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From: rjnoe@riccb.UUCP (Roger J. Noe)
Newsgroups: net.rec.scuba
Subject: Regulator opinions wanted
Message-ID: <541@riccb.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 24-Sep-85 10:34:03 EDT
Article-I.D.: riccb.541
Posted: Tue Sep 24 10:34:03 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 25-Sep-85 03:45:36 EDT
Distribution: net
Organization: Rockwell International - Downers Grove, IL
Lines: 37

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


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