Home / Dive Blog /Regulators / Apeks 5th port Upgrade
Apeks regulators have always been at the top of their game, being popular with both sport and technical divers. Their regulators are widely used internationally for extremely demanding dives due to their unprecedented reliability. Many twin tank divers including myself regularly trust them with our lives.
Apeks regulators always offered good options with hose routing and have recently stepped it up a notch with the release of the tech 3 specifically designed for double tank setup’s. Now they have taken it a step further. Many divers already have one reg setup for single cylinder diving and upon upgrading to twins realize that they need another first stage as opposed to two entire new sets of regs. Some divers will opt for a complete new setup as it allows easy changeability between singles and doubles, but for others they would prefer to just simply upgrade their existing setup. With this in mind Apeks have announced a 5th port upgrade kit for the DST first stage that allows both twin and single tank divers to re-configure the hose routing for a more user friendly and streamlined rig.
The 5th port replaces the HP (high pressure) balance chamber on the 1st stage with a new one which re directs LP (low pressure) gas to a new LP port for a regulator, without compromising the overall performance of the 1st stage. The new LP port is located on the lower end of the reg making it easier to use an under arm hose routing for a second stage eg. a 2m hose on a singles tank system. It also allows doubles configuration the chance to rout the backup regulator and BCD inflator neatly behind the neck (see pictures).
I have personally used this system with both the double’s and single tank system and found them extremely comfortable to breathe and wear in water. The upgrade must be installed by a Service technician but can be done while you wait as it is a 5 minute job. For anyone thinking of getting into double tank diving or simply want a 2m hose for short wreck penetration’s I would highly recommend this option as it’s simple, reliable and you won’t have to take out a mortgage to get one (or two).
Tom Crisp
