What is an Octo?

[TheHuth]

I know what a safe second is. But I see allot of people talk about using an octopus instead. Looking online, they dont look any different than a safe second to me. Can someone explain what the difference is between an "octo" compared to basic safe second?

 

[PfcAJ]

same

 

[jhnmdahl]

Octo, or octopus, is simply a spares second stage. Named perhaps because the extra hose makes it resemble an octopus.

 

[tstormdiver]

A safe second can encompass a secondary second stage (Octo), an inflator/ integrated air source (Air2, Air XS, Air source3,.... several others) & could even encompass an independent air source (pony/ bailout or Spare Air).

 

[Littlerayray]

An Octo is a secondary second stage attached to the first stage in some cases this could be on the same first stage as your primary reg or in the case of double most people opt for another first stage on both valves so that if you get a freeze up you can close one bottle as well as the manifold and use the Octo but you mostly see two regulators on the same first stage and the secondary is called an octopus

 

[tbone1004]

post #3 has it. it is any form of secondary second stage and the term came about from the number of hoses starting to make the first stage look like an octopus.

Octopus
Secondary
Safe Second

all interchangeable, though technically octopus would only apply to single first stage diving. I use secondary because I rarely dive with a single first stage, though with the amount of sidemount diving I do, they get referred to as left and right, or short and long.

 

[Littlerayray]

Personally I would not get the air inflator integrated Octo since you have to give up your primary and use your secondary and many people have said they are hard to breath from as well

 

[GCullen94]

Both are backup regulators for an emergency. In general:

Safe Second refers to a second stage integrated with the BCD inflation system. In an OOG situation you hand the regulator in your mouth to your buddy and you breath off of the safe second

Octopus refers to a second stage secured somewhere on your BCD, it is generally yellow and on a 36 inch hose. In an OOG situation, you hand this regulator to your buddy and keep the one in your mouth for yourself

Secondary refers to a regulator on a bungee around your neck on a short hose (22-24 inches). In an OOG situation you give your buddy the regulator in your mouth (typically on a 5-7 foot hose) and take the secondary one around your neck for yourself.

 

[Landstander]

Not that it matters, but I absolutely hate the designation of octopus for an alternate second stage. If anything in the kit can plausibly be described as "resembling an octopus", it would have to be the first stage (for reasons which should be fairly obvious).

In other news, er... get off my lawn?

 

[Colliam7]

I know what a safe second is. But I see allot of people talk about using an octopus instead. Looking online, they dont look any different than a safe second to me. Can someone explain what the difference is between an "octo" compared to basic safe second?

Overall, I think the OP poses a interesting question that serves primarily to point out a lack of standardization of terminology among divers. Frankly, I had not heard the term ‘safe second’ in quite a few years, but it appears that the expression may still be in use somewhere. Notably, that Universal Authority on Just About Everything, Wikipedia, provides an interesting definition for ’safe second’ in its Glossary of underwater diving terminology: ‘safe second: Obsolete term for backup regulator’.

To add my $0.02 in response to the OP’s question: for the sake of personal simplicity, I have adopted two descriptors to cover the variety of ‘alternates’ used in recreational diving : a) alternate second stage, to refer to a secondary second stage (with the primary second stage being the one usually in my mouth) that can be located either in the so-called triangle (defined by the chin and the costal margins), or on a bungee necklace under my chin; and b) alternate inflator regulator, to refer to an integrated inflator / second stage. I adopted the later terminology primarily because that is what PADI appears to have settled on in its various publications (e.g. the Open Water Diver manual, the Encyclopedia of Recreational Diving, etc. To avoid internecine warfare, I acknowledge that just because PADI uses it doesn’t mean it is necessarily the only descriptor, or the best descriptor. Rather, it is the terminology that my students will encounter in their PADI training materials, so I may as will use a descriptor that avoids confusion for them. And the two descriptors work for me.

I consider ‘octopus’ to be an outmoded term for an alternate second stage. I even tell students that they should not use it, and should refer to their ‘alternate second stage’ instead. None of this means that I have some unique ownership of ‘the truth’ , rather it is just the way I have elected to proceed.

Octopus refers to a second stage secured somewhere on your BCD, it is generally yellow and on a 36 inch hose. . . . Secondary refers to a regulator on a bungee around your neck on a short hose (22-24 inches).

I am not sure that this particular distinction is widely accepted, or even known. An alternate air source can EITHER be secured somewhere on a BCD (e.g. in the ‘triangle’, OR placed under the diver’s chin on a bungee necklace. I personally prefer it be on a bungee necklace, but others are free to do whatever pleases them. To specifically designate a second stage on a bungee necklace as the ‘secondary’ doesn’t seem to be particularly useful terminology to me.