EXTRA

HEAD to HEAD:
POSEIDON CYKLON 5000 V MARES TI PLANET


You'd get no change from £1200 if you wanted to buy both these titans of the regulator world, so you must decide between two models with a whole lot of history behind them. Swedish or Italian? John Bantin considers

Most people have made up their minds about the regulator they want to buy long before they reach the dive shop. They are influenced by what their peers or instructors use. Few shops can stock a proper cross-brand selection, the assistant is hardly going to recommend a brand he doesn't stock, and all regulators work well in the dry, so what else can guide you towards the right purchasing decision?
    Few divers ever admit to making a buying mistake. They will fiercely defend the performance of their own purchases. Assuming that every regulator works, everyone has the best, but few divers have the opportunity to consider the performance of two different regulators, side by side and under water, so prejudice reigns supreme.
    Years ago, regulators were not all good. Some training agencies actually recommended buddy-breathing in an emergency rather than using an alternative second stage, fearing that the later could not supply enough air under dire circumstances. "Beating-the-valve" became enshrined in the folklore of diving.
    One regulator manufacturer produced a valve that could never be beaten. It was so much better than almost any other regulator available that its performance quickly became legendary. This was the Swedish-made Poseidon Cyklon. It was so good, it was the only breathing-valve to pass stringent US Navy criteria, and it became adopted as an industry standard among those who did "extreme" diving.
    Look at almost any group of European tekkies today. Poseidon Cyklon regulators are still seen as almost standard issue.
Meanwhile, the times they were a changin'. Over in Italy, Mares, a company that some would say once made rather lacklustre products, became part of the international HTM conglomerate, which also owned the Head tennis-racquet brand.
    For whatever reason, the tennis equipment business was in decline and the board of HTM decided to divert a huge amount of resources into Mares diving equipment.
    The company's R&D department was instructed to come up with a large number of innovative and refined products that would position Mares as the leading manufacturer in its field. This it did.
    Among the new products, regulators were at the forefront, which caused a bit of an upset among the more rigid thinkers in the diving trade.
    It was in the early '90s that I found myself in Mares' research laboratory in Rapallo, accompanied by a group of hard-bitten British retailers. The chief technician was there to demonstrate on a breathing machine just how far Mares regulator designs had come.
    He offered to do a comparison with any other brand of regulator that these gentlemen might have brought with them. Almost without exception, they dived into their bags to haul out Poseidon Cyklons. This was the regulator to beat, its reputation fearsome.
    "This regulator is very good," offered the man from Mares, "but it is an old design."
    Which sums it up, yet Poseidon Cyklon regulators are as popular as ever today among the cognoscenti. So we decided to pitch the latest Swedish-built Cyklon 5000 model against what is presumably the best and most expensive model the Italian company has produced to date, the Mares Ti Planet.

Poseidon Cyklon Mares Ti Planet Second stages: Side-mounted Cyklon, conventional Planet First stages: Lightweight Planet v heavyweight Cyklon

    The Cyklon 5000 is the Volvo Estate of regulators. It uses well-established design principles and is solidly manufactured. The first stage is beautifully crafted and superbly chromed, compact, and weighs a ton.
    The recent change to plastic for the main body of the second stage has been abandoned, in the case of this coldwater version, for the heat-sink characteristics of machined aluminium. The second stage can be used either right- or left-handed, because the diaphragm and purge control is mounted at the side rather than forward in the user's line of sight. This puts all the exhaled bubbles up past one side of the face.
    The Cyklon has a delightfully "clean" design and does not include any knobs or adjustments for the diver to fiddle with while under water. As it is built in Sweden, you can be sure it provides enviable coldwater performance.
    This classic among regulators exudes robustness. However, I was surprised to notice that the second-stage diaphragm cover appeared to be held in with nothing more than a simple spring circlip. As with all regulators which have the second-stage diaphragm set at one side, tilting that side up can allow a little water in, the equivalent of looking up or inverting most conventionally designed second stages.
    Cyklon 5000 users get accustomed to this and tend to ignore it. It does nothing to spoil their enjoyment of the valve.
    If the Cyklon 5000 is a Volvo Estate, the Mares Ti Planet is an Audi All-road Quattro. It includes almost all the technological advances that Mares has introduced into regulator design and represents the acme of that company's achievements.
    First, the first stage is made entirely from titanium, the modern wonder-metal that is almost as corrosion-resistant as gold. Because of its extreme strength, it enables the regulator to be extremely lightly built.
    The second stage is made from a mixture of titanium and plastic, so it is very lightweight in the mouth. It has titanium inserts to act as a heat-sink for coldwater use and also the successful Mares patented bypass tube, which discourages free-flows and dispenses with any extra knobs or adjustments. Both regulators offer four medium- and two high-pressure ports at the first stage.
    When it comes to delivering air, the two designs follow very different philosophies. The Ti Planet attempts to make breathing as natural as possible, whereas the Cyklon 5000 offers the user the comfort of knowing that a gale is blowing around his tonsils. True to its name, inhaling is akin to opening the door and letting a hurricane blow in.
    This was reassuring in days gone by, when all other regulators were as asthmatic as an accordion-player with leather lungs who smoked Capstan Full-Strength. But despite the diver's perception of air flow, we were surprised to find that both regulators could deliver virtually the same quantities of air.
    The light weight of the Mares (965g as opposed to 1350g) would make it a first choice of the travelling diver - but then, the person who can buy a Ti Planet will probably be taking advantage of business or first-class luggage allowances. Sadly, it will probably be mishandled on dive boats in third-world countries by crew who probably earn less in a year than it costs to buy.
    During its first dive trip, the second-stage of my Ti Planet had already started to look a little frayed at the edges from being bounced along the deck.
    As far as servicing goes, parts for both regulators are relatively expensive and I am told that both are equally easy to set up "if you know what you're doing!". It is evident to me that some of those who service Poseidon regulators do not, and I have seen some disappointed divers at faraway dive destinations.
    Both regulators will provide enough air when you want it. So it comes down to a question of how you like it delivered, and that can only really be decided by taking two regulators with you under water, on independent tanks, and comparing them before deciding for yourself.
    Otherwise you'll end up getting the same regulator as your pal's, but it does save a lot of discussion.
    The choice between the Cyklon 5000 and the Ti Planet is the difference between old-fashioned values and modern technology. When it comes to the price, it's easy. Both are expensive as regs go, but you can buy two Poseidon Cyklon 5000s, which cost £360 (both A-clamp/DIN), for less than one Mares Ti Planet (£850, A-clamp or DIN).

Blandford Sub-Aqua (Mares) 01923 801572, www.divernet.com/blandfrd