chrome-plating, intended to look good for longer.
Visually, the LX200 second stage looks very
similar to that of the LX100, the only real
difference being a breathing-rate adjustment
knob in addition to the venturi lever.
Both reg sets looked good when I unpacked
them, oozing that all-important shelf-appeal.
The PVD-plated LX200 set was especially cool-
looking, with the plating giving a sheen to the
metal that made the second stage stand out
among chromed valves.
I was a little concerned at first that the black
polymer bodies of both the LX100 and LX200
second stages were susceptible to handling
marks, but in use that wasn’t the case.
What had initially looked like small marks
in the polymer were simply
shrugged off.
Had I been shopping at
my local dive-shop and
seen these regs I would have
wanted a closer look, my only
reservation being that both the
second stages looked a bit long, front
to back, making me wonder if they
might cause jaw fatigue in
the water.
On the other hand,
Hollis suggests two-year
service intervals, and
offers a lifetime warranty
and free parts for life.lightweight
set.
The LX100
second stage is
made of black
polymer, set off
by the red and
black orthodontic
mouthpiece and the red cover for the
diaphragm hiding behind a honeycomb
front mesh that forms the purge.
As supplied, the second stage is set up
hose-right to run over your right shoulder,
but the hose can be swapped over if you wish.
Hollis says you don’t need any fancy tools to
make the swap, which is always nice.
There’s a simple venturi lever to set pre-dive
and dive modes, and that’s it. You could say it’s
basic. I prefer to call it simple, where simple
equals everything I need and nowt I don’t.
The LX200 is the new Hollis range-topper, and
the manufacturer says it is intended for extreme
environments. The first stage is the DCX, which
offers two hp ports on the barrel of the regulator
and a rotating turret with four lp ports around
the perimeter and a fifth on the top.
The regulator is plated using
physical vapour deposition (PVD), an
industrial process producing a
tougher external finish than
the traditionalTHE 2019 REGULATOR MARKET IS A FIERCELY
competitve place, with a good number of
makers offering finely graded ranges of
regulator sets at slowly increasing price-points.
They are differentiated by build-quality
improvements as you go up the range, features
to set them apart from their competitors and
looks to attract new buyers.
Note that I didn’t mention better
performance. A few years ago you could buy
duff regs. Not any more. These days you can be
confident that any reg set you buy will be up to
the job of delivering the gas you need.
That’s the reality of the challenge Hollis has
taken on with its new LX100 and LX200
regulator sets, and at first sight it has certainly
nailed the looks part of the package, with shiny
first stages, Miflex lightweight flexible hoses and
second stages boasting red highlights on their
mouthpieces and behind their purges.The Designs
I had assumed that the LX100 and LX200
would be very similar, but they’re completely
different products.
The LX100 second stage
uses the DC3 first stage.
Available in DIN or
A-clamp, the DC3 is a
pneumatically balanced
valve that’s environmentally
sealed to prevent internal
corrosion, and meets the
relevant CE standard for a
coldwater regulator.
Four low-pressure and
two high-pressure ports are
spaced around the outside of
the regulator, which means
that there’s plenty of room for
two pressure gauges, say a
manual SPG and a computer
sender, plus main, octo, BC and
drysuit-inflation hoses.
A couple of the ports do slant
backwards a bit, so routeing might
not be ideal, but the upside is a compact,WELL AND TRULY
divErNEt.comThe divErTesters have
been hard at work this
month: on top of STEVE
WARREN’S dive-light
comparison elsewhere
he tries out a semi-dry combo, while MIKE
WARDleads off with a pair of regs from HollisdivEr 70
REGULATORS
HOLLIS LX100
& LX200