I keep getting asked to review gear so I guess I should start talking about the gear I use and I use with my students. So I will start out with the workhorse of the system, the XS Scuba Brawn Regulator.
I am loving this regulator from XS Scuba. I’m loving it so much it’s what my private students are given as their regulator set when they take lessons from me. Yes, that’s right, if you take private lessons from me, the regulator set is just part of the gear you get to start your dive adventures.
I dive lots of regs and in the personal gear box there are Atomics, Sherwoods, Scuba Pros, Dive Rites, and the list goes on. But this one is the one that if I’m kicking around a local pond or hanging in the pool gets thrown on more often than not. Right now I even have a set up as a long hose.
I like it because its lightweight and compact. Not allot of excess (no pun intended here) with it. Its pretty simple to work on (if trained) and parts are available. Its a balanced second stage which means its going to breathe just as easy when going deeper as it is shallow. I have had my own to 132′ on a dive in Roatan last year.
Allot of terms are thrown out there in the past few years like hyper balanced and over balanced regs. In simplest language you have balanced and unbalanced regulators. Balancing a second stage is accomplished by routing medium pressure air to the backside of the valve to help counteract the force of the spring. This allows the valve to open easier with less effort of the diver on inhalation, making the reg breathe easier under heavier demand, such as swimming against a current, keeping p with that dive buddy who swims off, and the higher pressures at depth.
This last summer when I was doing my fundraiser for the American Cancer Society, on all dives with the exception of dual side mount and single hose dives, I used this regulator exclusively. Between training dives and actual fundraiser dives, I logged nearly 20 miles under water.
It has 4 MP ports and 1 HP port. I can still hook up a dry suit hose to it, but admit one of the ports comes off in an odd position. With that said, most of my students are going into dry suit right away and if they do, well the port is there its just a slight inconvenience.
One of the things I like about this reg, at the low price point it has adjustable predive/dive lever. This reduces that obnoxious predive sputter when the reg is correctly tuned. It is the main workhorse for my students in both certification and our BREATHE/ Aquatic Awakening events.
Get your own Brawn here on Amazon or talk to me, I got a dive shop that will order one for us
The Neptune Warrior 
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