blawler1:
I know what I am about to write will likely result in flames, but so what, its my opinion, but I often dive without an octo.
Well, you're starting off your argument from a defensive and unconventional perspective, but its a free country and if you want to dive without "an octo" have at it. Hope you never dive around someone else who may find themselves OOA and yank your primary from your mouth, because you may have to employ rather pursuasive techniques to get it back.
blawler1:
The way I look at it, if you are down to using the octo, the dive is over and you are just trying to get to the surface alive, which can be done safely without an octo if operating at safe depths.
The point is that it isn't about "you" so much as its about "your buddy - that partner you are diving with - AND you...which requires two second stages if one of those two divers finds themselves without air. You can "buddy breathe" off one second stage, true, if you've practiced it together. If you haven't then you're going to experience what we call "an adventure".
blawler1:
Many people forget that safety seconds are a rather recent development in diving along with BCs and two stage regulators.
It's 2006. Adding a second second stage was a "recent development" in 1979 to 1980 or so. Dacor introduced one of the first vest-type BCs in 1980 also. I bought one. That was 26 years ago. Octopus regulators are not at all "recent developments", unless your definition of "recent" means 26 years or more.
blawler1:
Octos also add bulk in packing the equipment and are another source of failure. I have had multiple octopuses free flow and have had all my air sucked out of my octo riding a DPV.
You've had
"all (your) air sucked out of your octo riding a DPV"??
If you maintain your regulators even every other year and tune down your secondary second stage your regulators offer no more of a source of failure than your fins.
blawler1:
I run no octo on my backup reg that I use for bug hunting in shallow water, but got jammed on a recent trip to Aruba for not having a octo on a boat dive...
Imagine that. Those darned safety-conscious DMs. Do you dive solo? If not, what is your standard protocol if your buddy comes over to you and gives you the out of air signal? You give him your primary and both head up while you're doing a CESA?
blawler1:
You have to remember that it operates on a normal BC inflator hose and not the larger diameter hoses used in the integrated and inline octos, so its not going to replace your primary.
Good thing that during emergencies and times of physical exertion my respiratory rate goes way down and I tend to breath far more slow and relaxed than normal. I'd hate to need breathing apparatus that provides at least as much gas as effectively as my primary regardless of what depth I'm at.
blawler1:
I did not master the mouth position in the instructions (exhaling out the sides of your mouth while keeping the unit in your mouth. I would bite on it, get a breath and pull it out of my mouth to exhale.
So you needed one hand to remove your air buddy from your mouth after every inhalation so you could exhale directly into the water. Right, glad thats clear.
blawler1:
Anyway, to sum it up, the Air Buddy it adds only a few ounces over no octo at all, costs $40 and will get me on any dive boat and in a pinch, I can breath it to the surface and isn't that what an octo is all about.
No, that isn't only what an 'octo' is all about. Lets just conclude that you and I have radically different ideas about why diver's take pieces of gear with them when conducting dives and how divers plan to safely respond to emergencies during dives.
I'm glad you enjoy your air buddy. I hope you have many safe dives with it, and hope it continues to meet your needs in every respect. If the day ever comes that it doesn't, I hope there is another diver in the vicinity who bothered to bring a working secondary second stage with him or her.
