How do you setup your primary and secondary regulators/hoses for recreational?
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We dove in feet first into this sport and I'm glad I studied up on scubaboard as it definitely cut down on the amount of wasted money. Still, I didn't follow every SB trend and did what worked for us. By the time we did our OW lake dives we were able to dive our own gear in it's final configuration. We use the aqualung airsource for our alternate bungeed under our chin. Our primary is 44" and is looped around our neck. We have trained and practiced on this and are comfortable with sharing our primary. My wife switches to her alternate like it's nothing. I do so when using my primary to shoot a buoy. If we progress to tech diving it will be a rather simple modification. The spg is clipped to our left waist d-ring and our primary and backup computers are on our left wrist. The primary computers are AI and are set up to monitor each others tanks as well as our own. The only thing we might have done different was to start with a BP/W but our aqualung zuma travel BCs worked so well on our 22 dives in Cozumel last week that we are pretty satisfied with that purchase as well. The best decision was the Perdix AI computers that my wife pushed for. They cost more than our bc and regs combined but hands down were the best purchase we made. I love knowing that the gear we get to know will keep us happy for years and years and the Perdix is that.
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@tep it depends. For me I would put it on the bottom port unless you are diving doubles regularly and want the convenience of switching back and forth between singles and doubles with the least amount of hose adjustments.
read this post
Why do you have your regs set up like that?
watch this video
read this post
Why do you have your regs set up like that?
watch this video
I want to believe you are adding just a wee bit of exaggeration, for effect.
But, if you are really being told such rubbish by your LDS: a) find a new LDS, sooner rather than later; b) go online to Dive Gear Express (Dive Gear Express® | Official Site) and order a 90 degree adapter (90 Degree Swivel Adapter, LP 2nd Stage: 9/16-Inch M x 9/16-Inch F), or even a 70 (70 Degree Swivel Adapter, LP 2nd Stage: 9/16-Inch M x 9/16-Inch F) - my personal preference - and install it yourself.AlexL
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meh. wife and I run mk25/s600 primary on a 5' hose/r195 necklace octo. the r195s breathe just fine if setup correctly; slightly higher cracking pressure, and a bit harder at depths > 60' (not making out with a mermaid smooth, but still well within 'acceptable'). never even noticed it during S/R drills when you're huffing and puffing on the regs. mine does tend to crack off into a freeflow when doing a giant stride even with the venturi set to pre-dive, so i'll usually jump with the r195 as primary and the s600 in hand, then switch over on decent.
as mentioned, if you're on the backup second, its not going to be for long. wouldn’t worry about it too much.
Personally, I would echo your second-guessing. The R195 is a good example of what I was referring to - a less expensive, unbalanced 'octo', that delivers less air than the S260. Again, as I said before, this is my personal approach, and is what I recommend to divers approaching their first regulator purchase. What you choose is up to you. For me, it really isn't a matter of how long you might be on it. I want two fully, and equivalently, functional second stages that perform well at all depths, and which I can adjust to suit the diving conditions. The modest extra expense on the front end is, frankly, trivial considering the overall cost. Out of curiosity, what would the extra cost have been to go with two S260s?
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tooez
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Well, in fairness, that probably seems like a substantive difference, and I can appreciate your decision. What seems to happen across brand lines is that you get a price for a good first stage and one good second stage, and they throw in a marginal octo. Apeks does that with their Egress, for example. It seems like customers have to do some hard bargaining with a shop to get a better deal. Several posters in this thread have even suggested that it is less expensive to buy a set of regulators for doubles - you get two (good) first stages, and 2 (good) second stages - than it is to buy a singles regulator set up. That has been my experience as well. One additional suggestion - look for a good, but used, second stage on eBay or Craigslist.
Just a thought, you may consider trying your primary computer on the right wrist, I find that it helps a lot with using my left hand to control the inflator hose on the ascent and the right hand free to easily keep an eye on the computer.
That being said, my lower dump valve is also on the left so it is always "left for buoyancy, right for DC"
YMMV etc etc
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