5' hoses are good for people that are shorter than about 5'5". Taller than that get a 7' or an octopus length one and just route under the arm and into the mouth (like the pic above) and skip the around the head part.
Bought "streamlined" regulator package...now what?
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Welcome from another Northern Virginian!
I'm 5'7", the 7' feels good to me, I cant imagine a 5' being long enough for someone your height, at least not for comfortable stowing in the waistband...
I use a 7' on doubles, on my single tank reg set I use the 40" under the arm as pictured above.
I'm 5'7", the 7' feels good to me, I cant imagine a 5' being long enough for someone your height, at least not for comfortable stowing in the waistband...
I use a 7' on doubles, on my single tank reg set I use the 40" under the arm as pictured above.
I am 6'2" use a straight 5' (no swivel) without issue. The hose crosses about in the middle of my chest. If wearing a drysuit, I think I'd be happier with something longer -- that center area is starting to get crowded with the inflation hose & valve.
Have you tried switching to the necklaced reg at the safety stop and coil/clip the long hose before they grab everything?
I'm 5'7" and used a 6' long hose with drysuit for quite a long time, tucked under my canister. It always felt about 6" just a bit too short as unless I really tugged and straightened the hose, my reg would be slightly askew to the right. With the 7', it's great, possibly a touch long if I were picky, but no tugging. 78" - 80" would be perfect! The quality of the hose also matters - my 6' hose seemed more plasticky than rubbery in texture and it wasn't as flexible.
I would skip the swivel as I don't feel any benefit to one if the hose is long enough. There is also the factor (which I haven't assessed personally, just a thought) of getting a decent grip on the hose when donating the reg, and whether the swivel complicates that or not. Without the swivel, when you punch outwards horizontally to donate, all your fingers are gripping the hose with your pinky right by the reg/hose connection. With the swivel, I feel that only my weakest fingers would be in contact with just the swivel/reg area and my thumb and index fingers wouldn't be grasping anything. I would love others' impression of this.
WRT bolt snaps, a bolt snap on the hose is pretty mandatory for keeping the hose under control outside the water. I just loop the long hose on itself, and pass the reg bolt snap through the loop, and that generally holds everything off the ground. A larger bolt snap is great on the SPG to be able to run your fingers through it while clipping it to the D-ring with bulky gloves.
I would skip the swivel as I don't feel any benefit to one if the hose is long enough. There is also the factor (which I haven't assessed personally, just a thought) of getting a decent grip on the hose when donating the reg, and whether the swivel complicates that or not. Without the swivel, when you punch outwards horizontally to donate, all your fingers are gripping the hose with your pinky right by the reg/hose connection. With the swivel, I feel that only my weakest fingers would be in contact with just the swivel/reg area and my thumb and index fingers wouldn't be grasping anything. I would love others' impression of this.
WRT bolt snaps, a bolt snap on the hose is pretty mandatory for keeping the hose under control outside the water. I just loop the long hose on itself, and pass the reg bolt snap through the loop, and that generally holds everything off the ground. A larger bolt snap is great on the SPG to be able to run your fingers through it while clipping it to the D-ring with bulky gloves.
Come to think of it, I did try that on one trip, at the suggestion of someone here on SB. As I recall, it helped, but the coil doesn't always stay in place when they grab the rig from me. I have a specific trip in mind where I came to this conclusion that I no longer wanted to mess with the 7-ft hose and was going to go "streamlined," but I cannot remember whether on that trip I did as you said or forgot to.
Following are the standard options for primary donate.
30"-34" - for open water with octo integrated into BCD inflator. Simplest to use and most streamlined, but worst option if you actually need to share air or breathe off your own backup.
40-48" - for open water, goes under arm and straight up. Needs an elbow or swivel to be comfortable. Or a Mares Loop second stage if you can handle the laughing and pointing. (image from Mares 72X / Loop - Divernet )
5' - for open water, loops around back of neck so avoids the swivel and ideally is just the right length to stay against your body without any need to tuck hose into your waistband.
7' - standard for cave diving because it allows single file shares, loops around neck so no swivel required, requires something on the waist band to keep the excess hose tidy.
Note that the 5' and 7' lengths may need to be modified depending on your torso size and shape. For example 5' only works for me if I'm willing to look to my right for the entire dive.
30"-34" - for open water with octo integrated into BCD inflator. Simplest to use and most streamlined, but worst option if you actually need to share air or breathe off your own backup.
40-48" - for open water, goes under arm and straight up. Needs an elbow or swivel to be comfortable. Or a Mares Loop second stage if you can handle the laughing and pointing. (image from Mares 72X / Loop - Divernet )
5' - for open water, loops around back of neck so avoids the swivel and ideally is just the right length to stay against your body without any need to tuck hose into your waistband.
7' - standard for cave diving because it allows single file shares, loops around neck so no swivel required, requires something on the waist band to keep the excess hose tidy.
Note that the 5' and 7' lengths may need to be modified depending on your torso size and shape. For example 5' only works for me if I'm willing to look to my right for the entire dive.
When rec diving, I've found that a long hose wrap around setup is more trouble than it's worth and just causes confusion. If I get an istabuddy, I need to explain how it works. If I just go off on my own, I don't care how long the hose is. 40" under arm is fine. I put an orange hose on my primary, that way I can tell instabuddies to "grab the orange" if they're OOA.
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