Sherwood

Sherwood Blizzard Pro (Yoke)

Sherwood's dedicated cold-water and ice-diving reg, built on the same 9000 Series balanced-piston first stage as the rest of the Pro line but EN 250:2014 tested for cold-water performance down to 39°F/4°C.

Environmentally sealed, cold-water rated

Sealed first stage keeps water and ice crystals out of the internal mechanism, the standard for diving below 50°F/10°C.

Sherwood Blizzard Pro (Yoke)
4.1Comparison Score
$524.95
Buy on Amazon
Released2016
First stagepiston
BalancedYes
Environmentally sealedYes
Cold-water ratedYes
Connectionyoke
Max pressure232 bar
HP / LP ports2 / 4
Adjustable 2nd stageYes
Weight—
Nitrox-ready (EAN40)Yes
Octo includedNo

"HP / LP ports" is the number of high-pressure and low-pressure ports on the first stage, which caps how many accessories (transmitter, SPG, inflator, second second-stage) you can run at once.

Pros
  • EN 250:2014 certified including cold-water performance, with Sherwood rating it for water down to 39°F/4°C for cold and ice diving
  • Second stage uses a reversed demand-lever pivot specifically to move the pivot point away from the hose fitting, reducing the internal freezing spots common to conventional designs
  • Shares the environmentally sealed, dry 9000 Series A2-DC first stage with the Brut Pro and Magnum Pro, so it's a proven platform rather than a one-off cold-water design
Cons
  • This yoke version is spec'd to 232 bar; the 300 bar rating belongs to the separate DIN SKU, so double check which one you're buying if pressure rating matters
  • Sherwood still recommends using ice-diving technique in colder water, this isn't a reg you can treat as maintenance-free in genuinely sub-freezing conditions
  • No octopus included at this price, it's sold as a first-and-second-stage regulator only
Diver community sentiment
Mostly positive

Divers on Scubaboard, including long-time Sherwood users, describe the Blizzard/Blizzard Pro as durable and dependable in genuinely cold water (Monterey, Lake Tahoe, ice diving), citing its dry-sealed first stage and years of trouble-free use. The main recurring critique is that the second stage can "breathe wet," particularly when inverted, and one poster flagged the plastic/metal mix as a minor fleet-durability concern. A historical US Antarctic Program dataset showed a poor failure rate for the Blizzard, but posters noted the sample size was tiny (2 dives) compared to the closely related Maximus model, so that data point is widely considered unreliable rather than a real strike against the design.

Scubaboard: Blizzard Pro cold-water reliability reportsScubaboard: Blizzard depth performance discussion

Summarized from public forum discussion (Scubaboard, Reddit, and similar), not a survey we ran ourselves. See the linked threads for the original conversations.

The Blizzard Pro is Sherwood’s purpose-built cold-water and ice-diving regulator, running the same 9000 Series A2-DC balanced-piston first stage used across the rest of the Pro lineup but paired with a reversed-pivot second stage aimed at cutting down free-flow and icing risk. It sits below the SR2/SR3 flagships in refinement, but unlike either of those it’s explicitly tested to EN 250:2014’s cold-water clause and rated down to 39°F/4°C.