Streamlined OW Configuration vs. What?

[Nemrod]

Do they really save that much weight?

Yes. For me, for travel diving, yes, they do save enough weight for a full set of hoses, all braided vs all rubber, for me to justify the savings. Especially when I usually bring two full regulators and a spare set of hoses when traveling to places where replacement or repair is not an option. For more technical diving and especially when I can drive there, sure, give me rubber hoses.

 

[boqurant]

I’m very happily using the Dive Rite AOW regs config: primary donate on 70 degree swivel on 40” braided hose routed underarm, alternate on necklace. Great setup, works really nicely. The only (very minor) irritation is the primary hose can occasionally snag on my torch / snoopy loop on the right harness strap

 

[DiveGearExpress]

Dive Gear Express was probably instrumental in popularizing this configuration, termed generically as the "Florida configuration", or the "Advanced Open Water configuration" by Dive Rite, and what we named the "Streamlined OW configuration". They are essentially all the same configuration... described in one of our TekTips...

Streamlined Open Water Regulator Configuration | Dive Gear Express®

The Streamlined Open Water regulator set up is designed to keep hoses from dangling and also to maximize diver comfort. This ...

www.divegearexpress.com

and offered in a variety of branded packages here...
Streamlined OW
Most recently we consulted with XS Scuba in their pre-configured package version using their recently introduced Vortex reg...

Highland Vortex Regulator Streamlined Set — XS Scuba - Everything For The Perfect Dive

An alternate way for a sport diver to configure their regulator instead of using a yellow octopus at the end of a long, yellow hose. The streamlined set prevents hoses from dangling and optimizes comfort.

www.xsscuba.com

The traditional "Octopus" configuration is based on wearing a jacket style BC with analog gauges mounted in a console and donating a 'safe second' to an out-of-air diver. This archaic setup is uncomfortable and at worst unsafe when considering current best practices in recreational diving. A modern regulator configuration is based on an assumption the diver is donating the primary from a long hose in an emergency.

 

[boulderjohn]

I am a snowbird who winters in Florida, and when I go on a recreational dive boat, I always use what I have just learned is called the Florida rig. I can't be sure, but I don't recall ever seeing anyone else using it there.

 

[Nemrod]

I am a snowbird who winters in Florida, and when I go on a recreational dive boat, I always use what I have just learned is called the Florida rig. I can't be sure, but I don't recall ever seeing anyone else using it there.

Where are you diving in Florida? You are more like to see what I guess we have now decided is a Florida Rig up coast WPB/Jupiter area. The divers you see on the cattle boats in the Upper Keys are mostly not from Florida and generally not experienced or technical background divers. A 40 inches hose under the arm primary is not an uncommon way to rig, heck, I am pretty sure I have been doing it forever. DGX does appear to be one of the first if not the first to market a specific "streamlined open water rig" and I sort of like the "Florida Rig" name as it is fitting. I always just considered it to be the open water variation of a Hogarthian rig. But, yeah, Florida Rig, yeehaw, works for me!

Florida Rig in Bonaire, 109 and 156 on a Mark V, 40 inch primary hose under arm with angle swivel, secondary on a 20 inches hose and necklace.



And just saying, for a lot of my uses, the DGX BCI takes it a step further and it is a nice piece of kit because it unscrews from the wing and stows with the regulator! Sweet!

 

[Chrisk919]

The divers you see on the cattle boats in the Upper Keys are mostly not from Florida and generally not experienced or technical background divers.

I'm surprised the training agencies haven't adopted it more.

When my (recently certified) son was doing his Scuba class it was all still jacket style rental BCD's and safe seconds tucked into octo-pockets...

But in the same shop, all the Scubapro BCD equipment was back-inflate or BP/W adjacent (Hydros Pro, Level, S-Tek).

Contrast that to the LDS inventory in 2017-ish when I started diving again and it still had a strong jacket-BCD presence... which I rejected and bought a DGX "streamlined" setup (and I'm never going back).

I'm not sure if it's just "waiting for the agencies to catch up" or dive shops wanting to wait for their rental gear to depreciate enough to get rid of it, and thus they still train on jacket BCD's and tucked Octo's?

At *some* point I suspect main-stream diving will pick up on it after the dive shops sell off all those jacket BCDs.

 

[NothingClever]

…some may have decided their long hoses were unnecessarily long

Not trying to open a fresh debate, just sharing what works for me.

The answer depends on the mission.

Recreational boat dive with single tank? Yeah, too long, rescued diver may separate too far and try to make a break for the surface and take me with him.

Long (multi hour) coastal exploratory dive with twinset and expedition-grade DPV? Long hose still applies for donating while speed-matching side-by-side.

 

[rx7diver]

I’m replacing my ...

"vs. What?" Well, sometimes for recreational dives I return to using a single-hose regulator with the 2nd stage on a "standard-length (~34 inches)", rubber IP hose (no swivel or L-shaped fitting), and a Scubapro AIR 2. Necessarily a primary-donate system. Such a simple, uncomplicated, safe setup. Nothing simpler, I think, except having no safe second (so, no AIR 2) at all--my preferred config sometimes, for shallow, solo dives, or for shallow dives with a buddy who was thoroughly trained (as I was) to buddy-breathe.

rx7diver

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I'm surprised the training agencies haven't adopted it more.

When my (recently certified) son was doing his Scuba class it was all still jacket style rental BCD's and safe seconds tucked into octo-pockets...

But in the same shop, all the Scubapro BCD equipment was back-inflate or BP/W adjacent (Hydros Pro, Level, S-Tek).

Contrast that to the LDS inventory in 2017-ish when I started diving again and it still had a strong jacket-BCD presence... which I rejected and bought a DGX "streamlined" setup (and I'm never going back).

I'm not sure if it's just "waiting for the agencies to catch up" or dive shops wanting to wait for their rental gear to depreciate enough to get rid of it, and thus they still train on jacket BCD's and tucked Octo's?

At *some* point I suspect main-stream diving will pick up on it after the dive shops sell off all those jacket BCDs.

I don’t know when you think that’s going to happen. Poodle jackets ‘ain’t going nowhere anytime soon. I’ve been diving BP/W for 24 years and have used just about every reg configuration discussed in this thread.
There might be a small percentage of B&M dive shops that carry a line of BP/W and believe in PD/BS Hogarthian configuration, but most are all still octo stuffed away somewhere in a pocket or scumball or whatever and poodle jackets. Look at most rental fleets and tell me what you see?

 

[NothingClever]

Look at most rental fleets and tell me what you see?

Not just rental fleets but divers on boats. Although BP/W rigs are more common now amongst DMs here in Florida, many still have poodle jackets with the wackiest variety of bent hoses and keepers. That stuff looks super unprepared for real emergencies.