Longhose, flex or standard?

[nibl]

What is better for sidemount, a standard rubber hose or flex hose (eg. miflex, metalsub etc.)?

 

[rjack321]

You can use either as it's getting stuffed.
I prefer the rubber because the braided hoses have had far more issues the past ~4 yrs and dont last very long.

 

[Ruphyo]

I have both and prefer the rubber hose for only one reason. It stays close to your neck all the time.

 

[J-Vo]

In my opinion flex hoses don't rout well and are uncomfortable against any bare skin.

 

[kelemvor]

I am generally a fan of flex hoses. However I don't use it for the long hose. When I was taking cave classes, I quickly discovered that a flex hose will easily kink near the first stage enough to cut off air supply to the second stage. It's something that's easy to test on land. Pressurize a regulator with a miflex hose, then kink it with your hands. It's not difficult to cut off the air supply.

I still use miflex hoses for my single tank recreational diving. The situation that caused an easy kink is very unlikely in this configuration. For the long hose, miflex is not a good idea.

Edit: I forgot to say, the situation where the miflex hose would easily kink was during air sharing when single file in a cave. If you were in open water, it might be less of an issue.

Hey, I've got a 7' miflex hose that I'll sell for cheap .

 

[PfcAJ]

Rubber.

Alert Diver | Air Hoses: A Closer Look
Alert Diver | Invisible Crystals

 

[divad]

I'm still using the same 7' rubber hose with bolt-snap tied on by Bob Sherwood in 2008............Must be the Magical String.

[OOPS, not side mount]

 

[a878bob]

Ditto, I like a rubber hose better as well.

 

[stretchthepenn]

Rubber for the long hose. I tried a braided long hose, but it wouldn't lay flat.

 

[JBFG]

Rubber as well.
The other one is too floaty and doesn’t stay nicely on your neck.