rjnoe@riccb.UUCP (Roger J. Noe) (09/24/85)
I am soliciting opinions about the quality and relative value of regulators that are now commonly available, especially those made by some of the larger manufacturers (e.g. U.S. Divers, Scubapro, Dacor, Oceanic, Mares, and so forth). Is there any independent evaluation of these things, like in Consumer Reports? Please don't refer me to any of the trade magazines, they're about as independent as the individual company PR departments. I'd really like to hear from people who have no financial interest in my choice, which is clearly not the case for shop salesmen. Specifically, I am looking for a primary regulator for which I am prepared to spend somewhere in the vicinity of $250 (U.S.), which will probably be bracketed by the suggested retail and actual sale price. I am not against considering slightly higher or (of course) lower priced regulators, if they are outstanding for their price. I have ruled out "top of the line" models like Royal Aqualung and A.I.R. I because they seem to be excessively priced just for features which are very minor improvements by my personal standards and requirements. I am also pretty much ignoring 25-year-old models that are now "bottom of the line" and obsolete. While the price limit is very fuzzy, my other requirements are not. By far I consider a regulator's dependability and maintenance costs to be more important than performance. This is why I am staying mainly with the major manufacturers. By my indication of a price range, you can see I am looking for something that performs well, but I won't sacrifice reliability just for an increase in performance. Some of the specific models I have examined are the Scubapro MK IX/X with Balanced Adjustable second stage (very new, not the Adjustable), the Dacor Pacer 900 or Pacer XL 950, U.S. Divers Conshelf SE, and the Mares MR-12 III. Personal experience with one or more of these models would be particularly useful to me. Please mail comments to me at (uucp) ihnp4!riccb!rjnoe. I do plan to summarize to this newsgroup and will not attribute any remarks I receive unless given explicit permission to do so. Thanks for your help, divers. -- Roger Noe ihnp4!riccb!rjnoe
pfeiffer@uwvax.UUCP (Phil Pfeiffer) (09/26/85)
Four years ago, when I went shopping for regulators for the two of us, I phoned seven, eight, nine (?) shops which sold mail-order dive equipment nationwide, hoping for a price break. I ended up buying a regulator from a local store, since my instructor advised me that I'd get much better service that way. Excellent advice! Looking back, I'd say that buying your own regulator mail-order makes more sense if you're already trained in regulator repair. Otherwise, you're going to have to shop for service at some point. You'll probably get better service if you plan to rely on the shop that sold you the reg for service. You should also be able to get some advice from the salesperson on regulators. I'd also advise you to buy from a shop which acts like it wants your business -- I've found that most places do, but the first local shop that I called during my regulator hunt didn't !! (this was in the state where we lived before moving to Madison). If I'm spending $200+ on a product, then I don't want to buy from an arrogant salesperson. Also, consider buying from a place that's willing to rent equipment to you on "reasonable" notice, if you plan to do any diving locally and don't have your own weight belt yet, or wet suit, or whatever. Some shops have just enough equipment to rent to their classes, and MAYBE will rent to you if they're not conducting a checkout dive that weekend, or whatever. Now, then ... on to what I learned about specific regulators .... We bought Dacor 950 XL's partly on the advice of the saleskeeper, because she said it breathed well and had a swivel yolk. We also bought it because the places that we called consistently rated the XL among the best regulators on the market. It DOES breathe well, the swivel yolk is a nice feature, and we've had them for four years now, with no problems. Of the other recommendations I received, the one that stands out in my mind was the Sherwood Magnum. The shopkeeper whom I called in California said that the Magnum's strong point was that the 1st stage flow-balancing mechanism doesn't come in direct contact with water. This person, who also serviced regulators, said that this was a BIG plus if you were diving in environments that were hard on regulators -- like California, where sand gets in everything. The first stage "positive pressure" design is patented by Sherwood. I don't believe that anyone else makes a positive pressure regulator. I also remember that he told me that the Dacor 950 XL was a fine regulator -- that it was, in fact, being made for Dacor by Sherwood at that time. Again, this was all four years ago. I see now that Dacor is now offering lifetime warranties on new regulators (NOT available retroactively to people who already own Dacor regulators -- I wrote and asked!). One other spot of advice: spend the money for a spare second stage (octopus). Even if it means that your regulator's going to cost more than the $250 that you'd hoped to spend. --- Phil Pfeiffer I have P.A.D.I. Advanced Open Water certification and 50 hours bottom time. I'm looking forward to reading comments from the other, more experienced divers who use this network.
al@infoswx.UUCP (09/27/85)
I have a Posiden Cyclon 300. I have been using it for about 8 years, with no troubles. The only problem is that the primary stage is threaded metric, so adaptors are needed to hook up any US made divices (BC, pressure guage, etc) Al Gettier Teknekron Infoswitch Dallas, Texas
bsisrs@rruxe.UUCP (R. Schiraldi) (10/01/85)
I STRONGLY recomend Sherwood regulators. I own a Magnum Blizzard as my
primary, and a 3100 for my pony system. Sherwood also gives a LIFTIME
guarantee (sp?) on all parts, metal and plastic. They are very dependable
regulators that has served me well for the past 6 years (for the 3100)
and 4 years (for the Blizzard). One thing to keep in mind is to make
sure to have your regulator checked ANUALLY, that is ONE YEAR from purchash
date.
My regulators get more use then from the average diver (I'm a divemaster),
I spend almost every week end and one to two nights a week diving
in classes helping the instructors (they REALLY need the help :-)), and
I've never had problems with either regulator.
Point of interest: My wife also dives, and she has a Magnum Blizzard and
the Brut for a pony, and she loves them!!
Hope this helps some.
Rich Schiraldi
rruxe!bsisrsgrunwald@uiucdcsb.CS.UIUC.EDU (10/09/85)
I also have a Sherwood Magnum blizzard, but I haven't owned it long enough to tell you horror/wonder stories about. But I will point out that you can pick one up for about $115 mail-order. Not bad for something which just got two good reviews. I have to admit, I like it -- breathes easy & is light. dirk grunwald grunwald@uiuc.arpa