BP/W with octo on inflator

[Soggy]

In the interest of keeping the peace, I will refrain from responding to most of your comments...I will say that your assumptions (*** + u + me) about my gear servicing are false and all the inflators had less than a year of dives on them.

As for having never used one:

There I am in all my cluster-f'ed glory 4 years ago with a SCUBAPro Classic BC with AIR2, the same one I did my OW dives on.

..and there I am 3 years ago with a SeaQuest ProQD with AirSource.

I used one for a year and a half before I realized how many problems they create. You'll find posts from 2002 here from me touting their benefits...search for "AaronBBrown" and you might find some of it.

My whole point has been that there are *better* ways of configuring your gear. "Nobody has died yet" is never a good way to think about gear. Accidents happen because of a *chain* of events. There are legitimate problems when using one of these devices and while they may not *cause* an accident, there is the potential for them to compound an already stressful situation. I don't know about every accident that has ever occurred and neither do you, so I do not know if any reported accidents have occurred as a result of this device. Honestly I don't care because it doesn't matter and I know better. Most problems can be solved on the surface....

 

[DiveTub]

I have been using them for 10 years and never had a problem so lets call it a day on this one.

Cheers
Chris

 

[lundysd]

I know we're discussing the Air2 here, but the Atomic SS1 is by far a better product. For those of you who say the WOB of the Air2 is a limitation, try the Atomic and I guarantee you won't say the same thing about it.

 

[ZzzKing]

What I'd like to know is how many divershops, resorts, or liveaboards, use the air2's as part as their rental gear. Now this will tell you how the AIR2 stacks up in terms of serviceability, dollar value, and real world reliability.

Don't see too many titanium reg sets in rental gear either. For that matter, I haven't seen much top of the line equipment at all. No Apeks, no Halcyon...

 

[Soggy]

Justifying an AIR2 by comparing it to bottom of the line crappy rental gear doesn't exactly support the hypothesis that it is suboptimal.

The LDS that I did OW training with rented regs with AIR2s.

 

[steveann]

I dont know generic term for the octo+, the air 2 etc etc.

But does anybody use a BP/W with this?

or is this Hogarthian blasphemy?

Im thinking of getting a travel friendly setup sometime late this year and this plus a computer with transmitter would really be minimalist.

To get back to the original question...

Yes, people do use the Octo+/Air2 on bp/w. Who? My wife for one. And so far, it hasn't killed her. Her rig is also dang sexy, a 2 hose setup (she dives the Aeris Elite.) Benefits? Two hoses. Less snags on things, less hoses to get tangled in yourself, smaller package for travel, and the envy of all the guys diving rental gear as they see that neat little setup. Disadvantages? More expensive, an inflator failure does take out your buddy's backup air supply, and the mouthpiece isn't the most comfortable.

For travel, as she dives it on an OMS comfort harness and wing with no Jet dump, we just disconnect the corrogated hose from the wing and put that in the reg bag we carry on. You should be removing your corr hose on flights anyhow, as you never know when some TSA moron is going to want to see the inside of your wing.

Is the rig nice? Yes. She loves her backplate(and the few times I've dove it, I've liked it, too) and she loves her regs. Will she ever do tech diving? Who knows. If she does, maybe we'll rethink her setup. Maybe. It is a nice setup, and we have had no problems with the transmitter or the octo+. We'll probably even upgrade it to the
T3 when that comes out, so that way she can keep an eye on my air supply, or vice versa.

 

[Soggy]

TBenefits? Two hoses. Less snags on things, less hoses to get tangled in yourself, smaller package for travel, and the envy of all the guys diving rental gear as they see that neat little setup.

Please look at the picture I posted a few posts back and explain how two less hoses will help prevent any entanglement or snagging, especially in warm water situations. That was one of the points I was trying to address...it's a non-issue, a solution in search of a problem.

 

[GreenDiverDown]

My whole point has been that there are *better* ways of configuring your gear. "Nobody has died yet" is never a good way to think about gear. Accidents happen because of a *chain* of events. There are legitimate problems when using one of these devices and while they may not *cause* an accident, there is the potential for them to compound an already stressful situation.

This is what it's really about and this is exactly why many of us no longer use a two hose, transmitter, alt-air setup.

 

[steveann]

Please look at the picture I posted a few posts back and explain how two less hoses will help prevent any entanglement or snagging, especially in warm water situations. That was one of the points I was trying to address...it's a non-issue, a solution in search of a problem.

I'll answer this as best as possible, Soggy. Being your average every day rec diver, my wife is not the Queen of Stream. Therefore, removing hoses improves her streamlining immensely. Maybe not so much in the drag arena, but the snagability of her gear goes down. (Imagine if you will that guy you've seen, you know the one I'm talking about. The guy who's worried about horny octopi. now, take away two hoses. Much nicer looking rig.)

Now, for all the tech and tech wannabes out there, and for the guys interested in maximal streamlining, there is not much benefit. But for the guy/girl who just wants to throw their gear on and dive, it takes away that hose. Add that to a hoseless computer, and now the two biggest reef draggers are eliminated.

Is it worth the loss of seperate inflation/octo? For some, yes. For others, no. For my wife, she likes it, and liking her gear has made her an immensely better diver. Being proud of her gear has caused her to maintain it better. Having everyone else chekc out here gear at the dive sites has allowed her to have a conversation piece with other divers, improving her overall dive experience. Will it ever become an issue? Who knows. The one worrying about it should be her buddy, though. And as her primary buddy, if I need to, I'll bring a pony for a bailout. Or, at worst case, we do the old school air share on one reg. Of course, I wouldn't want to put any money on me running out of air the day her Octo+ fails.

 

[Soggy]

I'll answer this as best as possible, Soggy. Being your average every day rec diver, my wife is not the Queen of Stream. Therefore, removing hoses improves her streamlining immensely. Maybe not so much in the drag arena, but the snagability of her gear goes down. (Imagine if you will that guy you've seen, you know the one I'm talking about. The guy who's worried about horny octopi. now, take away two hoses. Much nicer looking rig.)

It sounds like we agree that it is solution to a problem that can be solved in much better ways. If one chooses to still dive with suboptimal gear, that is their choice, but knowing that it isn't the best solution is important. Changing gear to accommodate for skills deficiencies is a dangerous path to tread.