Thoughts on breathable inflators?

[decompression]

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

 

[Oz Chris]

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).

This.

I’ve been diving with an integrated octo/inflator since I started diving (albeit that’s not very long ago). Dived with one in my open water class, and bought one when I got my own gear pretty soon after. As a newby diver the positives all seemed to make sense.

I won’t go into all the pros and cons, that’s been done to death on SB, but after 80 dives with it I am about to push the buy button on a new set of hoses to switch to primary on a 48” and secondary on a bungeed short hose and reinstall the standard inflator on my BCD.

The thing that tipped me over the edge is the point Brian makes. The damn thing is too long and bulky compared to a normal inflator. It gets in the way and it dangles.