I see the light.....

[diversteve]

I have a B1, when I bought it the LDS suggested buying a Z1 octo, it was an off the shelf item in yellow and saved some money. It has identical breathing characteristics.

Although I liked the look of the SS1, the problem for me seemed to be that if you donate your primary reg to an OOA buddy, you could potentially now be having to provide buoyancy control for both, I'm not sure how you'd hold it over your head to bleed air quickly since you're also breathing from it. I know most Zeagles have a pull dump on the inflator as well, but I wonder if they vent air as effectively, I've never tried it under actual conditions. In an emergency the last thing I want to have to worry about is clearing the reg each time I take it out of my mouth to vent air.

I have the ripcord on my Ranger LTD, it's never opened on it's own. I think my buddy has the velcro on his Zeagle, one dive last summer, he jumped off a dock and his weights kept going. Fortunately it was only 6' of water. But he stuffs hard weights into the pockets and doesn't have the Zeagle weight bags so that may have been part of the problem.

I actually helped a heavyset(I'm being polite here) woman back up onto the dock this summer and her standard practice seemed to be pull the ripcord so her weights dropped out prior to walking to the rinse tank. I wish she would have warned me first, she missed my foot by inches when she did it...

I bring my backup second stage under my right arm and clip it to a reg holder located on the lower d-ring of the front strap on my right side. It stays up tight, out of the way and is easily visible/accessible. My buddy actually bought a yellow hose for his backup which I like the idea of, it makes it much more visible.

 

[Kestrell]

B2 2nd stage covers are available in yellow, grey and blue.

Serves me right for being too lazy to check.

Thanks.

 

[ae3753]

For octo holders, I like Dive Rite's.

My buddy prefers a simple snorkel holder/keeper .

 

[geraldp]

Ok here it goes.

After much research and discussion I have narrowed the field.

I plan on purchasing a Zeagle Bregade, Atomic B2, Aries AI comp, and ...... what octo?
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Who uses what to keep a standard Octo out of the way? I Dont like the necklace idea.
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Lastly, Cobra or Aires computer? Does it matter.

Thanks all and I appriciate anything you have to say good or bad!

Gotta agree with the majority of the posters on the bungied necklace. I tried using the octo holder that ae3753 recomends. While it was a LOT better than the scumbag octo holder (I could never get my octo in and it always fell out) I found that my BC was way too cluttered. I had my Octo hanging under my right arm and attached to my left BC D ring, my Cobra AI computer hanging under my left arm and attached to my right D ring (on a retractor), and my backup/redundant SPG hanging under my right arm attached to another D ring on my left. Now clip on a dive light, safety sausage, & slate, and plug in my drysuit inflator hose and I was an accident waiting to happen. Whenever I went to grab my computer or BC inflator I always grabbed the wrong item.

Bungying the octo around my neck made a huge difference. I also removed the redundant mini-SPG/Depth guage console - although I should put it back on with a short hose and clip it off (I like the idea of redundancy with an AI computer). I still have a ways to go to get myself fully streamlined, but the bungied necklace helps.

As to your other choices: Despite the hose, I still love my Cobra. Atomic Aquatics makes great regulators. I have the M1, but the B2 is still a good reg. If you can afford it, get another B2 for your Octo. Can't comment on the Zeagle Bregade.

Jerry

 

[StSomewhere]

You don't need a long hose on the primary 2nd stage to do this... just a longer than normal hose. A 40" hose works well when brought up under the right arm and into the mouth. It is easy to donate and 4" longer than the standard octopus hose.

OK, UP a couple of related questions (pardon the threadjack!). For the non-DIR recreational/resort diver thinking about implementing the long hose:

1. Is a 40" primary hose ideal? I took a 5' piece of hose and it seemed that I would have a heck of a lot of hose that would have to be dealt with somehow. I wouldn't want to trade one set of snag handles for another.

2. Your typical assigned-on-the-boat dive buddy was probably taught the standard "golden triangle" primary/octo configuration where the alternate is yellow. I see the example diver in your picture has a yellow octo cover on the backup octo bungied around his neck. Would it be better to go to go with non-yellow regulators and hoses altogether to avoid an OOG diver grabbing the backup reg on a 22" hose?

 

[Uncle Pug]

Yes... the backup probably shouldn't be yellow... I've also started becoming concerned about the yellow upper panels on my drysuit... what if a panicked OOA diver came up and started sucking on my arm?!

As for the hose length... 5' ~ 7' isn't necessary in OW ocean diving. While recently in Fiji and Hawaii I subsituted the 40" under the arm hose.

In the photo the diver (moi) is using a 7' hose... yes that is a long hose but notice that it does not stick out to the side. A 5' hose doesn't either. It comes up directly under the right arm, crosses the chest and goes around the back of the neck and then into the mouth from the right. The difference is that the extra length of the 7' hose is looped under a canister light.

 

[StSomewhere]

Yes... the backup probably shouldn't be yellow... I've also started becoming concerned about the yellow upper panels on my drysuit... what if a panicked OOA diver came up and started sucking on my arm?!

Eewwwwyyyy, arm hickey, yuck! :lol:

"The sun's not yellow, it's chicken". - Bob Dylan

 

[D_O_H]

If you're going to get an air integrated inflator, make sure you can actually breathe comfortably out of it. I have a Ranger (which is the same as the Brigade except for the bladder) and an integrated inflator and the corregated hose is too short to allow me to breate from the inflator without pointing my head down and to the left.

Maybe it's not a problem on smaller BCs (mine is XL) or maybe I'm wearing my BC in a strange way, since I haven't heard anyone else complaining about this, but it's worth checking out if you don't want to go with a standard octo.

 

[CincyDave]

If you're going to get an air integrated inflator, make sure you can actually breathe comfortably out of it. I have a Ranger (which is the same as the Brigade except for the bladder) and an integrated inflator and the corregated hose is too short to allow me to breate from the inflator without pointing my head down and to the left.

Maybe it's not a problem on smaller BCs (mine is XL) or maybe I'm wearing my BC in a strange way, since I haven't heard anyone else complaining about this, but it's worth checking out if you don't want to go with a standard octo.

Apparantly the hose can be lengthened for the integrated 2nd to allow easy breathing and access to it. Have any of you added length to your Zeagle BC hose?