Lottie,
I think the best point brought up here is the regular servicing of the regulator and where you can have it serviced. It may not be economical for you to have your own regulator if you can not have it serviced. This is important not only to warranty issues, but to your life and safety issues as well.
As you said yourself, check around the island and find out where the regulators are being serviced, someone surely is doing it. Then find out what brands they service and have ease of getting parts.
Now another thing to take into consideration is the service interval. The standard is every year, BUT some manufacturers have models that need service every other year. In your situation that may be a HUGE difference.
As far as the dry mouth issue, there are a few things you can do about this. As you already know the reason this happens is because the air is filtered as it is compressed, this makes the air clean and dry. This is very good because it keeps us from breathing concentrated amounts of impurities, and it also keep our cylinders and regulators dry and contaminant free. The one thing you can do to help is to drink plenty of water before you dive. Stay away from the coffee, tea and sodas. It really will make a difference.
Now when purchasing a new regulator, some 2nd stages breathe more moist than others. If you look at new 2nd stages at the dive shop, you will notice many regulators made of plastic, and some made of metal. Metal regulators generally will breathe more moist than plastic ones. The manufacturers know this, so some models have metal fins built in directly behind the mouth piece. These metal fins collect the moisture from your outgoing breath, and add the moisture to the dry incoming breath. This really makes a huge difference.
I have seen devices made to allow one to drink through their regulator, but I would not waste the money or time with that.
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Originally Posted by acelockco
