What Scuba pro regulator to buy

After more then 17 years I decided to replace my Sherwood and decided on the ScubaPro regulator.

I'm in the process of decide between the S600 & S650 and heard commendations for both.

Any help will be appreciated.

Arnon, did you mean the X650. If you are indeed set on Scubapro, check this one out! It is an effortless breather to the point of positive inspiratory pressure, read "it breathes for you". It doesn't flood with water if you are standing on your head or doing somersaults during your safety stop. The "Dive" and "Pre-Dive" switch is easy to manipulate, but, honestly, I've hit 130 fsw and forgotten to switch over to dive mode and really fealt no difference in breathability. The thing looks ugly, but as something I feel is the most important part of my diving equipment (my camera too!! ), paired with the MK25 I feel it is the best investment I've made so far.

arnon,

i have had a pair of mk25/s600 for a couple of years now and have put them through a lot and they have never disappointed me.

as was said just above on the "dive" setting they breath for you and like the duracells they just keep on going and going and going...

i would definitely recommend the mk25/s600.

i have not had the opportunity to compare with the x650 but it can't be bad given that the x650 is one model up in the scubapro range...

hth /paul

just my personal view, I've dived with my mk25 + S600 for about 5 years now and apart from one dive in very cold waters they have been absolutely spot one. Almost a free flow, but not quite, my fault, a bit unfit and looked like a soda syphon going off according to my buddy!

I've tried the X650 when they first came out and are indeed they are fine breathe, the only downside i found was the regulator body actual sweeps back and rests on your chin and i didn't like this.

If I remember correctly there was a also general recall on them, due to the body/chamber deforming over time and maybe a drowning hazard. Just make sure you get an uptodate version, it's all sorted now.

Give them a go and see what you feel. if it was me i'd stick with the mk25 + S600

http://www.divernet.com/cgi-bin/articles.p...;action=display

and lots more at:

http://www.divernet.com/cgi-bin/articles.p...mp;section=1005

Thanks for the info.

I meant of course to the X650.

I'll probably buy the S600, its looks that its gives almost anything as the more advance X650 but the extra 'pre-dive' switch but it's less complicate and it's smaller.

it's seems there are better regulators for cold water, but since almost (until now) all my dives are in tropical or almost tropical waters I'll go with it.

Thanks for the info.

I meant of course to the X650.

I'll probably buy the S600, its looks that its gives almost anything as the more advance X650 but the extra 'pre-dive' switch but it's less complicate and it's smaller.

it's seems there are better regulators for cold water, but since almost (until now) all my dives are in tropical or almost tropical waters I'll go with it.

in fact the s600 does have the choice pre-dive/dive.

as stated earlier in the thread i also routinely dive with the pre-dive setting and there is barely a difference in the amount of air you breath and the ease of breathing...

you'll enjoy them!!!

now if you want to splurge you could got for mk25 titanium model: it weighs absolutely nothing, but it's twice the price or close to that. for the price you do get a nice reg bag with scubapro titanium written on it

/paul

Thanks for the info.

I meant of course to the X650.

I'll probably buy the S600, its looks that its gives almost anything as the more advance X650 but the extra 'pre-dive' switch but it's less complicate and it's smaller.

it's seems there are better regulators for cold water, but since almost (until now) all my dives are in tropical or almost tropical waters I'll go with it.

I dive with my Mk25/S600 in cold water, and have left it out on the boat overnight when it was well below freezing. It still worked great for me every time the next morning, just chip off the ice and go! So I'm pretty happy with this setup I guess.

My wife just got a new Aqua Lung Legend reg that has this nifty ACD (automatic closure design, or something) that keeps the reg sealed from water even if you don't put the cap on it when you rinse it. Pretty nice feature and the reg seems pretty solid, but she had to get it tuned up after it's first dive.

i have my mk25t/s600t for over 3years now and i love it. it breathes well and takes a beating and keeps on ticking.

I have (wait while I go and look in the other room) MK25 + X650. I got it about 1 year ago. Very nice. Done about 200 dives on it - and started to notice a small fall off in performance (lots of liveaboards with no chance to wash it much). I would say if you totally abuse them they should be serviced every 150 dives.

Actually the Scubapro tech told me that the problem was probably moisture in the tanks somewhere. Maybe one of the remote liveaboards?

Alex

After more then 17 years I decided to replace my Sherwood and decided on the ScubaPro regulator.

I'm in the process of decide between the S600 & S650 and heard commendations for both.

Any help will be appreciated.

I still like Scubapros a lot, but the design and record of the Atomics makes for a better regulator in my mind. And duration between servicing is double what Scubapro requires for warranty. I am pretty sold on regs that exhibit undeniable reliability even at the risk of lower performance, but the Atomics are superb on both points.

since we are mentioning atomics... my wifes atomic b2 breathes "better" than my mk25t/s600t combo!

Thanks for the replays all.

Since other brads where mentioned: I'm quit stabilized on SP since until now, in all my trips around the globe (not enough I admit) I sow almost every where only two brands: Mares & SP. almost on every location there are stores / diving clubs / live a boards that keep thus items and you can find service in case you need it.

Since I don't like the Mares products I left with the SP, in every test that done thus regulators are always somewhere in the top, there are other good manufacturer like Atomics and Apex but even in my own location there are problems with the service for them, not to mentioned more distant ones.

You simply can't beat the free parts for life of the SP's. Saves you $50 every year. I just used my old MK20/G550 in current that about ripped the mouthpiece right out of my mouth (swimming back through the gap in the inner reef at Hanauma Bay). I was sucking down air like it was on sale and the regulator performed flawlessly.

Arnon,

I had been diving a Scubapro D400 for many years; in the end I had so much trouble with it (could not be adjusted any more; the tech showed me the inner parts - they looked VERY cheap, were just worn out) that I decided to stop investing money in it and buy a new regulator. Okay, maybe this was an exception from the rule...

To come to the point: The X650 looks very similar to the D400. At the time my D400 was functioning it was very comfortable, but there was one thing that I was not happy with: The bubbles often flew straight up in front of my mask when I was taking photos. I now have a Poseidon Xstream where the exhaust valve sits on the side. Much (!!!) better for photography (and breathing comfort is just as good).

My first regulator was a Mares Voltrex. Great breathing comfort, but the second stage was a bit bulky (protruding in the front, not to the side), so I had some difficulties looking through my viewfinder. May not be a problem nowadays if you use a Seacam sports viewfinder...

Regards,

Joerg

I have been using a ScubaPro Mk20/D400 since 1996 (+- 500 dives) and have never had a problem except an annual maintenance which was done by someone who was certified but shouldn't have been. The issue was corrected immediately by another tech. My wife purchased a Mk15/D350 from her dive instructor in 1997 (unknown number of dives already on it) and used it until this past year. It was starting to leak when she was in certain orientations. The tech told her it was the best she could expect from the reg as it was showing it's age. I gifted her a new Mk25/G250 and she loves it. I borrowed an Atomic once from a friend and it was very nice as well.

Jeff

The Darth Vadar Reg.

Been diving with SP since '86,

D300, 350, 400, now the 650 (skipped the 600 as the 400 was doing so well)

650 bought when it first came out, mann what a reg. like forced breathing, loved it. Then recalled, mgf issues, offered a 600 replacement declined got the 650 back not as easy to work with, still better any any other one I tried Atomic B2?

There was a recall on the 650, but my batch wasn't included, had a free flow icing problem, solved by hot water and last trip, jumped in and diving down to 100' kept hearing bubbles slowly flowing.. thought it was a bc? kept looking for them, stopped breathing to listen, still hearing them... aborted and came back up to 20 for safety stop and to feel like it was a dive, the bubbling stopped... hung around a bit then came up.

My thought was, while on the bottom, that's it, done with the 650, trade for a 600... heheh... turned out I had the sensitivity too high (yes did try to adjust at depth, but gloves and cold hands etc..)

Anyway, short story long, love the 650, but if it acts up again will start to wonder... buying again??? choice between 600 or 650??? Safer more neutral path = 600...

So I would get the 650... again.. mann, the breathing is sweet..

Hope that helps..

I used a pair of MK20s (which were upgraded to MK25 somewhere along the way) with S600 and G550 2nds (and an old G250 2nd as a back-up) for many years. I'm switching to Apeks now, also very nice regulators, not out of dissatisfaction with my old Scubapro regs, but because of problems getting the Scubapros serviced here in Asia.

The licensed Scubapro dealer in Jakarta badly screwed up servicing my regs - after they'd finished working on them, it was like sucking air through a 50 meter garden hose. I had to fly to ship one to Hong Kong with a friend to get it reserviced in time for an upcoming liveaboard trip. The regulator guy at Richmond Scuba in Singapore is an excellent technician, but he's very busy. Even after using them for years, they refused to bend their policies to allow me to book in advance time slots to get my regulators serviced. Their policy was "your regulator goes into the queue when it arrives in their shop, full stop, no exceptions, we don't care where you live, how much you've purchased from us or how many times we've serviced your regs." That meant a turn-around time of several weeks, so I'd have to leave one regulator at a time with Richmond and switch them out a subsequent trip, or arrange for a friend (often Drew) to schlep gear to Richmond and/or bring it back to Indonesia.

That situation finally devolved to the point where it seemed one of my regulator sets was always in Singapore waiting to be serviced or waiting to be picked up. I felt like my life was hostage to this regulator technician and the shop he worked for. I'd had enough. Now I have two Apeks XTX 200 regs. Nothing wrong with how these regs breathe at all, and the people at Divemaster's Pratama (Apeks agent in Singapore) are very helpful about fitting a comprehensive servicing into my schedule when I visit Singapore.

Getting good and timely servicing can be an issue with other regulators as well. This is the reason I won't buy an Atomic regulator while I live in Asia, though I know people whose technical expertise I respect who swear buy them.

Frogfish (Robert Delfs)

Frogfish,

I would have thought that in your geographical position it would have been better to buy a reg and buy a new one when that needed servicing. (you can always sell the old one to someone who lives in a civilised country!)

Nah, I like to use gear I know. I'd still be happily using my old Scubapro S600 with an upgraded Mk20 if only I'd been able to resolve the servicing issue with Richmond in Singapore. That will not be a problem with Apeks in Hong Kong or Singapore. I might even be able to get competent, professional servicing here.

Incidentally, I've taken the Scubapro regulator repair technician's course, and I once serviced my Scubapro regs myself (having paid a Scubapro technician to allow me to use his special tools and gauges, and to watch over my shoulder and be there to bail me out if I screwed up. What I learned from all that is that I do not want to service my own regulator. It's fiddly work, requires special tools to do it right. The best person to service a regulator is someone who works on the same kinds of regulators every day, for whom it's a matter of responsibility and pride to know that he has done a perfect job before letting a reg out of the shop.

Frogfish