HELIX PRO + PRO HD COMPACT SET

This Aqua Lung set pairs the Helix Pro Pack with the back-inflation Pro HD Compact, and adds the Combo 2K console. The Helix Pro is a cold-water regulator with a sealed environmental chamber, supplied with its matching Helix Octopus.

The Auto Closure Device shuts the first-stage inlet whenever the regulator comes off the cylinder, so salt water, grit and moisture stay out of the high-pressure side between dives. Work of breathing is 0.95 j/L on the primary and 1.25 j/L on the octopus. The DIN 300 bar first stage weighs 525 g, on two 7/16 inch UNF high-pressure ports and four 3/8 inch UNF medium-pressure ports. The Pro HD Compact is published at under 2.2 kg in ML/LG, about a kilogram under the wrap-around Pro HD, and it still takes patented SureLock II weight pockets. The Combo 2K console adds a 50 mm pressure gauge and an in-line depth gauge on one 80 cm hose, weighing 389 g.

The result is a set that will run a Highveld winter quarry dive and a Sodwana trip without a service between the two, on a buoyancy compensator sized to the diver rather than to shop stock.

Sizing follows the Pro HD Compact, four bands from XXS/XS to XL/XXL; the rest is one size. Cylinder, computer, weights and exposure protection are separate. At R30,388 the set saves R7,597 on the parts bought singly.