It is hard to buy a bad regulator these days. SCUBA is a small comunity and if a mfg puts out crap, everyone will know it quick and they will be gone. there are regs that have bells and whistles, there are also regs with fancy decorations that make them look much nicer than they are. I personally dive a scubapro MK25/S600 on my single tank rig, and Apeks DS4/TX50 (and XTX50 for my backup) on my doubles rig. I am a certified tech for Scubapro, Atomics, Tusa, Oceanic, and I think a few others(?) Oceanic, Tusa, Sherwood, are reliable regs, theyre very simple in design, but they are low level performers in my opinion(edit Oceanic does have some nice regs. Ive seen regs advertised as balanced, ask if the 1st stage AND the 2nd stage are BOTH balanced, Ive seen 1st stages balanced with "classic down stream" seconds. This means the 2nd stage that you put in your mouth is of the oooold style and this is the half that really dictates the feel of the breathing). Scubapro is usually a bit more pricey but you get an unbeatable warranty, free parts for life for annual service, and guaranteed for life (unless you ran it over with a car or something stupid). I will admit that when I took the Atomics class, I opened up the reg and actually said "wow!" these are really great regs. I used to tell cusomers that they are really good regs but I didn't like them becuase they were too smooth and pretty. I still feel that if a product is that good looking, the quality must not be there. I was wrong about Atomics, the design, attention to detail, everything I think is great (except the swivel ball on hoses but thats just personal). Whatever you buy make sure that a local dive shop can service it for you. You dont want to drive 4 hours one way to get your reg to a shop that services that brand of reg.
