Your Favorite Regulator? How did you decide?

[Nemrod]

Forgot about the Tekna, you're right ... damn nice reg.

I prefer the T2100 to the T2100B, here are a T2100 and T2100B with clone MkV first, yes, the metal version, chrome plated brass, excellent quality, is slightly smaller and does breath better. Both of these work well but I am down to my very last parts as I have given away tons of stuff:

One of my Scuba Pro R109 units with a better clone MkV first, still working on these to get them going nad upgraded:

How could I have left the Voit MR12II off my list, this is a working set, I just dove it last weekend to 140 feet at Table Rock:

N

 

[Vash1023]

apex,

i mean common, isint it like the only regulator ever taken to 1000ft and kept working?

 

[The Blue Whale]

Great input and very impressed with the condition of those regulators "Nemrod" ...
FYI, I was on a lock-out dive on heliox in the north sea where we did about four breathes on a Poseidon Cyklon back in the 70s. The company was trying to use them on our bailout bottles, but they kept freeflowing. Our test was at around 660' and we had some other issues at that depth with stuff that did well at the surface. I'm not sure what they use now, but know it's come a long way on the oil rigs since then.

 

[TEArrington]

I'm a newer diver than most of the folks on this thread, but I thought I would still share my perspective. I've only tried a few different kinds of regs, and the ones that work best for me have these things in common:
- I can breathe from them in the conditions I dive in, which does not include super cold water.
- They aren't so heavy that they are being pulled from my mouth by their weight.
- The mouthpiece doesn't cause unnecessary jaw fatigue for my mouth.
- The purge button, though rarely used except in dive class demonstrations, is easy to find and push.
- The reg (including octo) isn't so crappy that it is constantly breathing really wet. Not because I can't deal with that, but just because it's annoying.

For me, the ones that have worked best in my limited experience are the Aqualung Mikron (my rec reg) and Apeks Tek3 (my new doubles regs). These regs have small mouthpieces, and the little bridge on the mouthpiece makes it easier to keep in my mouth. Also, they are lightweight (no tugging), can be used with miflex hoses, and have been fairly reliable with few free flow events. The purge buttons on the Tek3 are a little smaller than I would prefer, but hopefully anyone who wants to share air with me can find them.

As a bonus attribute (not a reason to use or not use a reg, but something just for fun) I like that the Mikron comes with a pink vanilla faceplate option. It's cute.

As you can see, I have a slightly different perspective than some of the more experienced divers on this thread, but which information you find most helpful would depend who is in your target audience to sell regs to.

 

[halocline]

Since we're posting photos, here's a nice reg of mine:

 

[The Blue Whale]

Since we're posting photos, here's a nice reg of mine:

It looks like new... amazing !!!

thanks

 

[The Blue Whale]

Since we're posting photos, here's a nice reg of mine:

I'm a newer diver than most of the folks on this thread, but I thought I would still share my perspective. I've only tried a few different kinds of regs, and the ones that work best for me have these things in common:
- I can breathe from them in the conditions I dive in, which does not include super cold water.
- They aren't so heavy that they are being pulled from my mouth by their weight.
- The mouthpiece doesn't cause unnecessary jaw fatigue for my mouth.
- The purge button, though rarely used except in dive class demonstrations, is easy to find and push.
- The reg (including octo) isn't so crappy that it is constantly breathing really wet. Not because I can't deal with that, but just because it's annoying.

For me, the ones that have worked best in my limited experience are the Aqualung Mikron (my rec reg) and Apeks Tek3 (my new doubles regs). These regs have small mouthpieces, and the little bridge on the mouthpiece makes it easier to keep in my mouth. Also, they are lightweight (no tugging), can be used with miflex hoses, and have been fairly reliable with few free flow events. The purge buttons on the Tek3 are a little smaller than I would prefer, but hopefully anyone who wants to share air with me can find them.

As a bonus attribute (not a reason to use or not use a reg, but something just for fun) I like that the Mikron comes with a pink vanilla faceplate option. It's cute.

As you can see, I have a slightly different perspective than some of the more experienced divers on this thread, but which information you find most helpful would depend who is in your target audience to sell regs to.

The fact that you have less experience is going to be helpful for the kind of information we're looking for. The features that an experienced or extreme diver needs will be different than those of a newer diver. What we are finding is that the dive operators want 'heavy duty - low maintenance' equipment while the avid diver wants 'performance - suitable function - style'. What we are wondering is whether or not there are a few that are good general choices for all needs. Of course each manufacturer will tell you that they have 'the' regulator for that. At least it's the goal of each manufacturer to come up with that design and make it popular enough to 'sell' to many.

We've narrowed our tests down to six models... not to be revealed until after our open water testing next month. The results should be interesting and we'll report them here on ScubaBoard and our site. Meanwhile, this is great information and a good discussion on the preferences of regulators with both experienced and newer divers.

 

[YatYas1833]

My fav: Aqualung Legend LX... very easy to breath and has the nice little adjustment knob for lazy folks like me.

 

[savholic]

My favorite: Cressi MC5 Ellipse Steal
very easy to breathe (NO effort at all even with 400psi in the tank) light weight 1.15lb, looks good and it's not expensive.

 

[The Blue Whale]

Funny how all of sudden the photos of favorite regs are appearing... like parents who are proud of their children. Just don't pull out a whole album of pictures of your dive gear.