Sidemount regulators?

[MichaelMc]

So I messaged deep six on FB asking about size and weight of 1st stage and they were very honest and told me to stick to the Hollis.

They said if I had problems with the weight of the hog I should stick to the Hollis.

Is weight the extent of why they said for you to stick with the Hollis?

 

[guruboy]

Is weight the extent of why they said for you to stick with the Hollis?

Deep 6 regs are heavy. Maybe heavier than Hog. The Hog classic 2nd stage is about 0.65#

 

[RainPilot]

Deep 6 regs are heavy. Heavier than Hog. The Deep6 2nd stage is probably 1# or more. The Hog classic 2nd stage is about 0.65#

The Deep6 is actually 0.59#

 

[guruboy]

Wow. I wonder why I am way off. I remembered shipping a deep6 2nd stage once and the package in a small box was way over 1#. Most 2nd stages I can ship first class (less than 15oz) with identical packaging.

 

[Caveeagle]

I can't imagine why a Deep6 2nd stage would weigh significantly more, or less than a HOG classic or zenith. The plastic body is literally the same part. Somewhere i saw a picture of a Deep6 2nd stage with the very same "CE1463EN250" part number etched on the bottom.

I know there are supposed to be some improvements And a different front cover on the Deep6, but that can't really make that much difference.

I'm not going to try an sway the OP, but I also have jaw fatigue and bite issues and there are several issues that matter more than dry weight to me. Hose routing, swivel, mouthpiece type, drag profile when in current. I will also add overall stress level, which (at least for me) can make me prone to bite hard without thinking about it.

 

[Octopusprime]

Is weight the extent of why they said for you to stick with the Hollis?

I asked for reg weight and buoyancy and they said they will test it later this week. I explained to deep 6 my issues with my hog in the past and they suggested my stay with the Hollis reg because of the weight and size of the reg.


There are many other issues besides weight. One thing between the hog and Hollis 212 is size. The Hollis does not stick out as far from jaw. I feel like that helped. Also the hose. The Hollis comes with the miflex hose causing less torque when turning head. I was thinking that I could do deep6 with flex hoses but there there has been a lot of push back against flex hoses.

I would love to spend less on a reg set but if it causes more stress and is a distraction while diving it is not a good purchase.

I will check out the atomic I would love to buy American.

I know a couple of you keep saying "quality issues" "not made as good" but Dive accidents are investigated by many parties including agency, Dan and local police. If there was any quality issues there would be a record of failures.

I do not agree with the comment about reviews. I ready many reviews that they actually tested the regs by connecting to a machine to measure the purge pressure and draw pressure etc. If they were just diver reviews I would agree.

 

[tbone1004]

why not keep your current regs and just buy new first stages and hoses? Swap the second stages back and forth?

note that quality issues not mean recalls, quality issues don't mean poor function, though go read up on the 500SE and you'll get quite a few interesting reports on that piece of junk.
Their normal second stages are fine, their normal first stages are fine. They are $700-$800 regulators in the same run as HOG, Dive Rite, etc. They are not $1500 regulators in the same league as someone like Atomic and Poseidon. Apeks is horrifically overpriced as well for what they are. Great regs, but way overpriced. The XTX second stages are very heavy as well btw, so I'd ignore that if you have tried putting the hose behind your neck and it was still a problem

 

[Octopusprime]

I was

why not keep your current regs and just buy new first stages and hoses? Swap the second stages back and forth?

note that quality issues not mean recalls, quality issues don't mean poor function, though go read up on the 500SE and you'll get quite a few interesting reports on that piece of junk.
Their normal second stages are fine, their normal first stages are fine. They are $700-$800 regulators in the same run as HOG, Dive Rite, etc. They are not $1500 regulators in the same league as someone like Atomic and Poseidon. Apeks is horrifically overpriced as well for what they are. Great regs, but way overpriced. The XTX second stages are very heavy as well btw, so I'd ignore that if you have tried putting the hose behind your neck and it was still a problem

I was thinking about just getting hoses ($160 from dive gear express plus gauges ) but currently I have 1 yoke reg set and 1 din reg set (Hollis) I have been using the Hollis set as my primary and the yoke as a stage bottle. I guess I could get away with buying 1 reg set with long hose and keep the yoke as stage bottle for now. I was planning on getting doubles set then use existing Hollis as stage bottle. Then turn my yoke set into a pool/open water set as I am a DM and when using shop tanks they are all yoke and sucks to forget the din adapter. Now I have used rental gear in pool and they all flex hoses and I do not have jaw fatigue (I have only don't this 2 or 3 times) and let's be honest training dives are not very long.

With the Hollis from a price stand point I see them all the time with major price break. With DEMA and Black Friday Coming up I figure I can get the Hollis sidemount set for about $900. By dc3/212 I got for $199. Now it does not have swivle. I would never pay $600 for that reg or any standard 1st/2nd stage.

 

[victorzamora]

I was



I was thinking about just getting hoses ($160 from dive gear express plus gauges ) but currently I have 1 yoke reg set and 1 din reg set (Hollis) I have been using the Hollis set as my primary and the yoke as a stage bottle. I guess I could get away with buying 1 reg set with long hose and keep the yoke as stage bottle for now. I was planning on getting doubles set then use existing Hollis as stage bottle. Then turn my yoke set into a pool/open water set as I am a DM and when using shop tanks they are all yoke and sucks to forget the din adapter. Now I have used rental gear in pool and they all flex hoses and I do not have jaw fatigue (I have only don't this 2 or 3 times) and let's be honest training dives are not very long.

With the Hollis from a price stand point I see them all the time with major price break. With DEMA and Black Friday Coming up I figure I can get the Hollis sidemount set for about $900. By dc3/212 I got for $199. Now it does not have swivle. I would never pay $600 for that reg or any standard 1st/2nd stage.

One note: Nearly all sidemount paradigms darn-near require a swiveling first stage like the Hollis DC1. I had a Hollis DC3 on my left tank and a Hollis DC1 on my right tank and that was tolerable but not as good as I was hoping it would be. I highly recommend dedicating your DC3 to single tank use if you do get into SM....the swivel turret is something I sincerely think is nearly a requirement, though you can make SM work without it.

A bit of background on me: I'm a Hollis certified reg technician and have been since 2012. I've had dozens (if not hundreds) of them apart. I've also been inside of just about every reg brand on the market. I disagree with tbone that the quality is poor. I agree with tbone that the LX200s are overpriced (but gorgeous).

My favorite first stages on the market are probably the Deep6 regs. The issue I have with the DCX and DC1 first stages is that the hoses impact the DIN knob and don't actually allow the turret to swivel 360*. Honestly, any swiveling sealed-diaphragm is fine with me, though.

I don't have favorite second stages because all of the "top" second stages on the market breathe so well. The Hollis 212 breathe in the same tier as the Hog Zeniths, the Deep6 regs (can't remember the name for the second stages), Apeks XTX200s, and the Dive Rite second stages. That's not a full list, just the ones I thought of off the top of my head. If you ever start diving deep enough that you need to eek the absolute ultimate performance out of your regs....cost won't be an issue and you'll have dozens of reg sets anyway and you certainly won't be asking for advice.

 

[tbone1004]

One note: Nearly all sidemount paradigms darn-near require a swiveling first stage like the Hollis DC1. I had a Hollis DC3 on my left tank and a Hollis DC1 on my right tank and that was tolerable but not as good as I was hoping it would be. I highly recommend dedicating your DC3 to single tank use if you do get into SM....the swivel turret is something I sincerely think is nearly a requirement, though you can make SM work without it.

and he is VERY happy that I finally have swivel turrets on my primary sidemount regs, even though they are Scubapro MK20's ;-)