Northwest Dive Club

Can anyone help me out?

I have an AquaLung Titan which I like except when I go to 100' I really have to pull hard so I've been thinking of getting a new reg. My choices are the AquaLung Apex or the HOG, any thoughts?

I'm told the Apex will outlast the HOG but the price is great and I know guys who swear by the HOG.....

I'd be curious to hear the logic on why the apeks should outlast the HOG, I'm not saying it can't/won't, but I'd like to hear the reasoning why some people think it would.

I have the HOG regs and love them. I don't see any reason to spend the extra cash. For me the major reasons I chose HOG:

1) low purchase cost
2) availability of low cost service kits
3) ability to service them myself
4) they work super well

Supposedly, from the AL rep, HOG overtunes them to work better deeper where Apex is built with better parts yada, yada, yada.

I know this is a sales pitch but I want the best value for my money and though I like my Titan I'm not married to AL.

TCWestby wrote:Supposedly, from the AL rep, HOG overtunes them to work better deeper where Apex is built with better parts yada, yada, yada.

I know this is a sales pitch but I want the best value for my money and though I like my Titan I'm not married to AL.

I bet the HOG rep would tell you the exact opposite...

There is no reason why your titan should be breathing badly at 100'. I would have it serviced by someone who is not trying to sell you a new reg, and knows what they are doing. No need to spend the money on a new reg at all if a service will fix your current setup.

I agree, there's is nothing wrong with the Titan. Get it serviced by someone knowledgable. I recommend Don Peterson in Kingston, its only 1-2 days to ship it to him and back so you should have it back in 5-10days.

If you just want a new reg you can't go wrong with Apeks. The HOGs seem nice but time will tell how long the support will last.

Peter and I both own Titans, and we've had them to 130 feet and they breathe great (and I'm spoiled by my MK25s, so I'm fussy). If yours is breathing badly, it's out of adjustment. Service is cheaper than new regs!

I owned a titan and a Titan LX…

I did not care for either one. I have had both Apeks and Hog now and either one breaths WAY better then the Titan line. This is just my opinion.

With the Hog you do have to make sure the IP is adjusted or you can get some free flow; but they seem pretty good so far. I just can’t justify $550 for 1 Apeks reg, when you can get 2 Hogs for $350.



Just remember: Don’t buy one good reg, then put a crappy backup on your set and expect it to work great when you are in an OOA situation at 110’. You want your backup to be just as good as your primary.

All my regs are Apeks and I love em. Except for the first one I looked around and bought used ones wich kept the cost down. Having said that, if I was spending the money today on new regs I'd be hard pressed not to get the HOG ones and put the rest of the money in the scooter fund

Mattleycrue76 wrote:Having said that, if I was spending the money today on new regs I'd be hard pressed not to get the HOG ones and put the rest of the money in the scooter fund

let me know when you sell your apeks. :biggrin:

I went with the HOG, Had a store credit at Evergreen Dive. I wanted the new one since my kid will be learning this summer and he can use the old one.

As for service, I had them serviced on time by SPD, prior to the close but haven't gone deep since before it.

Thanks for the input, I'm breaking them in on Thursday.

TCWestby wrote:I went with the HOG, Had a store credit at Evergreen Dive. I wanted the new one since my kid will be learning this summer and he can use the old one.

As for service, I had them serviced on time by SPD, prior to the close but haven't gone deep since before it.

Thanks for the input, I'm breaking them in on Thursday.

I'd still get the Titan properly serviced. Emphasis on 'properly'. IMHO if it's not good enough for you it's not good enough for your kid.

-Ben

TCWestby wrote:As for service, I had them serviced on time by SPD, prior to the close but haven't gone deep since before it.
.

Yeah I have seen SPD's handiwork. Send the Titan to Don before diving it.

your all wrong .... US diver conshelf .. "just kidding " .. I love my regs , they have never had an issue , well once at Redondo , But it was all MZ fault, cause he doesnt wear a compass

I fully agree about the Titan. I've had mine for about 3 years and never had any problems with it at any depth. If you're going to have your kid use it, get it fixed! It's an excellent reg when it's been serviced properly, and yours obviously wasn't.

H20doctor wrote:your all wrong .... US diver conshelf .. "just kidding " .. I love my regs , they have never had an issue , well once at Redondo , But it was all MZ fault, cause he doesnt wear a compass

Nothing wrong with the conshelf, basically the same design as the titan.

Thanks for all your help and advice. I'll get it i to ger re-checked.

Stumbled upon this article:

http://www.xray-mag.com/en/content/deco ... ecord-dive

This guy used Aqualung Titan at 330m and liked it a lot.

TCWestby wrote:Can anyone help me out?

I have an AquaLung Titan which I like except when I go to 100' I really have to pull hard so I've been thinking of getting a new reg. My choices are the AquaLung Apex or the HOG, any thoughts?

I'm told the Apex will outlast the HOG but the price is great and I know guys who swear by the HOG.....

Dumb question, but you do know that the Titans have an external adjustment knob, right? The old ones had a lever on top of the second stage, and the newer ones have a knob on the left end of the second stage. If you turn it to the "-", it is harder to breath but doesn't freeflow; if you turn it to the "+", it is easy to breath but may freeflow at the surface. The manual says to leave it turned all the way to the "-" until you submerge, then turn it to the "+", then adjust back as far as you can while still breathing easily; re-adjust toward the "+" as you get deeper, and adjust toward the "-" at your safety stop. Mine breathes comfortably anywhere in the middle of the range, so I don't mess with it much, but if yours has been permanently turned to the "-", that would match your description.

I agree that good service is critical to this, but as long as the tech set the "cracking pressure" right, the adjustment knob should do the trick. If you happen to be in Oregon, Dave at UnderWaterWorks in Tigard did a nice job on mine.