Air2 or Octo

[JDostal]

I use a Poseidon X-Stream as my primary, and a Jetstream as my second reg.

 

[Mark Vlahos]

Exactly...I don't want to fall into that trap either...hahaha.

Now, going with the 7' primary and bungied octo, the next logical question is the octo better be as good quality as our primary. I'm planning to get an Atomic B2, so unless I hear of a better octo, I'm going to go with an Atomic octo as well. I'm really curious to know what other people with the same setup are using as their octo. (I'll start another post)

Thanks for everyone's input!

My octo is the yellow version of my primary second stage, although I think at the next service I will switch the yellow to my primary and the black to the backup. I think that the yellow one, as it was intended to be an octo in the first place, has a stronger spring to prevent free flow. Swithcing might involve swapping the internal parts... or would they switch the external parts ? All kidding aside I got the same second stage because I don't want to be breathing on a signifigantly inferior regulator in an emergency. Because it is the same I am accustomed to its size, weight, and the bubble characteristics.

Mark Vlahos

 

[Quarrior]

Well, let's see here. My 7' hose is yellow and the face plate on the reg is yellow. Definately no doubt which one the buddy gets in a OOA. The reg is a slightly better version than the one hanging on the bungee, but only slightly. The difference is the yellow one has a heat sync in it for cold water. The one around my neck will have the heat sync soon, LDS goofed on that one.

Exactly...I don't want to fall into that trap either...hahaha.

Now, going with the 7' primary and bungied octo, the next logical question is the octo better be as good quality as our primary. I'm planning to get an Atomic B2, so unless I hear of a better octo, I'm going to go with an Atomic octo as well. I'm really curious to know what other people with the same setup are using as their octo. (I'll start another post)

Thanks for everyone's input!

 

[underwater daphne]

no it doesnt come out of your jacket, probably the reason you think its useless is becuase you didnt figure out how it worked. The fact it needs servicing is one of the plusses becuase your inflator is also cleaned and serviced at the same time. The most common failure of equipment i have seen is stuck inflators, so servicing this every year helps prevent the problem. Also if you had a long 5 or 7 ft primary then the OOA diver is still comfortable.

i know how it works. i've had my bc for 12 years with the air2. and still i think an octo is the better choice, laaahh!

adding to that you have a choice what reg your octo will be. the air 2 is limited to the bc.

 

[Otter]

While opinions abound and other non-material issues get introduced, the only logical argument against an integrated AAS/LP inflator is the complexity of buoyancy control during an ascent.

The 7' primary is a non-factor...they work with an integrated AAS as well as a bugee'd octo (and good idea in either case). Complexity of donating? Unless you don't buy into the approach of donating a known working primary (in your mouth) and switching to a secondary, its a push -- finding the AAS on your inflator hose or around your neck seems to me just as easy (and after breathing you are still going to locate your inflator hose). Now if you want to go the 'traditional route' and donate your octo, consider that the person OOA of is more than likely going to take the first reg they see (the one in your mouth) anyway and then you get to search for the (hopefully) secured octo that may not have been breathed on for months (do you test it before every dive -- yes, good!).


ARGUMENT A:"Integrated AAS immediately taken off by an instructor" -- that may be because he/she has to teach the traditional method of donating. On my teaching regulator, I have both an integrated AAS and an Octo for that very reason. When I dive for fun, only the integrated AAS -- that way I know I have an air source on my LP hose regardless of where I am.

ARGUMENT B: "DIR folks don't use one, therefore it must be bad". Not being DIR, I can't comment directly on the WHYs however, clearly reliability and complexity are MUCH MUCH more important in technical environments such that the added complexity of buoyancy control during an ascent has a far greater impact than in a recreational environment. The integrated AAS is also physically larger and represents a slightly increased risk of entanglement.

Also consider that most DIR divers are diving doubles with two first stages and two second stages should a catastrophic failure occur and they need to isolate their doubles and 'breath of one side'. Since they have to have the two first and second stages for that situation, then there is no need (read: minimalization) for a integratd AAS/lp inflator. When diving singles, they could use the integrated AAS, yet that would represent a completely different OOA protocol from when diving doubles -- not an acceptable idea.

Hope this helps give you some background for some of the decisions made.

Addendum
There is another consideration un-related the a 'during the dive' scenario. Most integrated AAS (Air2/IR3, SS1, AirSource) require a different sizied fiting on the LP inflator hose coming the come 1st stage and attaching to the AAS. That means your flexibility on equipment configuration becomes slightly more complex if you aren't taking all of your own gear on a dive (i.e. traveling) of if there is a component failure (BCD, AAS) and you have to switch things out with rental.

For instance, if on a trip, your AAS fails, your choices would include:

1. Rent a BCD, switch lp inflator hose, add an Octo
2. rent BC, use an adaptor to connect lp inflator hose to standard inflator, add octo
3. bring a redundant AAS, tools to swap out
4. rent bc and reg, switching computer

This can obviously make things more expensive / difficult. Since the team of divers I fun dive with all use a similar configuration, we bring a spare hose, an adaptor, and a spare AAS -- never have had to use em.

 

[archman]

adding to that you have a choice what reg your octo will be. the air 2 is limited to the bc.

I'm not so sure about that anymore. Someone on a related post recently said there are adapters for the AIR 2 to use standard inflator hoses. I need to look into that myself, now that I'm in the market to replace my BCD.

 

[Otter]

I'm not so sure about that anymore. Someone on a related post recently said there are adapters for the AIR 2 to use standard inflator hoses. I need to look into that myself, now that I'm in the market to replace my BCD.

Trident makes em. I use the AA09 which takes "The big Scubapro hose to a standard inflator". Thankfully the Atomic SS1 is the same size as the ScubaPro AIR2 / TUSA IR3.

 

[android]

My Zeagle BC came with a manual inflator and LP hose. (Which the shop inadvertently forgot to deliver until I reminded them about it.) But, if you buy a brand S BCD with an brand S Air2 attached, it may come straight from the mfg with no manual inflator supplied. I've got the manual parts in the gear bag in the event I ever need them and it's less than 5 minutes to swap.

Are the adapters for a high volume hose to fit a manual inflator? I would think it would be bad to attempt to use a low volume hose on an Air2.

 

[Otter]

...snip...Are the adapters for a high volume hose to fit a manual inflator? I would think it would be bad to attempt to use a low volume hose on an Air2.

Yup.

 

[scubahorse]

octopus or both