Day 2 - TFX vs T3
Warm and sunny today. Medium current for a great pair of dives. As before, TFX cracking at 0.8", now with a T3 at 0.9".
The T3 was a close match with the TFX, just subtly different.
Both regs delivered perfect flow even working a bit and breathing heavily holding position at depth in the current.
You get all the air you could want at depth with both regs. The Venturi augmentation of flow during a sharp inhalation at 70 feet with the T3 (with the vane auto-retracted) was noticeable, but not noticeable shallower. In contrast, augmented flow with the TFX was much smoother at depth, without any feeling that the reg was "blowing air at you." Neither was as aggressive as the Venturi augmentation of the C370.
Flooding the TFX gets easier every day, now that I'm used to rolling it to one side, rather than forward. I had no freeflows after flooding while the reg dangled from a D-ring, even in current. The T3, with no predive switch, did not freeflow on giant stride with one turn on the knob. I'll try giant stride with the TFX on a D-ring tomorrow. I did notice that floating on my back while waiting for pickup, the TFX on my D-ring would occasionally burble a bit as the reg broke the surface and resubmerged, but it did not break into freeflow, probably because the case was half full of water.
Case geometry reared its head with the T3. 0.9" is too hot for this case, and looking straight down, I could hear a trickle of bubbles coming out. A half turn on the knob and it went away.
Though it was never an issue for me before, now that I'm evaluating it, I again notice a louder, sharper exhalation bubble sound with the T3 (with wide M1 exhaust tee) than with the TFX. I'm increasingly convinced that those soft silicone exhaust wings lower the timbre and volume of my exhalation bubbles, as well as
completely eliminating bubbles in front of my face.
Exhalation effort seemed identical for the regs, though it's possible that exhalation WOB might have decreased in the T3 if I'd had a narrow stock exhaust tee.
Is the T3 still as awesome a technical reg as it was before? Absolutely.
But I like the TFX better, and stressing it today at 80 feet in current made me increasingly comfortable that it's better than my T3.
The next test will be giant stride with the TFX hanging in the PADI golden triangle and then hanging off a necklace.
Tomorrow...D400
vs TFX.
But first, I have to sleep off my Sexy Coffee.