Appeared in DIVER May 2007
REGULATOR Dive Rite Hurricane
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It markets a wide range of gear bearing its own brand, but it's not a manufacturer so much as a 'manupacker' in the USA. It's not ashamed to get other makers to produce kit to its specification, so while visiting the factory of a French-based manufacturer wasn't surprised to see the new Dive Rite Hurricane regulator being produced there.
This is not simply another brand of regulator with a different badge. It has been built to Dive Rite standards and uses the manufacturing company's best-performing yet most compact first stage with a robust and overly large second stage, a strongly reinforced mp hose connecting the two.
Presumably cave-divers demand that the second stage should have a large and uncluttered front diaphragm with an easily detected purge button in the centre, and that the hose should have a tough outer covering to protect it against damage from obstructions unseen in the dark.
There is also a heat-exchanger in-line with the hose, a venturi plus/minus switch to allow for unforeseen free-flows, and a breathing-resistance knob that is easily adjusted with
a gloved hand. The exhaust deflector is wide enough to route exhaled bubbles well away from the user's face and line of sight. The regulator is finished in a stylish red and deep lustrous black throughout. It's very good-looking!
The effect is to make the Hurricane appear exceedingly robust - let down only by its mouthpiece. The regulator breathed beautifully at depth, but when I turned my head I tended to lose it.
The very strong medium-pressure hose combined with a very weak hypo-allergenic mouthpiece was the problem, as the hose tended to straighten and pull it away from me. The Hurricane ideally needs something as strong as a Jaks or Seacure mouthpiece.
The ports on the first stage are also far too close together to fit hoses with bulky protectors alongside each other, or to use a transmitter for an air-integrated computer. This greatly limits the uses to which it can be put.
The Dive Rite Hurricane costs £320.
Sea & Sea, 01803 663012
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| + A tough-looking caver's regulator |
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- Ports positioned too closely together
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