The Basics
Cylinders
Harness
Webbing a Harness
Wings
Regs
Hoses
Stages & Deco
Lights
Misc
Gas Choice
Single Cylinders
Scooter Prop

Regulator Choice

When purchasing a regulator you should consider the following

Performance

A regulator specified to 50m is all you ever need as any dive you are doing passed 44m your on Trimix anyway (aren't you ???). Due to the lower gas densities of trimix Vs Air, a trimix will breathe easier than air at deapth. The regulator will not need to be the best performer that the ANSTI test can turn out. For stage regulators there are some other reasons good performance infulences regulator choice considerations - check out the stages / deco section here.

Construction/assembly of the reg.

The second stage NEEDS to be able to be stripped under water, just incase you have debris under the exhaust valve or it has moved (ie folded back) and you are breathing wet also damage to the diaghram can be a problem. As such the front needs to be removable without any tools and with gloves on - after this if its not a simple cleaning job, you can use the spare parts from the other regulators to effect a repair. No one can get out of a 60 min deco and go to the dive shop for a repair and then get back in the water to continue the deco. We use either Apex Tx50 or the Scubapro G250 - remember to remove the front locking pin on the G250.

Manufacturer reputation

Ease of servicing and maintability of performance after service

Ask around your collegues and the other divers pushing the envelope. Ask them which regulators they use, ask them how often it has failed, how easy is it to get replacement parts and spares - how expensive are the spares, do the regulators perform the same the day after service or a year after service.

Other Back Gas regulator considerations

There is a bolt snap (piston bolt) tied to the long hose near the regulator to clip it off to your starboard chest D ring when breathing a stage/deco regulator.

Apex have a half inch regulator hose at the first stage - you really want to replace this custom hose with an off the shelf one so that if it blows you can get a replacement easier. This may tempt you to use adapters, however Apex do a half inch plug and O ring (part numbers AP1487 & AP1410 respectivly) which you use to block the port and then use the other standard size ports.

Regulators go finger tight on the hose so that you can interchange them as required underwater - this is extremly important if you have a deco regulator failure as lack of decompression gas may extend decompression by100's of percent. This is one reason why the Jetstream possibly looses out - the story goes that the little needle thingey on the downstream valve will bend when hit with the slug of water (i.e. the water that got in your reg whilst you where changing it). I don't dive Jetstreams and don't know if this is a fairy tail or what but as I have heard this on different occasions from 3 or 4 Posedin Service technicians and the UK importer I am prone to beleive it ..any way the fronts don't come off (see above) - Any of you jetsream divers out there who want to try it and get back to me go right ahead.

Consider keeping all your regulators the same - many people consider a lower performance regulator as the deco regulator - only going to be using it shallow .... However if you have a main regulator failure at the beginning of a dive whilst kiting up and your regulators are the same you can swap them and not compromise your regulator performance on the dive. There are some other reasons to consider deco regulator performance - check out the stages / deco section here.

Also check the hose mounting and routing section - follow this link here