here's my point(granted i am speaking from NO experience)--i can't say who i'll be diving with from dive to dive. as of now i don't have a regular diving buddy. different people are trained in different ways. my padi training taught me that in an ooa situation i take my buds octo. however with a combo unit there is no traditional octo, so if my bud is ooa he/she will be looking for something that isn't there. why not have that traditional octo lashed(velcro, breakaway, etc..) on my hip in case the ooa diver coming at me is used to going for it by instinct. i know that people will say that i should have told my buddy before the dive that in an ooa he/she should take my primary, but in a panic people will revert to instinct. so if that instinct is to go for the octo, it's there. also, all the arguments i've read against the octo/infl combo always say that the benefit of reducing the drag of an extra hose isn't worth it since an extra hose really dosen't cause a noticable difference. yet when i suggest having both(octo/infl and trad. octo) the same people say it's not a good idea because it creates unnecessary clutter. it seems the smartest set-up to me. the difference in size between a normal inflator and an octo/infl combo is very minor. and it dosen't create confusion in a crisis situation, quite the opposite, it creates options! convince me otherwise. ps---to snowbear---i know the dir answer, lose the octo/infl combo