Oceanic regs

[Kirstie]

I'm hovering on the verge of buying my first set of regs and have been looking at reviews of the Oceanic Alpha 7 and Gamma 2 CDX (partly because I'm on a bit of a budget and they seem very reasonable). They both get good write-ups, but do any of you have any comments/views before I take the plunge? (99% of my diving is done in the sea around the UK, all year round).

Thank you in advance!

[beanie]

I don't like em pureply personal but I don't

how much are they?

Apeks TX40s can be that much more?

[MATTBIN]

Have two sets of alpha 7's on sp4 (piston non-cold water regs - ok in Stoney at 4c) and a cold water diaphragm CDX - nice breath on all of them, prefer the Alpha second stage to the second stage on the cold reg. The cold reg second stage has twiddly bits - useless, and it breathes harder inverted when going under wrecks etc. All have been serviced at corect intervals about £35. All are covered under lifetime first owner warranty. Delighted with them. Had one Sp4 and CDX converted to DIN as purchased A clamp. They have all been abused, dragged along the floor and generally not treated like they are life support kit. Never free flowed in cold fresh water or salt. Easy in the mouth, although the cdx second stage (cant recall which one) is a tad smaller than the Alpha, the alpha is nicer as the bubbles exhaust better and the reg feels better, sometimes smaller second stages arent such a good idea.

I dont think you'll be dissapointed. Mark Chase has some too and he had relegated them to his stage regs when he was OC. I'm assuming he thought them OK or he would have binned them and gone for Apeks.

Matt

[Kirstie]

The Alpha 7 regs are £160 from Looe Divers and the Gamma 2 regs are £153 from Simply Scuba. I haven't checked prices anywhere else yet. Why don't you like them?

[beanie]

Originally Posted by Kirstie

The Alpha 7 regs are £160 from Looe Divers and the Gamma 2 regs are £153 from Simply Scuba. I haven't checked prices anywhere else yet. Why don't you like them?

I had a nasty experience on alphas at 20m very poor performance

[MATTBIN]

http://www.ukdivers.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=111

recent comments from others.

Matt

[Kirstie]

Originally Posted by MATTBIN

Have two sets of alpha 7's on sp4 (piston non-cold water regs - ok in Stoney at 4c) and a cold water diaphragm CDX - nice breath on all of them, prefer the Alpha second stage to the second stage on the cold reg. The cold reg second stage has twiddly bits - useless, and it breathes harder inverted when going under wrecks etc. All have been serviced at corect intervals about £35. All are covered under lifetime first owner warranty. Delighted with them. Had one Sp4 and CDX converted to DIN as purchased A clamp. They have all been abused, dragged along the floor and generally not treated like they are life support kit. Never free flowed in cold fresh water or salt. Easy in the mouth, although the cdx second stage (cant recall which one) is a tad smaller than the Alpha, the alpha is nicer as the bubbles exhaust better and the reg feels better, sometimes smaller second stages arent such a good idea.

I dont think you'll be dissapointed. Mark Chase has some too and he had relegated them to his stage regs when he was OC. I'm assuming he thought them OK or he would have binned them and gone for Apeks.

Matt

One of the reasons I thought about the Oceanic regs is because they look quite small. I learned with Scubapro regs and have since used Apex ones. They're both fine, but I have quite a small mouth and have to manouever the mouthpiece in rather than just 'put' it in my mouth! Are the mouthpieces on the Oceanic regs smaller? Also, the whole reg looks a lot smaller than the others I've used, which appealed to me.

[Gavin Smith]

Originally Posted by Kirstie

The Alpha 7 regs are £160 from Looe Divers and the Gamma 2 regs are £153 from Simply Scuba. I haven't checked prices anywhere else yet. Why don't you like them?

You can get TX50's for £150 with a DS4 first stage though.

Gavin

[MATTBIN]

Kirstie
the alpha 7 (second stage) is quite a large one certainly bigger than the Delta 3 that comes with the CDX/DX4 1st stage as standard. They have put the alpha 7 with the cdx to get the price low. The alpha 7 used to come with the SP4 first stage as standard then they shipped some with a better 1st stage. I would try out all of the ones you are interested in before purchase. I find the Delta 3 gives me more mouth cramp than the larger Alpha.

Matt

[MATTBIN]

Originally Posted by beanie

I had a nasty experience on alphas at 20m very poor performance

First time I have heard anyone criticise the Alpha reg, not doubting you just its a bit rare. DN were very impressed with the Alpha and rated it even against much more expensive kit.

Matt