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Vikings have a great reputation for not leaking, but when someone says "all other suits leak", be wary. It's a sales pitch, and a dishonest one at that. That's typical dive shop stuff. There are cheap, no good suits and a few really good suits. Most suits (if not all suits) have...

Vikings have a great reputation for not leaking, but when someone says "all other suits leak", be wary. It's a sales pitch, and a dishonest one at that. That's typical dive shop stuff. There are cheap, no good suits and a few really good suits. Most suits (if not all suits) have...

I'll second the use of baby shampoo. I carry a little spray bottle (found at Walmart) with a mixture of baby shampoo and water. Sometimes, I forget to rinse it out prior to putting it on, but like the label says, "no more tears". Works like a charm. Cheap too. Mike BTW, it also works...

To complicate things. The same can be said out the swival too. It's a marketing ploy. Mike

I don't see the need to spend more money on a light-weight backup. Mike

Mike Kane told me that more than 50% of those who take Tech 1, AND who have also taken DIRF, fail the first time. Those who don't take Tech 1 are virtually guarenteed to fail. They simply don't have the skills (seemingly regardless of the number of years they have in diving or number of pieces...

My ATX50 second stage did superbly this winter ice diving as did the TX40 when I used it. My TX50 and TX100 (who's second stages are virtually identical) also have done fine for ice diving. I used to have a tremendous problem with Apeks regs acting up in very cold water, but reducing the IP...

There's no reason to spend money for the sake of spending it. The only significant advantage the 200 has over the DS4 or TX100 first stage is it's lighter weight. The breathability of these regs is indistinguishable -- all things being equal -- IMO. I like my ATX50 second stage for my...

You're lucky in that you have Bob so close to you. Take advantage of him as soon as you can. Mike

I tried a 5' hose last fall while doing cert. dives and didn't like it either. Mike

Being from NY, you'll eventually find yourself in a drysuit and wanting double LP steels. A lot of people like AL40's for deco bottles, but I carry an AL80 of 50% and it lasts two dives. If you plan on diving wet, you'll want double 80's. When you find yourself going dry, you can get double...

Thanks for the kind words, Cyberdolphin. I think the sooner you can jump into a DIRF class, the sooner you'll start heading in the right direction. Don't fall into the card collection schemes that so many divers get into -- that's an utter waste of time and money. Stay away from the agencies...

Other than their excellant performance in extreme cold water, I don't like them (for most of the reasons given). I would add that I find them incredibly uncomfortable too. Mike

First of all, don't think of deco as a penalty of diving. It's a mandetory fact of diving so enjoy it. Don't risk high PPO2 just to get yourself out of deco (which you have to do anyway). For that profile and under those circumstances, I would simply use 32% (or 30/30 trimix if I had it) in a...

I agree with Mike, but will go further and say that most agencies/instructors don't even touch on proper trim and buoyancy control in any part of their curriculum. In fact, I don't think they even know what proper trim is much less know how to teach it. They'll call their divers "masters", but...

When I used to wear a belt, I would use two buckles. I used two buckles for all my dives, not just overhead dives. Mike

I use mine with 50% almost every weekend having done nothing to the reg in two years. I know people who use theirs with 100% right of the box, and they still have their eye brows. It's a non issue that lawyers have dreampt up to make money. Mike

I use Apeks and simply pressurize the reg and turn the air off. I've accidentally purged the reg while underwater too and have never had a problem with the reg. Mike

Nice write up, Eric. It sounds very familiar. I did manage to get in the water this past weekend and work on some of that stuff with some success. Mike

I use an H-valve so I can go from doubles to my single without dinking with my regs. The configuration remains the same as well. Forget the pony idea. If you need redundancy, then you don't need a pony... you need a better buddy, a better plan, and/or doubles. Mike