Time to Test

On a sun-splashed Southern California morning last April the ScubaLab test team, aboard Body Glove’s dive boat Disappearance, skirted the eastern coastline of Santa Monica Bay, headed for the rocky cliffs of the Palos Verdes Peninsula. Skipper Bob Meistrell eased his 64-foot vessel into a quiet spot on the edge of a massive kelp bed and dropped anchor on a sandy bottom in 40 feet of green water. The test team, comprised of six divers and one test coordinator, got ready to hit the water with this year’s new crop of regulators. There were 14 in all, running the gamut from economy to money’s-no-object. This was judgment day — the final of three test stages — and we couldn’t have asked for a better one. When all was said and done, we found what we were looking for — the year’s best breathers.

Atomic Aquatics Z2x

Features

Atomic added its Comfort Swivel to the Z2 and renamed it the Z2x. Its balanced-piston first stage is available with a seven LP port design or a five LP port swivel turret. The second stage’s brass valve body is plated with palladium/zirconium for corrosion resistance, while the lever, orifice and second-stage spring are titanium. It comes standard with Automatic Flow Control and a seat-saving orifice. On the breathing machine, the Z2x kept up with the T2x at every RMV/depth level and then did the same in the ocean. Test divers found very little bubble interference and lots of comfort.

Specifications

Bottom Line

The performance benefits of the T2x at about a third of what it costs for “the best.”