REGULATOR APEKS FLIGHT

Weight is not important in the water. After all, you make up for any reduction in weight in your dive kit by adding lead.
However, standing at the check-in desk of Singapore Airlines and confronted with a specially reduced excess baggage fee equal to £35 per kilo over the 20kg checked-baggage allowance, weight can become crucial to your general sense of well-being.
Apeks sent me the whole nine yards with Flight, Flight Octopus, BC inflator hose and
high-pressure hose with gauge, all using those hi-tech modern braided nylon hoses from Italy.
These go a long way towards reducing the overall weight, and include a spindly high-pressure version that is claimed to be much stronger than the traditional armoured high-pressure hose.
Only time will tell if the plastic (thermo-polymer) regulator first stage is as resistant
to hard use and abuse as a metal versionwould be.

First stage
As you would expect, not only is the first stage tiny but it seems almost weightless. I'm told that it's made from a composite of modern thermopolymers rather than the traditional brass-plated steel, aluminium, titanium or any other metal. This is said to have terrific coldwater capabilities, with good reduction of that "refrigeration effect".
Despite the fact that it is so small, it still has a full complement of ports, with four medium-pressure and two high-pressure ports.
These were well spaced around the tiny barrel, and it was able to fit the bulky transmitter of my integrated computer. Just to make the point, Apeks sent a DIN version rather than the necessarily heavy A-clamp.

Second stage
The second stage seems no smaller than any other compact regulator on the market, but it certainly is lightweight.
Its exhaust deflector or exhaust-T is sufficiently long to put exhaled bubbles clear of your face.
The only manual control is a venturi plus/minus switch that redirects the air-flow from the valve spindle to aim it directly at the back of the pressure-sensing diaphragm.
This avoid pressure drops due to the venturi effect when you are at the surface, to reduce the chance of exponential free-flows.
Second stages are available in different colours to suit those who favour colour-
co-ordination, including pink.

Purge control
This soft panel is unmistakable to locate.
I couldn't fault this purge control in that it was progressive and very effective, and operated the valve-lever without any resistance.

Comfort
Of course, the Flight is very light in the mouth, but a lot of the comfort has to do with the braided nylon intermediate hose, which is so flexible that it does not affect the turning of your head.
The Comfobite mouthpiece takes strain off your molars and puts it onto your incisors. The octopus supplied had a conventional mouthpiece. Because I had the advantage of being able to swap regulators, it meant I never got jaw fatigue with the traditional type, nor sore front gums with the Comfobite Apeks regulator. Of course, it's no difficult exercise to fit the mouthpiece you prefer.
So what about the airflow? I'm no ANSTI machine, but I decided that although the Flight was good in that it always gave me enough air, and exactly what I wanted when I demanded it, it was not as capable as the more conventional Apeks products.
This said, if you are travelling across the world, it might cost a lot more to take a heavier item, so this regulator does exactly what the manufacturer intended. The clue is in the name - the Apeks Flight.

COMPARABLE REGULATORS TO CONSIDER:
Scubapro MK11T/S555, £679
Sherwood SR1, £379
Mares Carbon 42, £530

SPECS
PRICE £341
FIRST STAGE Plastic diaphragm-type
PORTS 4mp and 2hp
SECOND-STAGE ADJUSTMENT Venturi +/- switch
SECOND-STAGE COLOURS 3
DRY WEIGHT 1.1kg including lp hose, hp hose & gauge, and octopus.
CONTACT www.apeks.co.uk
DIVER GUIDE