Atomic Regs, are they worth the $$?

[Cichlid]

Originally Posted by creggur

I went through this same line of thinking over the last few weeks.. I looked at every reg I could and Atomic has a great reputation and always receive excellent reviews from Rodales. I understand you want the best, I mean it's "life support" right? I had the double duty of finding one for my wife as well. I think I was actually more diligent in my research because of her.
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV>If I were going to be going into technical diving I probably would have ponied up for the Atomic. However during my research I found a number of regs that scored as well as the Atomics for way, way less money. We finally went with the Zeagle Envoy's. Perfect breathing machine scores, excellent scores on the ergo portion of the test, and a great reputation for customer service.. ST will make you a deal on them too, Joe gave us a package deal on them with our BC's and the price just couldn't be beat.. Plenty of reg for the kind of diving we'll be doing...</DIV>

Originally Posted by Zenagirl

My husband just went through the agonizing process of researching regs to find new ones, and Atomic was high on his list. He finally went with a Zeagle Flathead and Zeagle Envoy octo. His research showed that the Zeagles breathed just as well as the Atomics, and at less than 1/2 the price and free parts for service, it just made more sense. Not to mention the excellent customer service we've always received from Zeagle and ScubaToys on my Zeagle BC and regs.
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV>One thing that surprised us was although Atomics require service every 2 years instead of annually, they don't provide a free rebuild kit, so you wind up paying nearly as much for your semi-annual service as you would for annual service with other regs.</DIV>

Great info, that is exactly where I am now. I'm reseaching for both my wife and I. Thank you guys! Those Atomics are very very tempting still though.

[Judestudio]

Tempting as it is. I have 2 concerns:

1) Environmental seal being optional, except for M1
2) Not a dry seal --> messy lubes

No offense and I'm not saying it's not a good reg, coz it's great, many tests proved it, fair square. But with that price tag, I think it's alright to expect more?

Just my 2c

[BSea]

Originally Posted by Judestudio

Tempting as it is. I have 2 concerns:

1) Environmental seal being optional, except for M1
2) Not a dry seal --> messy lubes

No offense and I'm not saying it's not a good reg, coz it's great, many tests proved it, fair square. But with that price tag, I think it's alright to expect more?

Just my 2c

The messy lube is only a problem if you service your own gear. Otherwise you'll never know it's there. Now the question is, does the crystolube work better than a dry seal.

However, I do agree with your other concern. I think the environment seal should be standard on all their regs. I mean why not? Other than the expense every 2 years, is there a reason not to have the environmental seal?

[Judestudio]

Originally Posted by BSea

The messy lube is only a problem if you service your own gear. Otherwise you'll never know it's there. Now the question is, does the crystolube work better than a dry seal.

However, I do agree with your other concern. I think the environment seal should be standard on all their regs. I mean why not? Other than the expense every 2 years, is there a reason not to have the environmental seal?

Oh really? I wouldn't know, coz I haven't encountered a non-dry seal yet, thanks for the info.

I have a concern number 3:
I heard that becoz of the reverse poppet design of the 2nd stage (not sure what that is), water seems to get into it and up to the 1st stage more easily, true?

[BSea]

Originally Posted by Judestudio

Oh really? I wouldn't know, coz I haven't encountered a non-dry seal yet, thanks for the info.

I have a concern number 3:
I heard that becoz of the reverse poppet design of the 2nd stage (no sure what that is), water seems to get into it and up to the 1st stage more easily, true?

The problem is only if you rinse your 2nd stage without it being pressurized. The reverse poppet is designed to relieve the pressure on the seat which results in less wear. That's the main reason they can be serviced every 2 years.

Basically when the reg is connected, the pressure causes the poppet to push against the seat. When the pressure is relieved, the poppet pulls away from the seat.

So when you rinse your 2ns stage, just be sure it's connected to a tank, and pressurised. You can sinse your 1st stage after it's disconnected from the tank. Just be sure you keep the 2nd stage out of the rinse when the do this. It's no big deal.

[BSea]

I should point out that mine has the environmental seal, and it was the same price as the version without the seal. At least I wasn't charged more. So when I said optional, I don't know if there is an additional charge for the option.

[Judestudio]

Originally Posted by BSea

I should point out that mine has the environmental seal, and it was the same price as the version without the seal. At least I wasn't charged more. So when I said optional, I don't know if there is an additional charge for the option.

According to the Atomic "online shop", yea they charge $40 for the environmental seal kit, which is not too bad. Well, if the difference is so minimal, I wonder why Atomic didn't make it a standard thing for all regs, I mean, are there ppl that "choose" to have their reg unsealed deliberately?

[Zenagirl]

The Zeagle Flathead is environmentally sealed and still less than 1/2 the cost...if you buy it from ST.

[bordhead]

besides being a great reg there service is even better. took my regs in for service directly to atomic (there only a few miles from me or else i would of sent them to scubatoys) 4 days later they called and said there done when i picked them up the service guy handed me my regs and i said these are not mine, mine are all scratched and have alot of wear and tear on them and he said at no charge we replaced all the plascic for you and now they look new like when i bought them...

[BSea]

Originally Posted by Judestudio

According to the Atomic "online shop", yea they charge $40 for the environmental seal kit, which is not too bad. Well, if the difference is so minimal, I wonder why Atomic didn't make it a standard thing for all regs, I mean, are there ppl that "choose" to have their reg unsealed deliberately?

If you don't dive cold water (less than 50 degrees), you don't need to have the 1st stage sealed. It's sealed to prevent the reg freezing up and free flowing. But I don't see a reason not to have it sealed as the standard. It doesn't hurt anything to have it sealed.