octo air 2,,,good way or bad way

[Web Monkey]

Can I breath on it like a regular regulator. In other words can I exhale through it on a ascent or do I have to remove it from my mouth to exhale??
Thanks for everyones imput.
Dave

It's a nice reg for emergency use.

It can do everything it's supposed to, all at the same time (be a regulator and an inflator/deflator), without removing it from your mouth.

DA hit pretty much all the points on it. While there are advantages to having an excellent stand-alone regulator for a backup, the over-riding benefit for rec divers who probably won't practice a lot of OOA drills is that it's always right there and your hand knows exactly where it is.

A good reg that's always clean and spends most of it's life in your hand is much more useful than an excellent reg that you have to go looking for, and that might not be functional once you find it.

Terry


Terry

 

[victor]

A quote from my instructor "If someone is really out of air they will take the working reg from you mouth leaving you the problem of finding your backup".
Air 2 works great, it's been my secondary since I qualified. I agree, not for technical diving, maybe not for deeper than 150 ft. I have used mine at 130+ and it worked fine. One you become used to finding it you could not ask for better.
Doing controlled ascents is no issue. The only disadvantage from my point of view is if it breaks down on vacation you need to rent a BCD and second stage.
Stick with it and have fun.

 

[laserdoc]

Yes, but this was the reason I got rid of my air2. Doing a practice ooa ascent, I was breathing from the air2, buddy on my primary. I had a ***** of a time trying to dump air from the bc while ascending. It basically turned into a speedy ascent with my buddy slowing me down. I'm sure with more practice I could have gotten used to it. It was just my buddy was really tight next to me and we were verticle in the water. Trying to use the shoulder pull dump while breathing off that hose isnt comfortable. Then I dived with some guys with the bungy/long hose setup. After one practice ooa, I was sold! I was the ooa diver and on a 7' hose it was just way more comfortable. Plus I prefer the backup at my chin. So recently got rid of the air2.
My advice - keep the bungied backup and instead of the air2 get a 5' or 7' long hose to go with that setup.

At the moment I have my octo bungeed under my chin. I have a 40 in yellow hose with a 360 swival on my primary. Only thinking about the Air 2 to get rid of a hose. But what you said about trying to dump air from your bc maybe the kicker here. Are there any setups that when you exhale it will not go back into your BC but will act just like a regulator?

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Scubapro uses a separate right shoulder dump on it's BC's in part to reduce any connection with the Air 2 in the dumping process. A separate dump valve is a nice approach and I prefer it to the somewhat fragile valves mounted on the base of the inflator hose.

However, I have found that it is still easy to dump air when breathing off an Air 2 even with the more commn left shoulder corrogated inflator hose mounted dump valve. You just hold the Air 2 in your mouth with your teeth and pull on the hose slightly somewhere in the middle between the Air 2 and shoulder dump. The increased lenght of the hose pulls the internal cable and operates the shoulder mounted dump valve. There is absolutely no need to dump air through the Air 2.

Even if you do that, it is not a major problem - just partially depress the dump valve. It does not seal off the system (as is needed to orally inflate) until the button is fully depressed. So in an intermediate position, it will release air from the bladder without causing you to inflate the bladder when you exhale.

People who have problems dumping and breathing with one are not aware of how it works and/or have not practiced with it and/or have no first person knowledge but rather heard about someone who had problems with it.

There are fittings that allow a low profile second stage to connect in a daisy chain with the LP inflator. These avoid any dump issues, but tend to be a bit clumsy and end up further shortening the available hose lenght.

 

[johnnyseko]

At the moment I have my octo bungeed under my chin. I have a 40 in yellow hose with a 360 swival on my primary. Only thinking about the Air 2 to get rid of a hose. But what you said about trying to dump air from your bc maybe the kicker here. Are there any setups that when you exhale it will not go back into your BC but will act just like a regulator?

The air2 does breath like a regulator. When exhaling, the air doesnt go into the bc unless you depress the dump button. I was trying to dump air with the shoulder pull. It did not feel comfortable to me to be pulling on the same hose that I was holding in my mouth. I figure with practice, I could have gotten used to it. Just went bp/w so I went with the bungied backup/long hose. I like it a lot.

I am curious how you are routing the 40" primary hose? If you're just running it over your shoulder that thing must be bowing out really far! Probably why you were questioned about it. I would say either go with a shorter hose (27 or 22") or the long 5' or 7' hose. That will keep it more streamlined.

 

[laserdoc]

The air2 does breath like a regulator. When exhaling, the air doesnt go into the bc unless you depress the dump button. I was trying to dump air with the shoulder pull. It did not feel comfortable to me to be pulling on the same hose that I was holding in my mouth. I figure with practice, I could have gotten used to it. Just went bp/w so I went with the bungied backup/long hose. I like it a lot.

I am curious how you are routing the 40" primary hose? If you're just running it over your shoulder that thing must be bowing out really far! Probably why you were questioned about it. I would say either go with a shorter hose (27 or 22") or the long 5' or 7' hose. That will keep it more streamlined.

I route my bungeed octo under my arm. I swaped out my primary for a 40 in yellow and put that hose on the octo because it was shorter than the standard octo hose. My AOW instructor did make the comment that my prim house stuck out a little far. Thinking about running that one also under my arm. But then that would give me two hose under my right arm. I have a 360 degree swival on my primary so it would not be a problem I would hope.

 

[DennisW]

What DA said.

 

[Randy43068]

I'm seeing alot of scubapros air 2 octo's for sell on ebay for around 40 bucks.Will these fit my Zeagle Escape BCD? Is this the way to go or do I keep my standard octopus

AIRII (and clones) are crap. Never use it.

 

[Web Monkey]

AIRII (and clones) are crap. Never use it.

Nice.

Ever use one?

Ever service one?

Ever see the inside of a typical rec diver's octo?

 

[superstar]

AIRII (and clones) are crap. Never use it.

Please explain why?