A fair and balanced look at Air2s and other combination inflators

[tbone1004]

hose should be as long as you need it to be to be comfortable.

36" minimum imho if you are going to have it bow out like normal, this is the standard octopus length btw and to try it out you can simply swap the octo and primary hoses and then get appropriate lengths later.

A common "step up" from that is the 40" deco hose with an elbow/swivel of some sort tucked under the right shoulder. This has the disadvantage of falling quite a ways down if you spit it out of your mouth for some reason so requires diligence in clipping it off.

After that is a 5'/60" hose which a lot of recreational divers like, but I personally dislike them and feel they are a waste.

The "standard" long hose is the 7'/84" hose which has to be tucked into a waist belt or under a canister light/pocket, but in my opinion is the easiest of the long hoses to work with.

9' hose is the longest I have seen and is what I use on one of my sidemount bottles but that is because both my buddy and I are quite tall and 7' isn't long enough for us to comfortably dive single file out of a cave, but I don't use it in backmount as it is too long/unwieldy

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Many standard octo hoses come in a 36 inch length.
My first two were like that and they did work.

However they were not the regs I was breathing off of most of the time so they laid nice against my side. As long as the octo was secured up on the right d ring on the chest. This is where it should be. Not down on your hip or side as I see a number of new divers do. The "golden triangle" area is BS and way too big.

I have set up a reg for the pool and simple solo dives as well as open water. It has the octo/backup on a 22 inch hose that is bungeed under my chin. The primary is on a 40 inch hose with a 110 degree adapter. It routes cleanly under my arm and up to my mouth without tending to fly out. Dropping the reg is no big deal. You pop the octo in or go to your inline and find the primary at your leisure. This is since it is an open water, non-overhead dive.

One thing I tell my students also is to get used to always taking the reg out of your mouth by the hose connection to the second stage. Two reasons.
1. You can get your hand around the hose even with heavy gloves and you are less likely to drop the reg in a donate situation.
2. This keeps the purge button open so that if the diver you are donating to doesn't have enough air to clear the reg they can push the purge button. Without driving their index finger through the back of your hand.

 

[Fossil_Diver]

How about the Sherwood Shadow? It works with any standard bc inflator and doesn't require a special quick disconnect like the integrated units do.
It still has its pros and cons but I think it is better than an integrated unit.

 

[kelemvor]

How about the Sherwood Shadow? It works with any standard bc inflator and doesn't require a special quick disconnect like the integrated units do.
It still has its pros and cons but I think it is better than an integrated unit.

Do you mean Gemini? When I looked up the shadow, I found a bcd.

 

[CuzzA]

A couple points and recommendations from an Air2 user.

1) My configuration is very similar to the streamlined open water setup. 40" hose, swiveled primary under the right arm. Nice and tight, very streamlined. The Air2 is on a 22" hose. This would be the same length as a necklaced second in the standard "streamlined open water" configuration. The only difference is that instead of being necklaced under my chin, it's 6 inches to the left and attached to a d ring on my harness with a magnet. The great thing about the magnet is the Air2 always finds its way back to its spot even if I don't intentionally put it there. The magnet is a substitute for a bungee since the inflator must be able to be freed for dumping and of course breathing.

2) The Air2 fitting simply screws on to a standard low pressure hose. So, if you were traveling and were concerned about a unlikely failure resorting to having to use rental gear, simply bring the standard inflator and fitting you replaced with the Air2. You'll want to pack a couple zip ties too so you can reconnect the corrugated hose to your old inflator. If you are so inclined to bring this extra little bit of gear in your save a dive kit, you should probably bring a spare second stage and hose as well. Especially if this is an expensive trip far from a dive shop or a location where you can't borrow a second stage. Even for regular local boat diving, I bring these items in my save a dive kit.

So, IMO, the whole Air2 deal is pretty much a non issue for recreational open water diving. If you configure your gear similar to how I described there's really only one concern... In the unlikely event another diver hits you with an OOG situation, you being the awesome diver that you are and since you've already practiced, all you will have to do is pay a little closer attention to your buoyancy control on ascent. For me this usually means dumping air, two, maybe three times on ascent. Amazing how little you touch your inflator when you're properly weighted at the end of a dive.

Edit: I should point out, as I have in other threads on this topic, the only reason I use the Air2 is for back mounting and necklacing a pony. If I didn't back mount the pony I would not use the Air2. I should also give credit to dumpsterdiver since it's essentially a copy of his rig. #FREEDD

 

[Fossil_Diver]

The bcd does confuse things. The reg has nothing in common with the bcd other than the name.
I had the first generation Shadow like the one in the picture. It's basically a Y block with a Brut on one port and a power inflator quick connect on the other.
You could easily diy one with stuff from the Trident catalog.
The next generation was a slimline yellow version. I prefer the first generation with the Brut on it. They are simple and reliable and easy to work on.

 

[BRT]

The bcd does confuse things. The reg has nothing in common with the bcd other than the name.
I had the first generation Shadow like the one in the picture. It's basically a Y block with a Brut on one port and a power inflator quick connect on the other.
You could easily diy one with stuff from the Trident catalog.
The next generation was a slimline yellow version. I prefer the first generation with the Brut on it. They are simple and reliable and easy to work on. View attachment 381351 View attachment 381352 View attachment 381353

We started out with the full sized ones and have now switched to the compact ones. In a lot of years my wife used the Shadow during one dive when her mouthpiece ripped. They have the advantage that you can disconnect from your inflater and still breath the reg. They are one less thing to remember during set up and are impossible to lose if you can find your inflator. If you were going to share air all the time they are not very good. For an emergency in open water they work great.

Edit: My wife also shared air with an air hog buddy of ours in Coz this year, handing him her reg and breathing the Shadow.

 

[tursiops]

That Shadow sort of Y-fitting uses the standard, small Shrader valves in the quick disconnect, and really does not provide enough air flow if someone is breathing hard from the reg. That is why all the modern "air2's" use the larger diameter fitting with the large Schrader valve in the QD.

 

[BRT]

That Shadow sort of Y-fitting uses the standard, small Shrader valves in the quick disconnect, and really does not provide enough air flow if someone is breathing hard from the reg. That is why all the modern "air2's" use the larger diameter fitting with the large Schrader valve in the QD.

I hope I never do enough work to need to breathe more than they will breath.

 

[tursiops]

I hope I never do enough work to need to breathe more than they will breath.

For your sake, I hope so too.