No inflator hose BC

[tomgrogan]

Has anybody purchased, used, seen or have any opinions on the Seaquest Pro QD i3. The handle, controlling inflate or deflate, on the BC seems simple to operate but I wonder about its toughness. I really like the idea of getting rid of the corrugated hose, the air hose from the regulator & the air hose connection. I am not a big fan of the air two so that does not present a problem for me. Any opinions would be welcome.

 

[CODMAN]

The design of the i3 is taken from the Mares Airtrim design found on several of their BCs and which has been around a few years. The main difference being the Mares valve is Air activated (uses air from your tank) whereas the I3 is wire activated (I believe). I have a Mares Morphos pro with the airtrim design and absolutely love it! Just like you, I couldn't wait to get rid of the damned dangling hose!!! :14: The air trim on my BC is always in the same place. Add to this, the exhaust valves are placed such that you can dump in almost any position (using the main control, not the emergency purge). I've about 30 dives on mine (hey, I don't get to dive as much as I'd like) and yes, it realy dumps air in almost all positions (in the worst case, you need to give a slight twist to reposition the valves). Much easier than the traditional valve IMHO.

Add to this, you can still find older versions of these BCs on the market for cheap! I believe Scubatoys has a Morphos Metal for 299$ (basically the same as my Morphos Pro). Or you can buy the current version, the Dragon for more. I also believe the i3 is up there in the 500-600$ range...

Anyways, I love my airtrim and won't go back to the old corrugated hose unless I have to!!!!

Just my 0.02$

 

[evil_xander]

I have a Mares Morphos pro with the airtrim design and absolutely love it! Just like you, I couldn't wait to get rid of the damned dangling hose!!! :14:

You guys should stop buying crap products, I see no dangling hose in my setup...

As far as airtrim or I3 goes, just make sure your buddy also knows how it works. Me, I'll stick to dangling hoses...

 

[CODMAN]

Yeah, before each dive with a new buddy, I always take a second or two to explain how my system works. Just in case...

 

[hvulin]

This kind of system uses extra connection points (extra o-rings) which are all extra failure points!
I would propose to try and keep it simple! Your life depends on it (well, almost)...

btw. diving should be done horizontal and when done so, there are no dangling hoses and everything is always at the right place! If you have problems dumping air with conventional systems maybe you just need some more practice...

oh yes, I forgot: If something breaks on a dive trip you'll have to send it back for repairs - with ordinary BC a) there's not much to break b) if something breaks it's usually easily replaceable (and parts are easily available)....

 

[texdiveguy]

I dove a Mares Airtrim for several years...found it very good and had no troubles....a great rec. bcd - IMO.

 

[scubatoys]

Cressi had a version out that also used a wire... but they had a recall on it. I've not seen one of the Mares Air Trim systems ever have a problem, and they've been selling them for about 4 or 5 years now.

Here's a picture of how theirs is configured: http://www.scubatoys.com/store/bcds/airtrim.asp

 

[scubatoys]

You guys should stop buying crap products, I see no dangling hose in my setup...

I would hardly call any of these brands "crap products".

BTW, what are these things on your picture??

 

[evil_xander]

I would hardly call any of these brands "crap products".

BTW, what are these things on your picture??

Not my picture, I only took it.

The upper hose is a drysuit LP inflator, the lower one, beats me...

BTW, that is a picture of crappy gear, a huge DR double bladder wing, completly unnecessary (and replaced shortly after that picture was taken with a DSS Torus 49).

 

[evil_xander]

I would hardly call any of these brands "crap products".

If you read my post more carefully, you will notice I never referred to any of the mentioned brands as crap, but in a correlation with any unnamed product containing dangling hoses.

The author I quoted in my post clearly wrote he couldn't wait to get rid of damn dangling hose so he got himself a Mares AT. I think that's pretty clear.