The Cressi MC9 XS Compact is our number one pick as the best cold water regulator available this year.
It is extremely well priced and offers crucial features for extremely cold temperatures as low as 39.4 degrees Fahrenheit; namely its environmental seal and hyper-balanced diaphragm.
The environmental seal prevents cold water from making its way into the first stage, ensuring you don’t get any free flows. It also helps prevent salt and other particles from entering your device, resulting in a longer product life span.
Meanwhile, the hyper-balanced diaphragm ensures you can breathe easily regardless of the external conditions – like diving at lower depths or when your tank starts running low.
When you’re trying to set up your regulator, you’ll notice that it has two opposing high-pressure ports. This is a great addition as it allows you to position the first stage either up or down and you can add an extra SPG or dive computer on those cold deep-sea dives.
Cressi has also thrown in a dive & pre-dive venturi switch into this product. This enables or disables the venturi effect, which reduces the effort required to open the diaphragm to breathe. While diving, you can benefit from an easier breath, but on the surface, you can disable the feature to prevent unnecessary free flows.
This regulator’s second stage has been made from lightweight technology to provide all the benefits of a cold water regulator with much less hassle. This part only weighs only 135g, while the other second stages on this list range from 200g and up.
The regulator was kept lightweight by combining a stainless steel first stage with a techno-polymer second stage, producing a product that can withstand cold conditions whilst remaining travel-friendly.