question for those with a reg on bcd hose

[rick00001967]

hi
just curious.......for those of you who have a back up reg built in to your bcd inflator hose.......how do you manually fill your bcd ??
i have seen a few people use them but never checked one out up close.

 

[j yaeger]

you orally fill the bc the same as a regular power inflator
depress the dump button all the way and blow
button is on side instead of end is all
have fun
yaeg

 

[rhwestfall]

and for the record, you can dump too without taking it out of your mouth as there is an exhaust diaphragm on the end.....

 

[Superlyte27]

But all that said, these units still suck.

 

[Bob DBF]

But all that said, these units still suck.

Yeah, but how often do you use them? I had one for years, and the most use the reg got was during testing. It didn't breathe great, but I'm not picky when I need air.



Bob
---------------------
I may be old, but I'm not dead yet.

 

[pjhansman]

But all that said, these units still suck.

Actually....if you press the purge, they blow.

 

[DivemasterDennis]

Low pressure inflater alternate air sources are favored by a lot of divers as simplifying and streamlining the gear arrangement. The function of the low pressure inflator is not affected by the presence of the alternate regulater. You can put on on almost any bcd. I would never use one as a dive leader or when teaching, and am not big fan generally. In a share situation, you donate your primary and the donor breathers off the alternate air source. So the panicked diver grabs you air from your mouth and you then grab your alternate. Not my ideal of the ideal way to share air, so I have the traditional octopus.
Divemasterdennis

 

[CT-Rich]

But all that said, these units still suck.

I think for cave diving, tech and some more advanced diving they are not the right tool for the job. For general purpose rec diving, they have some advantages. Most rec divers do not do enough practice drills. the fact that it is the same place you go for trim is good for muscle memory. In a pinch a rec diver is more likely to find it than to discover his octo came out of the keeper and is now drifting in his ass crack. I don't think ease of breathing is a huge deal. You may need it once in a hundred dives and overbreathing a reg understress is something that is occuring more in your head than in the regulator. The best reg in the world is not going to help a diver if he can't wrap his mind around the situation. The diver donating his primary is also the one who is most likely to be thinking straight since the other diver has just discovered he is OOA. It is not the tool for all jobs, but for general purpose diving it does have its uses.

As far as dumping goes, they have fifty ways from Sunday to let air out of the BCD without taking it out of your mouth. If you can't figure that one out, you really sould spend more time practicing basic bouancy drills with your gear.

I just aquired one and I reserve comment until I have some dives with it as to whether or not it truely sucks (or blows) based on my experience with it. At that point I will give an opinion that is more practical evaluation than dogmatic responce (as opposed to "this unit sucks")...

 

[Superlyte27]

I guess I should elaborate then...
They suck for the type of diving I do.

Virtually all of my dives are of a technical nature. I can't remember the last time I strapped on a single tank. My dives are either in BM Doubles, CCR, or Sidemounted Doubles. My second second stage is on a bungee around my neck, my long hose is in my mouth (that sounded naughty, and lets face it, if I could do that, I wouldn't need my wife )

I guess my ONLY problem with the Air2 and regs like the Air2 is that A. They breathe like crap and B. They don't lend themselves to what I believe is the best gear configuration for technical diving.

 

[D_B]

not mentioned .. they make the inflator hose end heavy and on it's slightly longer than usual hose they want to hang down lower .. I've bungeed the hose to an upper D ring to help with that but I find I often dive with my hand over it and clutching to my body