Made the jump.

[shoredivr]

The question is why have you switched to primary donate? I did it to build muscle memory for tech training. If all you are doing is recreational diving primary donate is counterproductive as it goes against recreational conventions and norms.

No, RAID teaches OW primary donatE.

 

[Centrals]

I always local pick up at dgx. So I can usual see before I buy lol

Lucky for you!

 

[Centrals]

exactly. And to be honest I don’t see a panicked diver going for the bungee anyways. I see them going for my primary since they see me breathing off it. I’m not speaking from experience just picturing that situation. If they are grabbing.

Always expect the unexpected!

 

[loosenit2]

Honestly I just like how it lays better while using my bp/w. I’m also planning to do a lot of solo diving so I’m trying to build my setup for a pony next to the wing. So it really just comes down to layout. When I do the occasional vacation dive or boat dive it’s easy enough to explain. And if they yank my primary just because then my back up is right there. Not too worried. Practice makes perfect

We have some similarities. I also frequently solo dive with a tank mounted pony. The setup works well for that, but honestly not much better or worse than routing the pony regulator into the conventional location with perhaps the advantage of being a bit more streamlined.

What I have found using a primary donate setup with insta-buddy recreational divers is that it is tiresome having to explain it to them. Most divers should be relatively familiar with it as most agencies at least mention AIR2 configurations, but experience tells me they are not. When I mention it their eyes glass over and they nod but most don't really understand and I have doubts about their reactions in an emergency. Honestly gets a little tiresome having to explain it rather than just using a configuration that they are all familiar with.

One of the DIR philosophies is that there is significant advantage in equipment configuration and procedure standardization. Primary donate has lots of advantages in technical diving and within a DIR team, but it is clearly not standard in the larger recreational diving community.

No, RAID teaches OW primary donatE.

In the United States Scuba retail market, a study done 2000 showed that 98.2% of the retailers were affiliated with PADI, NAUI, and SSI. The remaining 1.8% was shared by 20 small agencies. So the argument that RAID teaches primary donate does not make it standard, that agency is teaching something like 0.09% of the US diving population? I have seen other presentations that technical training is increasing market share in the last 20 years so maybe becoming more familiar to more folks but still not common.
Not trying to discourage you from using primary donate, dive and let dive, but tend to think it is important to go into with eyes wide open understanding all the advantages and disadvantages. SB is a great board but it does tend to skew heavily towards tech diving and one following the board could easily get a skewed perception of what is standard in recreational diving.

 

[buddhasummer]

Not trying to be argumentative but if an insta buddy can't understand that in an OOA I will be giving them the reg out of my mouth not sure I want them as a buddy. It's just not that hard a concept to grasp IMO. Cheers.

Happy New Year.

 

[lexvil]

I've taken it up for streamlining primarily, winding through kelp can be challenging at times

the less stuff sticking to the sides the better. I have to use a 42" to 44" long hose {6' 5"} in the cold stuff. for travel I'm still on the 24" primary and Atomic SS1, I may change up the travel rig.

 

[buddhasummer]

After trying many times the 7', 5' and 40" I finally settled on a 40" primary. I only OW dive.

 

[Storker]

why have you switched to primary donate?

I can't speak for the OP, but personally I chose to switch to have a clean front which didn't interfere with my clipped off camera rig.

I fail to understand why some see an issue with primary donate for recreational divers. Sure it’s a good idea to discuss emergency protocols with any new buddy, but even if you don’t, what’s the risk?

No matter if you're running primary donate or secondary donate, you should always have a pre-dive chat with your buddy. Particularly covering OOG procedures.

Unless you've dived with the dude several times before, you know each other well and a full, comprehensive buddy check is done by just looking at each other. "You ok?" "Yep, ok." "Right, let's dive!"

 

[Diver below 83]

After trying many times the 7', 5' and 40" I finally settled on a 40" primary. I only OW dive.

Same here. I have a 40 primary. Going to swap out my back up I think as it’s a 28” atm. Think it’s going to be a tad long and end up hanging off the side.

 

[aviator8]

Randy at Piranha Dive has some specials on hoses ATM. Go grab a 22 or 24 before they go bye bye.