Should I buy an Air 2

[Diver0001]

pcscuba once bubbled...
I have recently been looking for a new octo. I found the SP Air2 at an LDS. I really like the idea of one less hose. I've heard conflicting opinions on this ranging from loving it to not giving it to your worst enemy. I just wanted to know what the board thinks about it.

I think these things have outlived thier usefulness. They used to be popular when regs only had a couple of LP ports and you were trying to run BCD, Octo, and reg (and sometimes drysuit) off of like 2 ports. Combining the inflator and octo eliminated the need for one of those dodgy T connectors on the 1st stage.

These days people are beginning, in large numbers, to put a bungee "necklace" on their octo and wear it around their neck. You can run the hose under your arm where it's not in the way. This solution is clean, you always know where the octo is and you don't have to try juggling between octo and inflator when the proverbial sh*t is presumably already hitting the propeller (as it were.... )

R..

 

[leadweight]

I really do not like these. However to use it safely you need a BC with a pull dump on the right side, like most Scubapro BC's. That provides an alternative way to dump air from the BC while using the Air 2. You should also have at least a 39 inch hose on your main regulator, which will require you to buy an angled fitting to attach the hose to your reg and route the hose under your arm. Finally, the main must not have a custom mouthpiece like a Sea-Cure, otherwise it will be very hard for someone else to breathe from it.

Meanwhile, if you like to keep your reg in a carry on bag so it arrives with you no matter what the airlines do with the rest of your luggage, you now have an incomplete regulator set with a BC inflator hose that will not work with a rental BC. When you bring your reg in for service, the BC must go in with it, which means you have to borrow a BC and a Reg to go diving instead of just a reg.

Meanwhile, the dive equipment industry is transitioning to the Airtrim and other systems that eliminate the BC ambient pressure hose, so no more place to put an Air 2. I guess this new gadget is more interesting to the dive equipment industry than the Air 2. Certainly the divers that will buy the Airtrim were the same sort attracted to the Air 2.

By the way, I am not DIR, not even close.

 

[CuriousMe]

....all I can say is that I didn't like it. I borrowed one to try out....I wasn't comfortable breathing from it at depth, it really just all boiled down to that.

Peace,
Cathie

 

[MechDiver]

DiverBuoy once bubbled...


MechDiver are you saying that you would donate the Air 2 to the OOA diver? It almost sounds like that's what your saying.

Where did you get that from I didn't say anything that would infer that even remotely.

I also saw nothing, in any of the posts, that implied "stuck in the past". Perhaps you should look at your own reasoning, Eh?

I also said I had used them before I found something better IMO. If you have not, that is fine.

MD

 

[MikeFerrara]

DiverBuoy once bubbled...




Mike Ferrara are you saying that Air 2 is harder to ascend with?

What I am saying is that both times I have seen them use in a real OOA situation the ascent speed was not adequately controled because the diver fumbled around looking for the deflat valve which instead of being where it belongs was in the divers mouth. In one case the diver was an X-DM of mine who did practice with the convoluted contration at my urging. In this case the doner and the OOA diver even got in a 3 min safety stop. Even with three minutes to think over what he would do next he spent his ascent from 15 ft to the surface looking for his deflator which was clampe between his teeth right smack dab in the middle of his very bewilderd expression. It isn't like I didn't warn him and it isn't like he didn't have all the arguments for the things down pat. .

In my very strong opinion, when there is a problem you don't need to complicate things by having a different configuration (deflator in your mouth instead of your hand) than you have the rest of the time. These things appear to me to be a total violation of common sense that serve no purpose at all except to sell more dangerous pretty colored junk to unsuspecting divers.

My advice is to stand in fron of a miror and sternly repeat over and over "My reg goes in my mouth. My bc controls go in my hand. My reg goes in my mouth. My bc controls go in my hand"

 

[redacted]

If you are forced to go to your air2, the dive is over and you need to proceed direcly to surface (hopefully with a saftey stop). That means no overhead. The restricted head movement with air2 will limit navigation and flexebility.

If you always dive with an independent redundent air source or never use one, then the better solution is probably a std regulator on a necklace and a conventional inflator. The primary reason I like my air2 is I can go with or without a pony with no reconfiguration and no octo flopping around.

 

[MechDiver]

awap once bubbled...

If you always dive with an independent redundent air source or never use one, then the better solution is probably a std regulator on a necklace and a conventional inflator. The primary reason I like my air2 is I can go with or without a pony with no reconfiguration and no octo flopping around.

If the pony was setup as a stage, it wouldn't matter whether you used an Air2 or necklaced second as the pony would be self contained.

MD

 

[Diver0001]

MechDiver once bubbled...


Where did you get that from I didn't say anything that would infer that even remotely.

I also saw nothing, in any of the posts, that implied "stuck in the past". Perhaps you should look at your own reasoning, Eh?

I also said I had used them before I found something better IMO. If you have not, that is fine.

MD

You said you would need a longer inflator hose and he probably drew the wrong conclusion as to why you said that.

R..

 

[redacted]

MechDiver once bubbled...


If the pony was setup as a stage, it wouldn't matter whether you used an Air2 or necklaced second as the pony would be self contained.

MD

especially after trying to manage a hard mounted pony on one of papa hags boats with a souther pickup. Really made this old guy appreciate the larger, slower boats. I've decided to just stick with the fairly easy diving where the convienience of a hard mounted small pony is a small margin of safety with minimal inconvience in the water. But the added benefits of the slung pony are clear, just not worth the clutter for me. If I ever decide to do small boats again I'll probably reconsider.

I have added the conventional inflator and LP hose to my save-a-dive-(vacation) kit.

 

[DiverBuoy]

MechDiver once bubbled...
Where did you get that from I didn't say anything that would infer that even remotely.
MD

MechDiver You said
2. You need a long inflator hose on your BC to allow you enough room to bend the reg around to use it.
___________
MechDiver you could not be talking about using it for yourself personally, cause this isn't an issue for the wearer of an Air Source - not that I've ever seen or heard. You must have been using an Air 2 or a poor setup by your LDS? So I inferred the only other possibility: you must have been talking about donating it to the OOA diver

Everyone I can see your frustration ... the problem is you were using - Air 2. When you should have been experiencing for the first time an Air Source from SeaQuest. Air 2 from ScubaPro is crap I've dove it numerous times in total frustration. With the Air Source you can bend your head in any direction, you can still very easily use the pull dump even while breathing of the regulator. The unit and accompanying hose is completely flexible - I have no restrictions. The only argument I've heard here that makes any sense otherwise is what leadweight said about air travel.

Anyway I know nothing of the "ways of the necklace" but since I've signed up for a DIR-F class guess I'll get my chance soon enough. Honestly, I think their going to have a hard time pulling the "noose over my neck" (or was that "pulling the neoprene over my eyes?").