REGULATOR SCUBAPRO S600/MK25

The company is attempting to add "bling" to its top products in the way that it did with the successful A700 regulator. That is a top performer, and so is this one. Its purchase
price reflects this, too.

First stage
This is the latest version of what has become an almost traditional Scubapro piston-type design. It has the familiar tall turret, which has been improved with the addition of plenty of fins to reduce the chance of ice-creep should it get extremely chilled in cold, fresh water.
It's reminiscent of the heat-exchange finning included in the design of an engine block on a motorbike.
If you were to mount this on your tank with the turret at the top, it would be inclined to catch the back of your head whenever you looked up.
I always fit these types of regulators with the turret facing down. It gives it less room to revolve, but is more comfortable overall.
The medium-pressure ports are arranged around this turret, four in a radial arrangement and a fifth one on the top.
This gives you plenty of scope with hose routeings, and twin-tank users will be inclined to mount the first stage sideways and employ the fifth port for the best hose layout.
The two high-pressure ports are set in the fixed part of the barrel, and I found no problem fitting both the transmitters for the two gas-integrated computers I was using.
This is a piston design that allows the ultimate in flow-rates from the tank, so there is always plenty to breathe.
The disadvantage is the likelihood of an exponential free-flow in very cold water.
The holes in the casting allow a good flow of water through to the main spring, which is visible. This should help transmit what little warmth there is in the water to the very cold air coming from the tank, but I would caution that this is probably not the ideal first stage to be using in an ice-cold lake.
Scubapro makes a very fine diaphragm-style first stage more suited to this sort of diving.
On the other hand, if a temperate or tropical sea is the environment in which you're diving, this could be one of the best regulator first stages for the job.

Second stage
The compact second stage also seemed very familiar, but it has been glitzed up with highly polished chrome sections that contrast with the black plastic. It certainly looks the business.
The usual Scubapro pre-dive/dive switch positions the air flow either to disrupt the venturi effect or not, according to whether or not you're at the surface.
However, I found this quite hard to get to grips with using a heavily gloved hand.
A very substantial knob on the side allows you to turn up the cracking pressure needed to open the valve. The effect is to increase apparent breathing resistance.
Different manufacturers have different terms for this, but at DIVER we have settled on "breathing resistance adjustment", or BRA.
I simply positioned the knob to make breathing as easy as possible.
The mechanism inside is beautifully made, and buyers will certainly have plenty of confidence in their purchase.
Scubapro has gone a long way to making this a jewel among regulators, with tons of shop-counter appeal. Even the hose covers, fitted where the hose joins the two stages of the regulator, carry this through.

Purge
The purge control is found easily behind the metal front-plate that bears the Scubapro brand. Pressing this pushes on the lever that opens the demand valve, just as it opens under increasing pressure of water as you go deeper.
The lever is designed so that the operation of the purge flow is very progressive and finely controlled. Why aren't all regulators like this?

Comfort
Only the mouthpiece spoilt this regulator for me, because it was not as good as those of the regulators I used alongside it.
If I owned this regulator, I would swap the mouthpiece for either a custom-designed one such as a Jax, or one such as is fitted to Atomic and the latest Oceanic regulators.
As far as a gas supply goes, it gives as much as you want with an extremely low work-of-breathing. What more can you ask?

COMPARABLE REGULATORS TO CONSIDER:
Atomic T2X, £799
Sherwood SR-1, £360

SPECS
PRICE £439
FIRST STAGE Piston-type
PORTS 5mp and 2hp
SECOND-STAGE ADJUSTMENTS Venturi plus/minus, BRA
DRY WEIGHT 1.2kg
CONTACT www.scubapro.com
DIVER GUIDE