[sharkbunnie]

I have been caught up in the whole "CO2Art bad batch of regulators" fiasco. Bought the dual stage with the swiss solenoid & custom needle valve in Oct.2015. It sat in the box unused until I had gotten all the other gear needed. If you look up the "working pressure fluctuation" thread herehttp://www.plantedtank.net/forums/9-equipment/974441-co2art-dual-stage-regulator-working-pressure-fluctuation.html , that is pretty much my story. My question is what did they offer you to make things right? They didn't offer to replace the reg with the same model, which says to me, that they have not gotten a handle on the problem yet. They offered to sell me the next model up, which will cost me an additional $ 75 - 80. I'm not sure I want to spend more money with them. Customer service has been pretty good but slow. Did anyone get whatever reg that is mentioned in this post from Josh @ CO2Art? See quote below.
"Hello,
First of all, I would like apologise for the delay in responding here and any inconvenience this issue may cause.
I need to put my hand up, this is completely our fault. We focused on new regulator development so much that we completely missed QC of parts we received for our existing dual stage line from our suppliers (not only one, which makes things even more complicated) in past few weeks.
Unfortunately this issue is very complex as we find several parts to be out of our specification and this is why finding solution is taking so long time. Each test takes from few days to week (now we testing up to week as second and third replacements we sent were tested only for few days). This is why you waiting so long time.
I can assure you that this issue will be resolved ASAP and we will reward you for your patience.
As I mentioned we are in the process of developing something completely new. Everyone who is affected by this issue will receive this regulator completely for free.
In the meantime, we suggest to adjust regulator to full working pressure, set bubble rate and monitor bubble rate not the low pressure gauge. If you struggling with consistent bubble rate, please contact us via our support team, we can organise our latest one stage regulator which will keep you going.
Again, I'm extremely sorry for any inconvenience caused.
Regards,
Josh
CO2Art Ltd
www.co2art.co.uk
Email : [email protected]"

What route did you end up following? Are you happy with the results? Thanks everyone

 

[jeffkrol]

There "other " 2 stage regulator didn't seem to have any problems. The cost differential was on the line of $150US if I am not mistaken..

I certainly understand your moral and financial dilemma.
As far as the letter goes, until it produces a "real product" it is pretty worthless market-speek...
They got themselves between a rock and a hard place..
I "almost" feel sorry for them. Certainly got screwed by their suppliers..

all of that said, I'm not sure you can get a 2 stage that is any cheaper unless you build it yourself.. And even that gets iffy..

 

[WaterLife]

Man, from all the recommendations for co2art before, I bought one back in October/November last year. Still never used it.... Just after buying it, more and more negative experiences with it came around. I stumbled upon another used reg so I used that instead since I didn't trust using the co2art one on my aquarium that had tons of fish in it. I still have the co2art new in the box, never even mounted. Really hesitant to use it now.

Speaking of co2art, where have they been? Before Christmas time, they were seen and mentioned pretty often, but I haven't even seen a comment about them for the last few months. Did they ever end up opening a US store near Christmas time like they said they would?

Curious to hear how everyone else's co2art regulators are holding up. (product review, not vendor...)

 

[Straight shooter]

My young grandson calls them "CO2 Fart" which I think is an appropriate name given that every so often when you fart, some crap gets through.

Demand money back. Their excuse and delay is just not good enough.

 

[sharkbunnie]

bump

 

[jkrohn]

bump

I went through 2 replacement regulators and never got one that worked. I got a full refund and built my own.

I also have one of their higher end dual stage regulators that works great.

 

[sharkbunnie]

I ended up telling them I wanted a working regulator of equal or greater value, or a refund, as I was unwilling to spend any more money with them at this point. I also asked them about the post from Josh, their guy in California, who had said they were coming out with a new dual stage and the people affected by this would get it free (as we should). Miroslav told me that these regulators will be coming in next week and they would send me one if I wanted to try it out. I decided to to take the bait. I figured chances are low that I would get faulty equipment in a new batch. Hope I'm right. (crosses fingers). Thanks for your replies everyone.

 

[youthcom]

I've had this since February & it has held & repeated around 28 PSI since then. The knob has about another quarter turn there & went up to about 56-58 PSI fully open. You can feel a pretty strong spring behind the knob & closing it sounds like it pops a valve releasing pressure. I should probably set it at the higher PSI to see how it holds up but 28-30 has worked for my ceramic diffuser. I'm not sure why it has taken so long for them to offer it on their website, but it definitely feels like a step up from their basic dual stage. And to their credit they have not asked to return my two faulty ones which do still work but only around 30 PSI when fully opened.

 

[sharkbunnie]

I've had this since February & it has held & repeated around 28 PSI since then. The knob has about another quarter turn there & went up to about 56-58 PSI fully open. You can feel a pretty strong spring behind the knob & closing it sounds like it pops a valve releasing pressure. I should probably set it at the higher PSI to see how it holds up but 28-30 has worked for my ceramic diffuser. I'm not sure why it has taken so long for them to offer it on their website, but it definitely feels like a step up from their basic dual stage. And to their credit they have not asked to return my two faulty ones which do still work but only around 30 PSI when fully opened.

Cool! Nice to get a look at what they are sending me. Glad to hear that it has been trouble free for you. I got an email today saying they are going to ship it out on Tues. Once I've had it for a bit, maybe I'll do a review. Thanks for the reply