Inflator style Alt Air...do you love yours?

[knowone]

However well used it will always maintain it's effectiveness.

The analogy that is.


I forgot to wait for a split fin thread.

 

[D_B]

I have one, and one thing that really annoys me about it is .. it's heavy, and it hangs down quite a ways because you can only do so much to secure it if you still want to use it as an alternate .. so I usually dive with my left hand holding it close to my body

NOTE: if you do decide to get an inflator alternate , change out your primary hose to a longer one (I use a 42" routed under my arm)... you will not like the issues it raises for air sharing with such a short hose as the stock one that comes on your primary

I have purchased another reg just like my primary and will be switching to a bungee backup config at some point

 

[tddfleming]

I have one, and one thing that really annoys me about it is .. it's heavy, and it hangs down quite a ways because you can only do so much to secure it if you still want to use it as an alternate .. so I usually dive with my left hand holding it close to my body

NOTE: if you do decide to get an inflator alternate , change out your primary hose to a longer one (I use a 42" routed under my arm)... you will not like the issues it raises for air sharing with such a short hose as the stock one that comes on your primary

I have purchased another reg just like my primary and will be switching to a bungee backup config at some point

My husband has one, we were doing OOA drills in the pool and that was the first thing we noticed. We were face to face, crossed eyed looking at each other. Not a problem since we are married or his daughter doing drills with him, but it was uncomfortable being in that postion, let alone a stranger. Changing out the hose is what he came up with also. I know he does not care for the length of the hose and how it floats around. He is 6'2" and it is long on him. He tried to talk me into it also when we purchased and I declined. I think he is considering going to the reg. octo setup.

 

[D_B]

The problem I found with the short hose was that if you hold on to the other persons BC strap with anything but a (very) bent arm, your going to be pulling on their (your donated) reg , maybe right out of their mouth

This was noted by my instructor while during a familiarizing pool dive with cold water gear for my vacation diver friend who was to dive her first time here ... you could imaging that would not be good and I immediately got a longer hose before we went diving


... you can see my hose routing and my hand holding the alternate to my body position in my profile pic

 

[Diver0001]

I used to dive with one, and don't any more. Personally, I think a combo octo/inflator is like one of those little donut-sized spare tires:

They both seem like a really great idea from a "streamlining" point of view...

...right up until the point that you need to actually use one for its intended purpose.

:shocked2:

Brilliant!

R..

 

[BDSC]

Great pic and it's always funny but it's not a really great analogy. What is the intended use for the small spare? To drive a short distance or short amount of time until you can get the regular tire replaced or repaired. It works great for that while saving room in your trunk. Same with an AIR II or whatever. Not meant to be your primary regulator but it works great for your back-up when you need it for that short amount of time. As far as true streamlining goes, I don't know that's it's a measureable benefit really.

 

[D_B]

Well, that spare works only in a limited set of circumstances .. if you need all four tires for some reason (snow, soft dirt, muddy, off road) your not going anywhere with that thing


I think it's a great anology ... it works, but there are limitations ... limitations that you should know about before deciding to go that way

 

[=C=]

I love mine but teaching i wear what the students wear.

 

[redacted]

It is probably better than a standard octo on a 40 inch hose which spends more time doing its own dive profile than secured in an octo holder. With practice, it will work fine in a rec-diver setting. I retired my Air2 when I started slinging a pony as they tended to compete for the same space. I much prefer the bungeed alternate.

My wife tried a bungeed octo but went back to her Air2.

 

[Ben_ca]

I participated in a real life rescue one time. Victim had an Air 2 type secondary... he could not establish buoyancy at the surface and was beginning to panic. He was unable to inflate the BC.... and when we went over to assist we had a hard time as well figuring out what buttons did what much less try to orally inflate the thing... from a rescuers stand point it makes my job easier if a simple regular BC inflater is used.