all proportion for 25 year old reg technology, not a good combination.

As for the SR-1, well I have had three, all have had issues with the enviromental seal, the turret working loose and the HP seat material.

No matter what they tell you, there are still issues with this reg, I am sure they will be overcome in the future, but for now and the next year or so, I wouldnt buy one.

 

[CalgaryDF]

I dive a Sherwood Maximus and couldn't be happier with it. It is great in cold water. I haven't dove Atomic reg so I can't compare but I would definitely recommend this Sherwood reg.

 

[fnfalman]

How long does it take to soak a set of regs before the salt melted? Seriously. if your regs take more than fifteen minutes to get all the salt out then maybe that reg need a redesign.

 

[andyct0321]

i bought an atomic b2 and couldnt be happier. after much research i decided that the seat saving orifice, auto flow control, and titanium second stage along with atomic's stellar performance made it a winner for me. if dunking the reg in a fresh water bin for a few minutes isnt a big deal then i dont see why it should matter. who leaves their reg soaking for more than an hour anyway? would you rather go with the the company that tries to imitate or the one that is imitated? either one of them will do the job... its just a matter of how well you want it done