2nd Stage Regulators - What to choose?!

[TDave]

Hi,
I'm currently in the process of switching to 'DIR' in kit configuartion (ie primary second stage on long hose, backup second stage on short hose and on necklace etc etc) and was just wondering if anyone had any advice they wanted to provide me with in regards to which second stages to get.

At the moment I'm thinking of either the Apeks ATX200 or the ATX50 as my primary (on the long hose), and possibly the TX40 on the necklace (on short hose).
Its really the backup that I'm mroe stuck on, I basically want something solid that doesn't freeflow easily(!!).
I knwo from personal experience that the TX40 is good for this but was wondering if anyone had any suggestions?

Cheers

TD

[Dominic]

Presumably you've already got two second stages, your main and your octopus. What's wrong with using them?

[JohnK]

I use TX40`s on both the long hose and the necklaced one. These have never given me any probs - then again I have never tried/had any other than my TX40`s

[John Gulliver]

Got to agree. Double TX40s. Bullet-proof!

[TDave]

Dominic, it's not such much that there's anything wrong with them but I need to sell them to raise some cash for the new first stages I need (for twinsets). I am still deabting with the diea of keeping my primary though, but then that kind of hinders my chances of selling them. The octopus too is good but is just sometimes a bit sensitive in the cold and if I'm going down the 'techy' line I'm not sure how it'll cope at depth.
But you did raise a good point which made me think of different options! Thanks!  

[Mdemon]

The breathe off my ATX50 is fantastic.  Had the ATX40 octo freeflow on jumping in off the dive boat last week.  Nasty too, had to shut it down as the usual tricks didn't work.  That said, people rate Apeks very highly.

[Tim Ingmire]

I know its not Apeks but I just bought a couple of regs which I'm well pleased with - Poseidon Cyklons.  key from left or right, proven to give years of reliable performance whatever your diving requirements and give you the breathe you want whether its a gentle breeze or (suck harder) a rampaging gale down yer throat.

I know their not sexy latest models but I love 'em.

I guess this won't really help your question tho TDave but I just needed an excuse to tell everyone.

[Andy Phillips]

OK, expensive but;

Poseidon XStream, I just changed my fantastic APEKS TX100's for the even better XSteam's get them to 60 or 70M and you will learn to love all over again.

Andrew

[Dominic]

Right now, I'm using a bit of a Frankenstein of Apeks stages:

Right post: DS4 first stage, TX100 second stage

Left post: TX100 first stage, TX40 second stage

I originally bought a TX100 with TX40 octopus, then added a DS4 and long hose when I went to the twinset.
Now that I've finally gotten around to getting a blanking plug for the wide-bore port on the TX100, I've put the long-hosed TX100 second stage onto the DS4 so that I could put the TX100 on the other post and therefore have no non-standard hoses.

[Digger]

<font color='#000080'>I've got a cyklon on my left and a TX50 on my right. I've got to admit, the Apeks is a better breathe for me. I do like having the versatility of the cyklon, and it could probably do with a decent tune up, but the Apeks is winning on the breathability stakes for me.

That said, both seem fairly indestructible, and I bought both after they'd done a fair few dives with previous owners.

My only real problem with the Apeks is that the hose is a non-standard size, but if you're going the DIR route, you're going to have to change that for a standard fitting anyway.