ScubaPro Air2 Good/Bad or just Ugly...?

[Spratman]

I got mine with a KnightHawk I purchase off of here. Most of the pluses have already been covered. My Air2 breathed as well as my Titan LX. I can tell you though, I had an instructor that went ballistic because it wasn't standard to the class. He got over it.

I liked it. The only drawback is if you are air sharing (If you dive a long hose, it's not big deal. You offer your primary.) It makes it difficult to task load with an OOA diver on your primary, you on your secondary and trying to dump air out of the reg you are breathing off of....

It's the only piece of SP equipment I own and it rocks! I don't use it anymore since I dive a BP/W, but there was little change switching. My son owns it now.

 

[MSP Diver]

I got mine with a KnightHawk I purchase off of here. Most of the pluses have already been covered. My Air2 breathed as well as my Titan LX. I can tell you though, I had an instructor that went ballistic because it wasn't standard to the class. He got over it.

I liked it. The only drawback is if you are air sharing (If you dive a long hose, it's not big deal. You offer your primary.) It makes it difficult to task load with an OOA diver on your primary, you on your secondary and trying to dump air out of the reg you are breathing off of....

It's the only piece of SP equipment I own and it rocks! I don't use it anymore since I dive a BP/W, but there was little change switching. My son owns it now.

On a Knighthawk, there are 4 places to bleed air out of your BC. In an ooa situation, grab the person with your right hand and grab the dingle ball on your right shoulder with your left hand.

I have taken a ooa / panicked diver to the surface before. I had my Air II, he had my primary (standard hose length). With this set-up, I couldn't even make eye contact with the diver. If he would have completely freaked out, he could have taken us both out. I would have rather have had this guy at arms length because I could monitor, have eye contact, and still have a defensive position, if needed.

So, to make a short story long....I like the Air II, just get a long hose for your primary.

 

[FireDiver443]

I have an Air II on my Zeagle Ranger BC and have had no problems with it. It gets annual service when my TX100 and my wife's Titan LX go to the LDS, and it seems to breathe fine. My regular dive buddy & I regularly practice OOA drills (he's got a BP/W with 7 foot hose on primary and short hose on his secondary)... sometimes rather aggressively to simulate the panicked diver scenario. We've grown accustomed to what we would need to do if either of us lost track of our air and found ourselves in an uncomfortable spot. I've become accustomed as well to routinely switching from my primary to my Air II during a dive just to be able to do it without looking. We've learned to make it work.

I recently completed my divemaster though and, on one of the dives I guided dealt with a panicked diver (no... not a plant from my instructor, a REAL one!) and have since been re-thinking the Air II in favor of the 7 foot hose & octo configuration. I think I have to do it anyway with the BP/W I just purchased.

From the standpoint of dealing with the panicked diver, maybe it's my drill-drill-drill mentality from my fire service background, but the best way to make sure you'll be able to breathe off the AIR II while ascending and dumping air from your BC is practice and make it automatic. You'll have enough on your plate from a task overload standpoint. The less you have to think and can work from muscle memory, the easier it is to manage your situation.

Your c-card signifies you have completed the bare-bones, minimum standards to go out there and learn how to be a good scuba diver. Staying on top of those emergency skills might just save your life.

Just my unsolicited two cents. See you down there.

John

 

[MantaRey]

I've actually had to use my air2 on some emergencies so my opinion isn't based on speculation rather personal experience. It works just fine. In an emergency you really don't need to be picky. The performance is top notch and it does exactly what it was designed to do.

I have it on my classic plus; I believe the hose to the air2 is the same length as the knighthawk. The length is fine. If it bothers you you can undo the velcro on your shoulder to free up the hose and you'll feel no restriction when using it. Than again if you have to use it comfort probably is last on your mind right?

And for the length of the primary second stage hose; it's long enough. In an emergency keeping the victim close helps me as a dm to keep them calm and comfortable while avoiding panic. You'd be surprised to see the effect a little eye contact will have. You really are face to face with the person at a slight angle. I can do nothing to help a victim who wants to bolt to the surface if they are 6' away from me.

Although if you have a problem with hugging total strangers than the air2 might not be for you lol

Complaints: It does take a beating on the bc; but it's a sp so it'll take it. Also the teeth things on the mouthpiece could be a little bit bigger.

 

[Solo1mick]

Although if you have a problem with hugging total strangers than the air2 might not be for you lol

No just the wife...

Well jacket went to local Scubapro dealer this morning to get fitted. Some great advice here and thanks. Like I mentioned earlier, the first time we hit the water with it we will as always when starting a dive holiday spent a little time getting used to and comfortable with equipment again after a 3 month break.

 

[BabyDuck]

i don't have one & i'm not really responding to the air2 question, but to the question about why you might not want to immediately vertically ascend in open water.

a longer hose that would allow some swimming while air sharing would be nice if...
- boat diving & you want to get back to the anchor line before coming up
- diving where there's lots of boat traffic & you want to get out of the channel before coming up
- shore diving & prefer to get through a surf zone before ending your air share

of course, it all depends on what kind of emergency you're having, but having the option to swim to a better spot to ascend beats *not* having that option in my opinion.

 

[halocline]

The OP said he wants to "lighten the load" soooo.....I'm sorry to hijack this thread in the lamest of all ways, but if you want to lighten your travel load, consider saying goodbye to the knighthawk and getting a kydex (or aluminum) BP with a 20-30lb wing. Deep sea supply makes a very nice set up. That will save much more luggage room and weight than, for example, the Ti reg or switching to the air2.

I considered an air2 and borrowed a BC with one, practiced an OOA shared air ascent and decided against it. I did not try the longer primary hose with it, but that sounds like a great idea. One other issue is that I like a short compact inflator hose; the air2 makes that impractical. I'm not among those that say "you're gonna die with one of things" but I don't think it makes diving any more streamlined or comfortable.

 

[TxHockeyGuy]

I just switched from an air2 to a standard octo configuration yesterday after diving the air2 since '05. I had 2 main reasons for switching to the standard octo configuration.

1. Any sort of failure of the LP inflater hose or air2 itself is much more limiting as most do not have replacements on hand. You can obviously keep these on hand yourself, but most don't. I saw a guy have to end his dive day at a local quarry for this reason. If it has just been a standard inflater hose several of us had spares.

2. I changed out the hose going to my second stage because when doing air sharing drills the one that came with it was just too short. The problem is with the longer hose I was basically diving with an octo length hose to my second stage. It wasn't ideal. Of course going to a 5' or a 7' would alleviate that problem.

As you can see my reasons for going back to a standard octo aren't terribly compelling. It is simply my preference to now dive with a standard octo configuration.

 

[Hoosier]

I have used a long hose and Air 2 for my single rig... Yes, I also highly recommend a long hose, at least 5' one with Air 2.

However, there is nothing wrong with Air 2. For emergency drill, why do you think Air 2 will be a failure point. Before then, why don't you maintain your Air 2 with a "Doing It Right" mindset? We have seen that Halcyon inflator had some issue (internal rust). The Halcyon is still arguing that it was due to lack of user mainternance. The proper maintained Air 2 works perfectly fine in any situation.

For the streamline, what is the matter with Air 2? Air 2 isn't dangled more compared to the bungeed octo. Yes, I am talking about a horizontal position.

In addition, this is a rec. diving range application. I have regularly excercised an emergency drill and had a real emergency situation with Air 2. It worked perfect.

 

[dpthdiver]

Here's some thoughts on the AirII. You either going to buy a bad one or a good one. The bad ones free flow and become more trouble than they're worth. If you get lucky, you'll get a good one. They are far and few between, so make sure you keep it. For about 5 years, my wife's worked like a champ and mine failed 3-4 times a year. That's just one example I can give. I finally retired mine about 2 years ago and started using the Atomic.

In addition, the AirII is not that great of a breather and a lot of times you have to have them tuned down to prevent free flow which makes breathing very difficult, a problem you don't need in a hard breathing emergency. The new AirII is nothing but a new housing over the same internal components. I would suggest Atomic's titanium version on the AirII. Doesn't corrode and breathes better than most octos. I've never had a problem with it and have used it in an actual emergency.

As far as the other suggestions, I agree your primary hose should be longer as it is far easier for share air accents.