Why buy the best gear?

[JustinW]

Atomic is the most overpriced piece of "expletive" on the market. While I'll agree that it is marginally better than a sherwood... it is at the bottom of a long list of others. Taking Atomic to 100+ feet may be dangerous and hazardous. It is made with inferior plastic materials and does not breathe adequately in certain positions.

This has been discussed widely here in other threads.

Top of the Line Regulators are made by:

Scubapro
Apeks
Poseidon
Aqualung

Midrange Regulators are made by:

Cressi-sub
Zeagle
Dive Rite
Atomic

Low End Regulators are made by:

Mares
Dacor
Sherwoood
Oceanic
IST
Aeris
Genesis
Tusa

Lets just be frank... a $200 Scubapro MK2 R190 outperforms the Atomic T1, M1, B2, Z1 etc... etc... everyday of the week. I dive some 270 days a year for work... and I wouldn't wear anything that says Atomic on it. I worked in a shop that sold it... the funny thing is that the shop owners pushed Atomic on their customers then snuck out the back door to dive their Scubapro. All of our Instructors refused to use the Atomics because they constantly free flowed, breathed with difficulty etc... We were constantly diving in front of students with SP and Apeks... not a single Instructor out of the 5 of us used Atomic. That ought to say something.

Ken

And remember, "Deep Down, you want the best." I love my SP regs and gear, when my buddies x brand gear fails, he can always watch me and my SP gear during his now signifigantly lengthened surface interval until his garbage gear is being fixed.

 

[WileEDiver]

Atomic is the most overpriced piece of "expletive" on the market. While I'll agree that it is marginally better than a sherwood... it is at the bottom of a long list of others. Taking Atomic to 100+ feet may be dangerous and hazardous. It is made with inferior plastic materials and does not breathe adequately in certain positions.

...

Lets just be frank... a $200 Scubapro MK2 R190 outperforms the Atomic T1, M1, B2, Z1 etc... etc... everyday of the week. I dive some 270 days a year for work... and I wouldn't wear anything that says Atomic on it. I worked in a shop that sold it... the funny thing is that the shop owners pushed Atomic on their customers then snuck out the back door to dive their Scubapro. All of our Instructors refused to use the Atomics because they constantly free flowed, breathed with difficulty etc... We were constantly diving in front of students with SP and Apeks... not a single Instructor out of the 5 of us used Atomic. That ought to say something.

Ken

Gee, a scuba instructor with an ego, that's not something you see everyday.

 

[toodive4]

In most cases SP does not submit their regs for testing by the mags you must be reaading. Scuba Magazine, Scuba Diving Magazine etc... rate the products of those that pay to advertise in their magazine high... it's the old you scratch our back we'll scratch yours mentality that still thrives in the diving industry. SP doesn't get rated #1 because it is known by everyone in the industry that they are #1. They don't submit their products because they don't have to. While they do advertise some, they do not pay for big ads in those magazines because they do not sell out to the magazine publishers. No back room deals to be rated #1 or for that matter rated at all.

Its funny how new divers pic up subsidized magazines and believe what they read. How many pages of those magazines are advertising and how many are actual articles?
What I would like to see is Consumer Reports do an issue on Scuba equipment. Then the truth will come out and then maybe all of you less enlightened folks will know the truth...

I'll say a prayer for you while you dive with that lesser quality gear... maybe that will keep you safe...

Ken

your out of your tree dude, you must need to sell more scubapro regs, sales down huh?
how many years in a row was it voted best reg of the year? 4? 5? i have 200 dives on mine and i can breathe freely in any position, never freeflows, ease of breathing is the same at 15 or 120fsw....
different strokes for different folks i guess?

 

[alo100]

Atomic is the most overpriced piece of "expletive" on the market. While I'll agree that it is marginally better than a sherwood... it is at the bottom of a long list of others. Taking Atomic to 100+ feet may be dangerous and hazardous. It is made with inferior plastic materials and does not breathe adequately in certain positions.

This has been discussed widely here in other threads.

Top of the Line Regulators are made by:

Scubapro
Apeks
Poseidon
Aqualung

Midrange Regulators are made by:

Cressi-sub
Zeagle
Dive Rite
Atomic

Low End Regulators are made by:

Mares
Dacor
Sherwoood
Oceanic
IST
Aeris
Genesis
Tusa

Lets just be frank... a $200 Scubapro MK2 R190 outperforms the Atomic T1, M1, B2, Z1 etc... etc... everyday of the week. I dive some 270 days a year for work... and I wouldn't wear anything that says Atomic on it. I worked in a shop that sold it... the funny thing is that the shop owners pushed Atomic on their customers then snuck out the back door to dive their Scubapro. All of our Instructors refused to use the Atomics because they constantly free flowed, breathed with difficulty etc... We were constantly diving in front of students with SP and Apeks... not a single Instructor out of the 5 of us used Atomic. That ought to say something.

Ken

I am so glad to see comment with true information, maybe nobody can avoid being subjective, but at least if someone who has used the equipment can speak up, then new users would be more alert. I started another thread which questioned about which lab is providing reliable ratings... as a new guy, it's very difficult to tell which piece of equipment is reliable...

 

[halocline]

What's pretty funny about the SP-great/Atomic-horrible argument is that I'm pretty sure Atomic was started by long time SP engineers who wanted to branch out on their own.

I'm never ceased to be amazed at the fierce brand loyalty that divers have, and it's completely arbitrary. In answer to the previous post question "which piece of equipment is reliable.." in terms of regulators, the answer, as several people have posted, is that ALL of the major manufacturers with any sort of reputation are very reliable. Divers use this stuff all the time for life support; if it was not reliable and divers were dieing due to faulty regulators, don't you think there would be just a bit of talk about that, not to mention just a few minor lawsuits?

To me, the number one beef I have with the hype of dive gear, and this is specifically used to manipulate new divers, is the myth that high end gear is safer, and you're taking your hands in your life if you buy a cheap reg; cheap BC; probably they've figured out a way to get that argument into not buying a cheap snorkel too.

 

[WileEDiver]

Not even ScubaPro would say "Buy our regs or you'll die."--what a joke.

Bottom line is ScubaPro makes good regs and so do a lot of other manufacturers.

 

[Wayward Son]

Exploding 1st stages? Any examples of that?

 

[PhotoTJ]

Atomic is the most overpriced piece of "expletive" on the market. While I'll agree that it is marginally better than a sherwood... it is at the bottom of a long list of others. Taking Atomic to 100+ feet may be dangerous and hazardous. It is made with inferior plastic materials and does not breathe adequately in certain positions.

**snip!**

Lets just be frank... a $200 Scubapro MK2 R190 outperforms the Atomic T1, M1, B2, Z1 etc... etc... everyday of the week. I dive some 270 days a year for work... and I wouldn't wear anything that says Atomic on it. I worked in a shop that sold it... the funny thing is that the shop owners pushed Atomic on their customers then snuck out the back door to dive their Scubapro. All of our Instructors refused to use the Atomics because they constantly free flowed, breathed with difficulty etc... We were constantly diving in front of students with SP and Apeks... not a single Instructor out of the 5 of us used Atomic. That ought to say something.

Ken

The only thing it says to me is you didn't want to buy the Atomic.

Actually, Scubapro uses more plastic internal parts than anyone. And Atomic tests better on the breathing machine than any other reg. The closest second was the Aqualung Legend LX. Then the Apeks. (Facts, not opinion.)

I dive the Scubapro MK25/S600, and the Atomic B2, and the Legend LX. The B2 breaths better. I like all three, but if you said pick one? The B2. Comparing any of the three to the R190 is silly. We use the 190 as a rental reg. Very durable, reliable, but not a high performance reg.

Oh, and all of our instructors and Divecons dive Atomics. Both as a primary, and we all use the SS1.

Here is how life works. Someone you look up to offers an opinion on something. Might just be an offhand remark. Now this opinion may in fact have no basis in reality, but you respect this person, so you accept it as gospel. You don't go buy the item to test his opinion, because you respect him. How many divers scorned the first plastic regs over the chrome plated brass? And how many regs are plastic now? Most of them? All of them?

Hey, bottom line is personal preferance. Buy what you want. Be it a DA Aquamaster or a T2.

Safe dives,

TJ

 

[toodive4]

I never said Scubapro didn't use plastics. I said Atomic uses inferior plastic. You can observe this by eyesight or you can discover this by banging the two on the ground. The knobs on the Atomic first stage and the plastic housing of the second stage are visably thinner and will crack much easier than the Scubapro... Have a look... do the test... then get back to me...

Ken

Actually, Scubapro uses more plastic internal parts than anyone. TJ

 

[PhotoTJ]

Do the test?!?!

I'm not gonna bang any of my $600 regs on the ground! If that is the test criteria, a milled block of solid steel will make a better reg. Doesn't breath that good, but wow! What durability!