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  1. R

    Planning a dive trip in a few months and wondering what I should do, bear with me. Twinsets or Stage/Pony Cylinder

    Hi, Frankly if you have limited or no previous experience diving a twin set, I wouldn’t start on a trip unless you want to focus on learning to dive a twin set as part of some kind of “intro to tec” or similar course as taught by a good “tec” instructor. If that is the case, I wouldn’t take...
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    Question Rec cold water diver: Single, Double or Sidemount? (focus on safety)

    Having spent a fair amount of time diving in the Op's location (lakes in Germany & Switzerland) let me offer the following observation. For open circuit divers two first stage regulators with and independent secondary is pretty much standard. i'd guess that ca 60% of all OC divers in this...
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    Question Rec cold water diver: Single, Double or Sidemount? (focus on safety)

    Hi, Having dived a lot in this environment (& countries) I can offer the following recommendations: A single 12 l tank is a marginal for a dive to 40m if you intend to stay there until your NDL time is exhausted. Add to that with most H or Y valves most people cannot shut off the valve on...
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    Heaviest Backplate

    For the record - EXD makes (made ?) an 8mm (measured 8.5 mm) steel backplate that weighs 8 kg (ca 17 lbs) - not sure they are still in business. I have one but don't find it that useful. It is too heavy for any of my steel twin sets and for any dive with any of my wet suits (up to and including...
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    Ascend drills - how many is too many?

    When I took a CMAS 3* course in Switzerland we typically did one rescue ascent from 130 ft/40m in the beginning of the training dive all the way to the surface. At the end of the the training dive there was usually an ascent from 130 ft/40m using buddy breathing all the way to 18 ft/6m (at which...
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    Honest thoughts on Fourth Element Argonaut 2.0???

    I bought a 4th element Argonaut 2.0 hybrid drysuit. It lasted for 4 years and for 200+ dives - mainly in fresh water. Given the shore entry and exit perhaps not treated that gently but nothing extreme (i.e. restrictions in cave diving or wreck penetration etc.) After 4 years the plastic zipper...
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    Valve drill and free flow - possible cause?

    Hi, I had hand tightened both regulators - I'm certainly not using a lot of force to tighten then (i.e. a wrench). They were certainly not leaking until I performed the shut down and yes it was clearly audible. I tried the whole thing again today and like last time (as opposed to the initial...
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    Valve drill and free flow - possible cause?

    Recently on a practice dive at ca 30 feet in cold water I was practicing the valve drill starting with the shutdown of the right post of my twin set. I signalled the start of he procedure and shut down the right post. I then breathed the right post down, switched to the necklaced backup from...
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    Petrel One Battery Issue

    Hi, I own a Petrel 2 and have had this happen on a few occasions while diving in cold water (typically 40F). On one memorable occasion the battery icon went from 75% full, to amber, to red and then to a power down during a single 150 ft dive. Since then I've replaced the batteries...
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    Pressure - where is it going?

    Hi, I own a 2 x 12l steel twin-set with Halcyon valves which I use in a DIR configuration including two Atomic M1 regulators. Typically I assemble the full twin-set the day before I go diving and briefly put the regulators under pressure by opening both valves of the manifold to check for...
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    Initial tec decompression diving/trimix course – advertised vs. actual duration

    Thanks for all the tips. By way of background I thought I'd share the following: In Switzerland I almost invariably dive a 8.5l or 12l steel twinset in the classic DIR configuration (backplate and wing, long hose, single piece harness, tank lamp etc...) while wearing a drysuit and dry gloves...
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    Valve drill issues with drysuit undies

    Hi, I dive an Argonaut 2.0 dry suit with either a 1 piece Argonaut halo-3d undersuit or a two piece Argonaut arctic under suit. Under that I have a two piece xerotherm base layer. So - valve drills using a 12l twin set and classic backplate and wing with a one-piece harness and a stage. I...
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    Initial tec decompression diving/trimix course – advertised vs. actual duration

    Hi, I am considering taking an initial “light trimix” technical decompression diving course sometime in the future (typically covering light deco with a max of 15-30 minutes duration, light or at least normoxic trimix, diving with back gas deco or a single deco gas to depths in the 45m-50m...
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    Great Blue Hole Belize what was your experience?

    I did the dive a couple of years ago as a novice diver with all of 30 or so dives to my name. The operator let us know that this would be a "deep" dive - those that were certified for Nitrox would be diving with Nitrox 26. Those that were not certified would get air. Oh and there would be a...
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    Tungsten weights for scuba

    Well there is this company Diving Tungsten Weight-Tungsten Alloy Not sure how many you'd need to order or what they would cost to make it worth their eff
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    Mixed gas diving and varying tank usage

    Thanks all, I guess by way of clarification I should have mentioned that I can fill banked 32 PCT Nitrox from at least two local dive shops. Allegedly and according to their air fill certificates these Nitrox compressors are kept oxygen clean. Clearly however if you dedicate a diving tank...
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    Light and stiff fins for warm water diving

    Hi, I own a pair of Scubapro jet fins that I use for cold water diving in a dry suit. I also own a pair of Scubapro Seawing Nova’s I find to soft. So – recently I have been taking the jet fins on warm water diving trips abroad and diving them while wearing a 3mm wetsuit and wearing booties...
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    Mixed gas diving and varying tank usage

    Hi, I own 2 carbon dive 6.8l/300 bar tanks with nautec 300 bar DIN valves which I bought on a whim. I believe I have so far managed to keep them oxygen clean – and only use them with an atomic aquatics M1 regulator that I also strive to keep oxygen clean. I have used both tanks individually...
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    A Case for Spare Air

    I really don’t see how buying a spare air makes financial sense – especially in the US. List price for a spare air 3.0 is ca 289 USD (?) – for a 6 cft tank with a so-so integrated regulator. In the US you can buy a 19 cft tank with valve for 120 USD or so and a cheap regulator for 175 USD or...
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    Some interesting dives

    I thought I’d contribute a story in the spirit of some light reading for the weekend. I am a member of a diving club and we decided on a weeklong trip to a country with a rugged western Atlantic coast in Europe. It wasn’t at all easy to find an operator – given the areas reputation for strong...
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