Miflex vs Phantom Double Braided Kevlar

[mksmith713]

While the Miflex hose certainly are lighter, I'm not sure the difference is enough of a justification:

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/regulators/263262-miflex-hose-weights.html

Buy toothpaste and soap when you arrive and you'll make up the difference

I also find the Miflex hoses a bit "stubborn" for routing the long hose. They are torsionally much stiffer than rubber hoses, which makes routing and certainly S-drills a bit of a struggle when the hose refuses to "twist".

Henrik

I found that to be true of the phantom hoses as well.
Mine are stiff but that works to my advantage.
Why would I tie my hoses in a knot as shown in the ads?
Fortunately I'm not running mine for tech...just a modified Tech/Rec rig.
I run a 22" octo on a necklace, a 30" primary, 18" LP inflator and a 22" HP.
I breathe from the 30" and if my buddy needs my air, I hand the 30" off to them and breathe from the 22" octo that's hanging around my neck. (Tech/Rec Rig is what I call it)
When the hoses first arrived I was concerned with how short they looked.
I know I did a decent job measuring but they still looked so damned short.
I set them all up on a Din 1st stage (I dive HP 120's and like being able to fill them past 4000psi so no yoke for me).
Slid my BP/W onto a tank, set up the regs, the LP inflator length was a perfect fit.
I slid myself into my rig, put the octo necklace over my head and if fit perfectly too.
My primary was not too long, not too short and the HP was good too. Maybe 2" longer would have been better but it's still very functional.(I clip it off under my arm on lower "D" rings.
The best part is...everything is sooo compact. It's all held in very tight to my body so nothing dangles when I'm down.
I so dislike seeing divers dragging their octos and SPG's across reef.
The only consolation I get is knowing they're probably doing as much damage to their gear as they are to the reef.

I am very happy with my purchase.
The Phantom hoses are light weight in comparison to regular rubber hoses, they're strong (double woven and kevlar reinforced) and they look bad @ss.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

I should add here that the torsion problem indicated above (the reason a 60" to 84" miflex hose does not lay well along a tank) is more of an issue with longer hoses. With a short 22-26" hose used in a normal manner it would be a non issue. For a diver using a long hose primary, it becomes more of a PITA.

 

[mksmith713]

10 dives and I'm liking the Phantom Double Braided Kevlar reinforced hoses ALOT.
If you're shopping for an alternative to the old rubber hoses but don't want to drop a bundle on Miflex....try these out.

 

[Brandon]

I have two DIR regulator sets, both have Miflex hoses on the regulators (84"/22"), and a mix on the other hoses.

• Standard HP Hose / Phantom HP Hose: Phantom hose behaves like the standard hose, but with greater flexibility and a little lighter. I don't like the diameter of the Miflex HP hose - can barely feel it when diving with dry gloves / liners, and it's too floppy.
• Standard LP Inflator Hose / Miflex LP Inflator Hose: Neither Miflex nor Phantom offer a 15" LP Inflator hose, so I have an 18" Miflex on one rig, and a 15" standard hose on the other. Will eventually replace the 18" Miflex with a 15" of some sort.

Miflex hoses appear to be of a bit higher quality than the Phantom hoses, but I'm not sure its enough of a difference that it really matters. The HP swivel fitting on the Phantom hose, for example, feels a bit sloppier than the fittings on any of my other hoses, but is functionally fine.

-B

 

[stakanak]

I noticed there are no girls responding on this forum. Is it because we are talking about our hoses?

 

[popsiclediver]

I noticed there are no girls responding on this forum. Is it because we are talking about our hoses?

OK, Stakanak, I'm not afraid of your hoses! Even the little, bitty ones you guys keep bragging about…

I'm putting together a travel kit and am very interested in the Miflex hoses.
I'm getting an Apeks Flight, and with the AI Vyper Air, am waffling on the SPG for redundancy.
I want the Miflex HP BECAUSE its tiny. I even thought of putting a button SPG on the 1st stage, or on the end of the HP Miflex to shed ounces. I dont need to be staring at it for 60 min, just a 'ballpark' in case of emergency.

I'll be getting Miflex LP for inflator and drysuit too...

Thoughts?

 

[FritzCat66]

Just an anecdotal data point, but I had my shop replace my computer's hose with one the skinny MiFlex HP hoses when they first came out.

After using it for roughly 50 dives, I'm going back to the stiffer rubber hose.

Why? Because the MiFlex was SO loose and flexible that any slack in the hose tended to stick out and flap around relatively uncontrollably underwater. It also wasn't stiff enough to hold the computer to my chest, so the tail end of the computer would drift out in weird angles when the computer was clipped off (i.e. whenever I wasn't actually holding it).

On the other hand, I absolutely love my MiFlex LP regulator hose, and I'm also using one for my BC's inflator/octo, as well as my pony reg. I can definitely recommend them for that function. But depending on what you're doing with the HP hose, it might not really be the best idea. YMMV.

 

[gnulab]

While the Miflex hose certainly are lighter, I'm not sure the difference is enough of a justification:

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/regulators/263262-miflex-hose-weights.html

Buy toothpaste and soap when you arrive and you'll make up the difference

I also find the Miflex hoses a bit "stubborn" for routing the long hose. They are torsionally much stiffer than rubber hoses, which makes routing and certainly S-drills a bit of a struggle when the hose refuses to "twist".

Henrik

I notice that same torsionally stiff problem on my 7foot miflex, not on the other shorter length miflex hoses.

henry

 

[Hatul]

Personally I like the thin Miflex HP hose, because it's low profile, except I read some reports of them blowing out.

adam

 

[Seraphimx]

I really wanted a MiFlex HP hose but after reading a lot of post on it I changed my mind.
The swivel mechanism gets unscrewed and you have to take care of it all time.
It may be lighter but I'd prefer a hose I just forget about.
Also, I have the MiFlex LP 7ft and it's too floaty for my taste. I'll be picking up a standard 5ft hose and I'lll post back to tell you if it's better.