Randolphscott:
Shouldn't the backup (octo) be as good as the primary?
Should your spare tire be as good as your other tires?
I'll be honest on the whole octo thing... Never had to use one. Thousands of dives, and never one out of air emergency. Of course a lot of that is because I always know how much air everyone around me has - and I don't let anyone run out. But of course, there could always be an emergency... so we carry an octo.
Now as far as should it be as good as my primary.... Why? Let's suppose I have a top of the line Oceanic or Atomic reg. Then let's assume the guy who runs out of air has some cheap rental piece of junk. Even the lowliest octo on my gear will probably work better than what he was breathing on.
Based on training exercises (like surprising students by coming up to them pretending to be out of air in the pool to see how they respond) the most common error in air sharing is to hand the octo upside down, in which case it will not clear... at all... now that's breathing wet! I actually like the viper - had one on my gear and never had a problem with it, never noticed it breathing wet. Now the performance is not as good as a top of the line reg... but I don't need it to be.
In fact, I was so impressed with them as an octo, that when Dacor dropped them, I was a bit upset. I called them up, and had them remake them just for me with the Mares Brigade name plate. It became very popular, and now they sell them that way themselves. Was that because of me... in spite of me? Don't really know... but I think it's a fine reg for an octo.
In an emergency, I can hand it to someone on my left, on my right and they will not get it upside down, as there is no upside down with a side exhaust reg. It also makes it much easier for them to swim on your right side instead of having to be face to face, and makes it less likely to pull out of their mouth due to the orientation.
I know it's a common sales line for folks to say the octo needs to be the same as the primary... and to be honest, if I sold everyone a matching octo to their primary... I'd make a lot more money. But do you need a pneumatically balanced second? Do you need an externally adjustable second? I don't believe so... but if that's what someone wants - I'll gladly sell it to them!
And kevguthrie, if you got one from us and you are not happy with it, I have no problem upgrading you into any octo you want and giving you a full refund for the viper / brigade. Not a problem at all. I don't want anyone to ever get something from us that they are not happy with. Maybe there is something wrong with yours... we can look at it, fix it, replace it, or get you into something different. Just give us a shout.
