Scubamax Regulators. UK Servicing?

[Matt-75]

Just a quick question for the experts panel.

A friend is looking to buy a scubamax reg setup off some guy on ebay, for his pony. As far as i can see its a pretty good deal, except i cant find any info on who might be able to service the regs, or whether he'd end up having to buy service kits from the US and do it himself.

As far as i can make out from google, these are Chinese made regs, mainly marketed to the US crowd, but with not much of a following over here in the UK.

The items in questions that he was going to buy (or may already have bought) can be found at this ebay dive shop.

eBay UK Shop - Dive1Dive2:

But from looking at it now, the other reg, the one he wanted with the venturi has gone, so he may already have bought it.

So anyone know if any shops can service these?

[Gez Ward]

these regs 1st and 2nd stages are not CE marked so not approved for sale in europe, thats why they are cheap this does not mean they dont work , so buying is upto the individual .

[Matt-75]

So servicing is going to require ordering kits in from abroad.

Thanks, advice taken on board.

Just out of interest are they used in Spain, or anywhere else in Europe? Are servicing kits available, or would that require an email to the manufacturer?

[Woz]

Would not touch with a sh1tty stick. You can get a TX 40 for not much more from SDS

[Matt-75]

Not for me, so by the by, Woz.

To late anyway, he bought them. It appears you can get service kits from the US as well, for not a lot, so it remains to be seen how long they will last him.

I already have atx40's for my twins, or single/pony, so im happy.

And for the record he was running on a real low budget, like had £80 to buy his pony regs. Was originally going for some random ebay us divers regs but would have been diving them without prior servicing. At least this way he has a brand new first and second, even if they only last a season.

[chrisch]

Originally Posted by Matt-75

..And for the record he was running on a real low budget, like had £80 to buy his pony regs.

Reliable buddy would be cheaper still

Chris

[Matt-75]

Well that would work as well, but he like several i know are pushing towards a self reliance approach. So you can get yourself out of air problems if they happen, rather than relying on your buddy.

To each their own.

[StuartC]

Originally Posted by Matt-75

Well that would work as well, but he like several i know are pushing towards a self reliance approach. So you can get yourself out of air problems if they happen, rather than relying on your buddy.

To each their own.

I wouldn't be happy to trust a set of non-CE regs bought off ebay without servicing to sit nicely on a pony until the event where you need it....

even some CE certified regs aren't all they're cracked up to be if you saw the 50m reg test in one of the dive mags in the past couple of months...

Have heard an ebay horror story of somebody buying a 2nd hand set, getting it serviced, and the service technician finding no contents inside the 1st and 2nd stage housings....

he ignored the generous offer of a hefty trade-in discount from the kit manufacturer to get this unsafe kit out of circulation and decided to get his cash back by re-listing it on ebay!

[chrisch]

The CE thing is rubbish and means nothing. If you read the regulator manual for Scubapro you will note that CE compliance is invalidated for two people breathing the same 1st stage. In other works the standard UK recreational confiuguration of primary and octopus on a single 1st stage is outside CE compliance. If, therefore, you need to comply - say in a work situation like an instructor - the regulator should have only one 2nd stage. Instructors or other working divers therefore need to have H valve and two 1st stages. (Dual outlet tanks for instructors is law in France).

As for magazine tests... the problem is they tend to be on shiney paper which makes it useless for what it should be good for...

Chris

[StuartC]

Originally Posted by chrisch

As for magazine tests... the problem is they tend to be on shiney paper which makes it useless for what it should be good for...

Chris

hehe, funnily enough it was in the bonus extra month I got as they were unsuccessfully trying to persuade me to renew my subscription....

interesting bit about the CE standard and 2 breathing from same 1st stage.

What surprised me from the article was that at least 1 of the regs bombed out at 30m in warm water....not the kind of publicity in a magazine review outcome their marketing boys would've expected when providing the sample!