People tend to get pretty polarized in these threads
Once you separate reality from dogma, there are places and times where they make sense. Integrated inflators/octos for example make sense in some rebreather configurations. I also used to use one on my pretty fish dive travel plate and wing as the need for only 3 hoses total allowed for extremely clean hose routing - but it also required a longer inflator hose than I prefer, so it was not perfect.
And I can say as a tech I frequently see octos that are non functional come in for annual service where the owner was not aware they were non functional. I have never seen that with an Air 2, so one "pro" is the Air 2 does not get ignored, get used and flushed on every dive and is quite frankly more likely to work for the average diver who regards gear maintenence as taking the reg off the tank and throwing it in the dive bag.
Further, as a tech, I can state with confidence that the "more failure points" issue is also not the case - you eliminate a hose, an inlet fitting and an inlet fitting o-ring with the combination of inflator and octo. In most, the inflators are balanced, simple and very well designed, while the second stage portion is very similar to a near bullet proof R290 style unbalanced dual adjustment downstream designs usually used for recreational octos. In a word, an Air 2 will be more relaible than a cheap octo and cheap inflator that together cost as much.
Now, I also agree with Tomikp that a long hose/bungee backup makes sense (although that configuration predates DIR by nearly two decades) and is the way to go for most divers, But his logic is flawed as an Air 2 user could also cite 35 years of use to prove it works as it, like the long hose primary reg, also came into use in the mid 1970's
Most importantly however, the OP pretty much outlines the reason why an Air 2 is not right for him:
"Because what I buy depends on what I want to get "out" of diving, I want to do wreck dives, deep diving, as well as hunting/bug catching and just "regular" scuba."
An integrated inflator/octo is not going to be well suited to technical diving, where a long hose and bungeed octo has become the gold standard for that activity.
