Air 2

[Diver Dennis]

Good point Slogger. Although there a lot of nay sayers regarding the Airsource I think they are a viable alternative. I always have a big chunk of salt with me when I'm on the internet, I don't base my gear purchases on just internet advice.

 

[Chad Carney]

My personal experience is thousands of recreational dives with AIRs, (Scubapro AIR II, Seaquest Airsource, and of course Zeagle Octo+), and not one problem underwater.

Over a thousand students personally trained with AIRs, still no problems.

Our staff of 4 or 5 other instructors also taught with the same gear, again no problems.

With tech gear I add traditional second stages where necessary, but not one over 36" long. No overhead environments for me though.

Chad

 

[tribaltim]

I too have a knighthawk and a MK25/X650 w/Air II. You have to practice....practice....practice...at the end of your dive depending how much air you have left go ahead a get a few practice tries in.....

 

[boulderjohn]

Don't foget that you can dump air by pulling on your Air 2 as well. That is handy if your right hand is holding onto your buddy during the ascent. Just pull on the hose for the air 2, and it will vent.

 

[Peter_C]

And every now and then, you have a detached inflator hose.

Well isn't that what YOUR buddy is for? Could just as well be a free flowing reg right?

What makes a 48" better than a 72"?

In most peoples case it will not allow the reg to drag on the ground through the sand. Not everyone needs to be DIR but they have some great guidelines to follow. I should have put "at least 48"" into the sentence though.

Ever been on a swim through? What would a shared air egress look like with a 48" hose in a narrow swim through?

Would you rather be paired with someone that has a 48" hose or a short hose? It is better than most and the average recreational divers are not cave diving. We could talk about extreme circumstances all day long. Do you have a full roll cage and five point harnessess in all your vehicles? If not you are not being a safe a you could be, and as you well know you are more likely to die in a car accident.

I think more research may be needed here.

The research I have done on the subject of swivels comes from other peoples experience and there were just so many negatives. One of such threads is posted below. If you know of another way to route the air hose under your arm comfortably please let us know. I have tried to stuff mine under my arm without a turned down fitting and it twists the reg in my mouth big time.

Now here is someones post that takes a DIR approach.
"The 40" primary on a 90° elbow does work surprisingly well with a bungeed backup if that's how you choose to route your primary reg. The hose lays very flat against your chest as it routes under your right arm. What suffers in the translation is that during an s-drill type airshare you really have to hand off the reg by the reg instead of handing off by the hose (DIR style). This is what I didn't like about that configuration and is why I changed to the long hose. Either way, air shares and reg retrievals should be practiced (IMO)."

Here is the discussion on ball swivels.
http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=107667

So what does all this mean?? Do your own research and choose what you feel is right for you.