Question Alternating use of identical 2nd stages

[Wants2divemore]

I'm switching to primary donate and getting another SP G260 to match my original primary 2nd stage, purchased Oct 2021, so both my primary and backup reg bungeed around my neck will be the same. Other than breathing through the backup reg to check it before dives and OOA drills, I don't imagine that the backup reg will get much use.

Is there any reason to occasionally switch my primary and backup reg so they both get similar use? I anticipate diving 25-40 times per year.

Thanks.

 

[Jcp2]

Just take out your primary and breath off the necklaced secondary during calm parts of your dive. You could do it while traveling between points of interest or during your safety stop. Just hold onto the primary without clipping it off.

 

[L13]

Just take out your primary and breath off the necklaced secondary during calm parts of your dive. You could do it while traveling between points of interest or during your safety stop. Just hold onto the primary without clipping it off.

Or practice clipping and unclipping, and clip it off to use the alternate regularly. The practice will develop a valuable skill.

 

[Robert H. Diver]

I’ll breathe off my necklaced reg for a few minutes about every other dive just to practice switching. I’m not too worried about them getting the same amount of use.

 

[BoltSnap]

I switch them on the hoses occasionally. No exact reason but I feel better.

 

[lowwall]

No reason not to switch them.

FWIW, I also use my octo for part of each dive. It's easy practice and you get verification that everything works at depth.

 

[RobPNW]

My equipment goal right now is to have 2 identical 1st stages and 3 identical 2nd stages and my intention is to do a 2 way 1st stage rotation and a 3 way 2nd stage rotation every 6 months. That way I have a save-a-trip 1st and 2nd stage spare and they all get similar usage. With the amount of diving I'm hoping to do soon, I'm expecting to do service on all 5 at about the 3 year mark. I am planning on doing what was mentioned above and switch to the necklace reg on every dive at some point and clip off the primary to develop the muscle memory for when it counts.

 

[SlugLife]

Switching regulators is great practice. This can help prepare you some for technical diving or side-mount. It can also make you far more prepared if you have some kind of regulator emergency, such as it being kicked out of your mouth, mouth-piece coming loose, 2nd stage failing to work, etc.

 

[formernuke]

I switch to mine almost every dive, verifies it's working and keeps the skill nice and fresh.

 

[Lorenzoid]

I do not swap the two second stages between service intervals in an attempt to even the wear on them, if that is what you're asking. I service my regs after 200 dive-hours or 2 years, whichever comes first, because the manufacturer recommends that interval. Could I extend the service interval if I were to do that? I don't know, the manufacturer doesn't suggest anything like that, and I'm not interested in experimenting. If for some reason a second stage were to misbehave between service intervals, I could simply service it early. Servicing a second stage is not difficult.