Problems with HOG regs

[cerich]

The yoke knob...it's a PITA... Some are soft material, some not. We stopped shipping many but not all the soft ones. If you don't over tighten you likely wont have a issue. But... still they should have been better made. You can tighten it and see it it "wiggles" if yes, it's bad. Or you can email me or Mike and we'll make sure that new knobs are on the way.

We have seen where some less experienced users will try to dial in the orifice and cut the LP seat making whatever freeflow they had worse...in fact that is kinda too common. While "technically" a user error thing we in fact have designed a new lp seat and orifice to make it less likely to happen. Future service kits will be coming with them so eventually everybody will have the latest and greatest. We really try and integrate any product improvements into the service chain when we can, just seems the right thing to do instead of calling the new improvements a new model and forcing a upgrade or making people feel like they are missing out on the latest and greatest stuff.

Mike, those regs were purchased through me. It was a group purchase for three sets of regs, and a BP/W, along with a bunch of other stuff to the tune of thousands of dollars. I still have one of the mis-shipped hoses, and really need to send it back and place a new order for gear, since it seems to be a never ending deal with buying new gear.

The majority of the order was shipped from DRIS, and the remainder of the regs were drop shipped from Edge.

When we originally received the regs, testing them on the couch they had no issues. It wasn't until the OP took them to the water that he experienced an issue. On a later excursion we spent a few minutes trying to dial it down, but never pulled the cover to check lever height. I am not sure what the rest of his issues are??

The yoke fitting knob failing is one of concern to me since I have a brand new one in the box for our next warm water trip. How can I tell if it is going to fail, or if it is one of the inferior units. I am not one to over-tighten stuff, so...

---------- Post added July 8th, 2013 at 09:01 PM ----------

Thanks Chris!@ A personal response is more than I expected! I sent you an email.

I really hope we are always able to keep things personal. It's gotten a little more difficult with our really insane growth the last couple years but I think that is because of the personal touch.

Look forward to your email, it will be late in the afternoon on Tuesday at best before I am in the office and can reply. I have a meeting in another city tomorrow.

---------- Post added July 8th, 2013 at 09:03 PM ----------

Mike at DRIS told me he charged because in his computer system he didn't see where you had actually bought them thru him. I expect he'll be contacting you on that. He ddn't charge labor because he felt he was doing me a favor..which he was.

I don't care much about the shipping charges. I was very happy that DRIS fixed them quickly and sent them back quickly. I thought that was good customer service on their part. Perhaps I would care more about the shipping charges if I had sent them 2-day air. The technician who fixed them did ask his boss (or someone) about the shipping charges and I was slightly surprised that they decided to charge me, after all we had bought them just a few weeks earler and has yet to get good use out of them. But I was happy that the work was done quickly.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Thanks, this is absolutely the very first time I've ever heard anybody mention this.

seriously? this is the most basic of tests that every student should be taught... and BTW, Jim forgot the most common failure "sucking" may reveal.. a damaged mouth piece..

also, you don't really try to inhale, you just suck a vacuum with your mouth and lock your throat and the reg should hold the vacuum. A good scuba course will have a damaged regulator, so people can feel what it is like, even try to use it in the water AND learn how to use it (in an emergency) when it is leaking badly...

 

[billt4sf]

When we originally received the regs, testing them on the couch they had no issues. It wasn't until the OP took them to the water that he experienced an issue. On a later excursion we spent a few minutes trying to dial it down, but never pulled the cover to check lever height. I am not sure what the rest of his issues are??

Peter, Any Water Sports pulled the cover and identified that the lever was not in the right position.

The most important thing is that I got a couple mouthfuls of water when I was breathing on it heavily because I was swimming upcurrent to get to a boat line. That is a REALLY bad time to get mouthfuls of water! The dive op showed me that the diaphragm was stuck open, such a simple fix on land, but is the reg (either the reg line or this particular reg) prone to this? That is my biggest concern, not the shipping charges.

- Bill

---------- Post added July 8th, 2013 at 07:08 PM ----------

Look forward to your email, it will be late in the afternoon on Tuesday at best before I am in the office and can reply. I have a meeting in another city tomorrow.

No sweat I am in Bonaire and don't even know what day it is. And I don't WANNA know!

- Bill

 

[cerich]

Bill, honest, the reg is NOT prone to this. We have sold THOUSANDS of them and dozens of the owners of them are on scubaboard. You would have heard all about it.


The lever...I am gonna question the tech at DRIS and see exactly what he remembers about that. I have seen people "waller" on the locknut and twist the barrel oin the body thinking the nut had to be as tight as their hands will let them do it... when the barrel twists it will mess up the lever feet.

Peter, Any Water Sports pulled the cover and identified that the lever was not in the right position.

The most important thing is that I got a couple mouthfuls of water when I was breathing on it heavily because I was swimming upcurrent to get to a boat line. That is a REALLY bad time to get mouthfuls of water! The dive op showed me that the diaphragm was stuck open, such a simple fix on land, but is the reg (either the reg line or this particular reg) prone to this? That is my biggest concern, not the shipping charges.

- Bill

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Jim, when are you coming to Florida to teach us??

Get a group together, fly me down, and we'll work something out. Memorial day is a long weekend. (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) In all seriousness I will be in Orlando in November for DEMA. We could work something out one evening perhaps while I'm there.
Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Dive Right In Scuba]

Thanks for the Email Bill. I responded and now know where the issue came from....Joe, in Reg repairs didn't see a Hog reg purchase in your name, and didn't correlate with Peters Purchase. I looked at the invoice earlier, and the shipping (if I remember) was actually free back to you, and we only charged the parts(lever/LP seat) and a $20 re-tune for the labor. I think the total was like $24...which, as I said in the email, I can get back to you via CC or store credit, whichever you want. It would have been free had he known the purchase was under a different name. No big deal....I explained a little more about everything in the email, and asked a few more questions.

Let me know....BTW, it's weird responding back to you in 2 different places

 

[Dr. Lecter]

We have seen where some less experienced users will try to dial in the orifice and cut the LP seat making whatever freeflow they had worse...in fact that is kinda too common. While "technically" a user error thing we in fact have designed a new lp seat and orifice to make it less likely to happen.

No, it's a piss-poor design error that (while admirably corrected) should never have been a potential tripping hazard for users in the first place. Build it right the first time, or admit you made a mistake by just adopting the generic LP seat/orifice design used in a bunch of other poorly designed regs -- don't blame your customer, who was just trying to correct a totally unrelated assembly error you also made.

 

[FloridaPhil]

Get a group together, fly me down, and we'll work something out. Memorial day is a long weekend. (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) In all seriousness I will be in Orlando in November for DEMA. We could work something out one evening perhaps while I'm there.
Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2

I'm in!

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[Selchie in LB]

seriously? this is the most basic of tests that every student should be taught... and BTW, Jim forgot the most common failure "sucking" may reveal.. a damaged mouth piece..

also, you don't really try to inhale, you just suck a vacuum with your mouth and lock your throat and the reg should hold the vacuum. A good scuba course will have a damaged regulator, so people can feel what it is like, even try to use it in the water AND learn how to use it (in an emergency) when it is leaking badly...

Hey DumpsterDiver -
I don't recall getting any of that info in any class I've taken so far. All PADI. I found out through ScubaBoard and talking with other divers. I always breath my regs and check the SPG while doing so to make sure there is no fluctuation as I do so. As for this vacuum test - 1st time. This why I read the board!
Thanks Jim & others who educate me all the time.

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[PeterNBiddle]

The most important thing is that I got a couple mouthfuls of water when I was breathing on it heavily because I was swimming upcurrent to get to a boat line. That is a REALLY bad time to get mouthfuls of water!

- Bill

The same thing happened to me on my Hog reg. I asked DRIS about this and heard I should bring the reg to an LDS. (BTW I'm a huge DRIS fan. I didn't even remember this until now.)

My email:

"I purchased a HOG reg from you guys to use as my octo and I didn't like it. The purge somehow got stuck open on a dive and I wound up breathing in some water. Can I return it? (The B2 is a replacement for that)."

The answer:

"I apologize, but we are unable to take the Hog Regulator back as it has been too long since you purchased it. I would suggest you take that regulator to your local dive shop to have it adjusted. It will work just fine for you then."

I always purge first and I've never breathed water on my Atomic regs. Never. But the Hog has stuck open more than once.