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+--- Thread: Cold Water Scuba Gear (/showthread.php?tid=712)
Re:Cold Water Scuba Gear - beeger - 06-02-2003
I would stay away from the Poseidons. From what I've seen a few people really like these regs, a lot of people don't. Regardless almost everyone agrees that these are extremely finicky regs that require a great deal of tweaking/servicing in order to keep in top shape. Very few shops can service the Poseidons ... many technicians don't want to touch these regs. I have also heard second hand that there are all sorts of problems right now sourcing Poseidon parts. Maybe somebody could offer some insight here.
Personally, I would check into Apeks. I own a number of sets and have never had a problem in cold water. These are excellent regs from a performance standpoint. Other choices might be the Aqualung Legend or Titan/Glacia series (the later being one of the best price-to-value reg deals out there right now). Sherwood and Mares also seem somewhat popular around here and are solid cold water performers. Be careful with Scubapro ... I've seen all kinds of freeflows with these. But, as someone has already said, you can make almost any reg into a cold water reg with the proper tuning (or make a cold water reg freeflow with the first breath by improper tuning). But you want to find a reg that is designed to work optimally in these conditions.
The loss of neoprene buoyancy at depth is only an issue if you are diving a wetsuit or foam neoprene drysuit.
Re:Cold Water Scuba Gear - LKunze - 06-02-2003
One other point to be aware of with the tuning of the regs. I have heard that some shops in town will only set the regs to factory specs and they will refuse to tune them down. This can be a problem. I've seen it happen to a couple of people now and they've needed to go to a different shop that "would" tune em' down a bit so they wouldn't freeflow.
Re:Cold Water Scuba Gear - beeger - 06-02-2003
:o Really? A shop would not tune down as per the divers request, and would only tune to factory specs (which are usually too high for the temps around here)? That's frightening, and another reason to get proper training to work on your own gear.
Re:Cold Water Scuba Gear - LKunze - 06-02-2003
:o Really? A shop would not tune down as per the divers request, and would only tune to factory specs (which are usually too high for the temps around here)? That's frightening, and another reason to get proper training to work on your own gear.
[/quote]
Yeah, no doubt. That really shocked me too when I heard about it.
Re:Cold Water Scuba Gear - ANewHope - 06-02-2003
Yep, I think they are still open, I just looked them up in my local yellowpages and got a newish recording on thier machine. They must have a new # because it is different than what i found on the web.
Phone# = 218 726 1010
Addy: 307 E Central Enterence, Duluth
Thier website doesnt appear to exist though. Im going that way this weekend, I'll stop by and have a look, then I'll post my results.
Thnkx again all for the insight!
Re:Cold Water Scuba Gear - ScubaDiveandTravel - 06-02-2003
I deal Poseidon regulators, and I would honestly steer you away them. I used to dive the Odin and the Triton. Excellent performance, but they are a pain in the rear to service. Expensive too. The Maximus is very good in cold water, but you do notice a performance difference at depth compared to a balanced diaphram. As for Scuba Pro, I have yet to dive with anyone in cold water, especialy tech diving, that has not had freezing issues with them. The Apex/Zeagle route seems to be the way to go from my experiences. I do not deal Apex which is a great all around reg, but I do deal with Zeagle. I've had the DSIV from Zeagle down to 270ft in superior and it perfoms beautifully. I've also had it ice diving, and in about 3 weeks I'm taking t to the Arctic. I'll let you know what happens. There's lot's of great brands around so talk to others and see what they have to say. As for BC's I'm sure if you ask around to local divers you'll be hard pressed to find anyone one who can give you one reason not to buy backplate and harness. You choose every feature on it. Nothing is left to the manufacturer to decide for you. If you would ever like to try any of this stuff, we'll be happy to take you out diving with the different brands and configurations. Hope this was helpful.
Happy Diving,
Richard
P.S. Sounds like you live in the Duluth area. If you'd like to join us at the Madiera or just get your campin on, we'll be up there this weekend. See Dive shop events.
Re:Cold Water Scuba Gear - beeger - 06-03-2003
Richard brings up a good point I forgot to mention in my earlier post: Zeagle regs. I know a number of people using these who are quite happy. These seem to be excellent cold water performers. And I second his comments on a backplate and harness setup.
Re:Cold Water Scuba Gear - ANewHope - 06-08-2003
Well I went the Zeagle Rought. Found a cool new shop in duluth. Zeagle Dealer
Anyway I got the Zeagle Ranger Limmited BC w markII Octo/Inflator Combo.
As For the Reg I went for the DS-IV/ZX model
I got a plane-jane console to cut costs
will post info about shop in that forum....
now that I am feeling very poor, i need to go Dive Dive Dive until I can buy a drysuit so i dont freeze in superior ;D
Thnkx all who helped me make "the Right" decision
Re:Cold Water Scuba Gear - FMT - 06-08-2003
My personal preference is for a dry environmentally sealed
balanced diaphragm regulator for many many reasons. Most
of the previously mentioned regs I would consider quite good
because they fall into this category - Apeks, Zeagle, Aqualung Legend and Titan/Glacia. Seek out a good local shop and service techs you can talk to and you should be good to go.
T
Re:Cold Water Scuba Gear - flyboy65 - 07-27-2003
I am a new member of the forum, and a brand new diver here in Duluth. Did two dives a couple of weeks ago up the north shore, and absolutely loved being in the water, albeit a bit cool.
I've spent a few hours on this site, and I do have to thank everyone for all the info. Equipment to a newbie can be a bit overwhelming, to say the least.
About Innerspace, he no longer has a website, but may intend to bring it back again.
Just had a double hernia operation a week and a half ago, so I won't be diving again until the middle of August, perhaps.
Big Bummer! :-[