Gas Switch Block

[DA Aquamaster]

I use the M&J block from Oxyxheq and it is very well made. It comes set up for harness mounting and is exceptionally easy to use. It is basically a slide valve that operates with 180 degrees of knob rotation. The knob is well shaped with aprotrusion to indicate what tank is selected and it is very easy to feel what is selected. I dive mine set up so the primary is "up" and what ever else is being used is "down" There is also a intermediate setting that shuts everything off. The valve is also designed so gas cannot travel from on side to the other.

Cost recently went up to $325 but it is still cheaper than a Sartek and is in my opinion much better made.

I mount mine where the right waist D ring would be. Hoses from back gas come down the backplate behind my arm and then follow the waist strap out to the switch block. A Surface supplied hose route back to the backplate where it is secured and then out. The fastex safety straps on DR weight pouches actually make very good hose guides and keep everything tucked in and very streamlined. I then use a 43" hose to go up across the chest and around the back of my neck long hose style and use a 120 degree swivel on the regulator. The end result is very streamlined with no danglies or hoses sticking out more than an inch or so from my body.

 

[BigJetDriver]

I agree that the M&J block is a good design, and quality build. But if I was going to spend that much already I'd probably just get the Kirby Morgan which trumps all I think.

You pay less for the M&J, it weighs less than the KM, and it is slick, slick, slick!

 

[PaulChristenson]

We got ours from Lifeguard...
http://catalog.argos.net/ECscripts/ECware.exe/dcp?id=003&sku=RSV1&type=A1QS11&lc=EN

 

[loosebits]

Anyone notice this thread is over a year old?

 

[BigJetDriver]

Loose,

Like Dr. Fronkenshteen's creature, every once and while someone comes along and shouts: "Give my creation L-I-I-I-F-E!!!" And then it's back!

 

[DiverBuoy]

I believe the more modern reference is: Riiiiiiiiiise.

 

[beezwax]

That's a good tip Paul, for those interested in the Sartek-- it's actually $50 cheaper from LGS than direct from the manufacturer. The rest of this debate separates over lines of personal taste, intended use, and available funds I think. I agree that the M&J is slick, and in my first post I did recommend it over the Sartek for the same price because it's a better build. But the Ocean Reef I ordered suits my needs just fine and for $140 it leaves me with almost enough change left over to pay for an OTS gill for my AGA...that would be a good thread: The Magic of Scuba, "How to take fifty cents worth of plastic and turn it into $200"

 

[beezwax]

RE: Resurrection

Yeah it's partly my fault, I just found scubaboard yesterday and have been reading & writing to threads that interested me. Turns out some are pretty old and it seems to be some understood rule that you don't do that...?

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Don't worry...digging up old threads is just fine. However some people still seem to like to point out how old they are as if it actually made a difference. Often, a revived thread is more interesting the second time around, and as you point out, you obviously have an interest in the subject as do all the other people posting to the thread so the thread deserves a rebirth - and why re-invent the wheel with an entirely new thread.

Therein lies the irony as often members who point out that a thread is "old" are the same members who often respond to a new thread with something like "do a search it's been discussed before" which makes zero sense as you cannot have it both ways. If you want members to search for previous threads, they are going to find and revive old threads when they as questions or make comments about the subject of the thread.

I think the only problem I have ever seen here with revived threads were greeters running into freshly revived old threads made by then new members, not noting they were old threads and then greeting the begeezus out of members who by now been around forever and had a few to several hundred posts. It created a bit of a credibility problem, but once aware of the potential, the problem went away.

And by the way...welcome to scubaboard (before you make several hundred posts.)

It's always nice to see another cold water diver here.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

You pay less for the M&J, it weighs less than the KM, and it is slick, slick, slick!

One of the major deciding factors for me was that I can get the M & J block from Patrick at Oxycheq via the internet while I would have had to go through a Kirby-Morgan dealer to get the Kirby-Morgan block, and the nearest Kirby-Morgan dealer is about 6 hours away in Ft. Collins.