I see you are in Maryland, there is a fantastic shop and dive community called Submerged in your neck of the woods. Highly recommended.
Submerged Scuba Shop in Maryland
Submerged Scuba Shop in Maryland
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
I can think of two problems with an octo/inflator. The first is that if you have the hose long enough to comfortably breathe from, it is long enough to hang down and drag or catch on stuff if you are close to the bottom (you do have to be pretty close).