halocline
Contributor
I would also suggest a 60" (actually for me 66" is a little better) primary reg hose, routed just like the 7 ft hose will be except not under the can light. This will get you used to the same sort of routing that the hogarthian rig uses for cave diving, and you'll like air sharing much better with the longer hose.
The reasoning behind the unbalanced secondary is kind of old school. One reason, (which BTW is not valid) is that as simpler regs they are less failure prone. That's just not really true. Another reason is that unbalanced regs will free flow sooner in the event of 1st stage HP seat failure. This keeps the primary 2nd stage from being blown out. This reason is theoretically valid but truthfully that kind of HP seat failure on modern regs is extremely rare, and even balanced 2nds have enough downstream bias to not blow hoses.
The only potential problem with the legend and an unbalanced secondary is the supposed "overbalanced" crap, in which IP rises more than the change in ambient pressure. This is a marketing gimmick that does nothing to improve performance; on the balanced 2nd, the reg simply uses the increase in IP to force a little more pressure against the seat. However, an unbalanced secondary will start to flow if the IP rises past a certain point, so I don't know if the "overbalanced" bit will cause that. IMO, I'd avoid the whole thing by buying a different reg. The titan is probably a good choice if you want to stay with aqualung.
The wing is probably fine, I just have heard so many horror stories about OMS customer service that I would not buy their gear. There are so many good ones out there, DSS, oxycheq, halcyon if you're loaded, even dive rite wings (the new travel wing for example) that it doesn't make sense to buy anything substandard.
It is really great to see a new diver going for a hogarthian set up. You are WAY ahead of the curve!
The reasoning behind the unbalanced secondary is kind of old school. One reason, (which BTW is not valid) is that as simpler regs they are less failure prone. That's just not really true. Another reason is that unbalanced regs will free flow sooner in the event of 1st stage HP seat failure. This keeps the primary 2nd stage from being blown out. This reason is theoretically valid but truthfully that kind of HP seat failure on modern regs is extremely rare, and even balanced 2nds have enough downstream bias to not blow hoses.
The only potential problem with the legend and an unbalanced secondary is the supposed "overbalanced" crap, in which IP rises more than the change in ambient pressure. This is a marketing gimmick that does nothing to improve performance; on the balanced 2nd, the reg simply uses the increase in IP to force a little more pressure against the seat. However, an unbalanced secondary will start to flow if the IP rises past a certain point, so I don't know if the "overbalanced" bit will cause that. IMO, I'd avoid the whole thing by buying a different reg. The titan is probably a good choice if you want to stay with aqualung.
The wing is probably fine, I just have heard so many horror stories about OMS customer service that I would not buy their gear. There are so many good ones out there, DSS, oxycheq, halcyon if you're loaded, even dive rite wings (the new travel wing for example) that it doesn't make sense to buy anything substandard.
It is really great to see a new diver going for a hogarthian set up. You are WAY ahead of the curve!
