Why DIN?

[Skinsfan1311]

I did a search, prior to posting.

I'm still researching equipment for purchase. Please bear with me, as I suffer from a condition that my wife has dubbed the, RESEARCH EVERYTHING TO THE Nth DEGREE, syndrome. The aforementioned condition, coupled with the fact that I hate to part with a buck, (not cheap, just "thrifty"! ), is what led to this post.

I'm a warm-water rec diver; perfectly content to drift over reefs, around wrecks, and the occasional night dive. I currently log ~20-30 dives a year. Tec diving, doubles and raising the Titanic, ain't in the future. Relaxing warm-water diving is for me!

My goal is to dive more and, with that in mind, I'm making the plunge and purchasing. I need to buy before our upcoming vacation to Grand Cayman, this summer. The Cayman trip is in late July, so I have some time to research, before I buy.

In my brief dive career,(all in the Caribbean), the rental gear the dive-ops provided utilized yoke connectors.

After reading numerous posts, it seems that many SB'rs prefer DIN. Why? Or, more importantly, and given the type of diving I do, what would be the advantage for me? Am I sweating the details a little too much? (I have a thick skin..you can't hurt my feelings!)

Thanks!

 

[El Orans]

DIN
:thumbs_up More streamlined
:thumbs_up One less o-ring
:thumbs_up Have my own tanks

:thumbs_do May need converter on holiday

 

[Soggy]

DIN connectors are much much more secure. For open water reef diving, however, it isn't an issue and I have left my single tank regulator yoke since the only time I use it is on vacation or when doing shallow shore dives.

There aren't fewer orings, they are just distributed differently (the oring is on the reg, not the tank).

 

[cerich]

I agree with Soggy. Unless you are getting into tech or always using your own tanks yoke will serve you well. Also the Din to Yoke converter works fine but it makes the profile of the reg larger and may drive you nuts because it is more likely you'll be feeling it on the back of your head more often.

 

[Jim Baldwin]

I did a search, prior to posting.

I'm still researching equipment for purchase. Please bear with me, as I suffer from a condition that my wife has dubbed the, RESEARCH EVERYTHING TO THE Nth DEGREE, syndrome. The aforementioned condition, coupled with the fact that I hate to part with a buck, (not cheap, just "thrifty"! ), is what led to this post.

I'm a warm-water rec diver; perfectly content to drift over reefs, around wrecks, and the occasional night dive. I currently log ~20-30 dives a year. Tec diving, doubles and raising the Titanic, ain't in the future. Relaxing warm-water diving is for me!

My goal is to dive more and, with that in mind, I'm making the plunge and purchasing. I need to buy before our upcoming vacation to Grand Cayman, this summer. The Cayman trip is in late July, so I have some time to research, before I buy.

In my brief dive career,(all in the Caribbean), the rental gear the dive-ops provided utilized yoke connectors.

After reading numerous posts, it seems that many SB'rs prefer DIN. Why? Or, more importantly, and given the type of diving I do, what would be the advantage for me? Am I sweating the details a little too much? (I have a thick skin..you can't hurt my feelings!)

Thanks!

DIN valves as others have said have to advantage of being more secure. The male has 5-7 threads that screws into the tank valve and keep the o-ring in place.

Technical, deep, cave and wreck divers use DIN. If you hit an overhang in a cave or bulkhead inside a wreck it's not going to sheer off as a yoke could possibly do.

I think I have 8 regulators that are all set up for DIN. All my steel and aluminun tanks have DIN valves. I'm told by three different dive shops across North Louisiana that I'm the only person that comes in with DIN equipment.

All the OW instructors that I work with and are friends with all use yoke setups. They are all recreational divers and have been diving for years with no problems using yoke regulators.

When I travel on vacation I simply pack my DIN adapter which screws on. I now have a yoke regulator. The operator that I use in Cozumel has convertible DIN/yoke valves and I leave the adapter in the bag.

In places like the Cayman Islands and Costa Rica you would be hard pressed to find any tanks that are DIN because the bulk of the diving at these places is geared for recreational divers.

You can buy a regular yoke regulator and if at some point you ever decide to get into some phase of technical diving you can purchase a DIN converter for about $50.

 

[huskychemist]

Forgive the "Thread Stealing" here, but I'd like to ask an auxilliary question related to the question of DIN:

Since DIN has actual threads, is cross-threading something to worry about, or are the threads "bomb-proof" and hard to cross-thread?

And thanks to all of the answers to the original post. I'm converting to DIN in a bit (going with HP 119s for more bottom time), so the information is helpful for me also.

Thanks.

 

[HowardE]

:thumbs_do May need converter on holiday

I would change that from MAY need converter on holiday, to WILL need converter on holiday.

Most places in Florida don't supply DIN tanks, unless they happen to have a few on hand, and will rent them out to vacationers. Most places in the caribbean don't have DIN at all.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

I'm a warm-water rec diver; perfectly content to drift over reefs, around wrecks, and the occasional night dive. I currently log ~20-30 dives a year. Tec diving, doubles and raising the Titanic, ain't in the future. Relaxing warm-water diving is for me!

My goal is to dive more and, with that in mind, I'm making the plunge and purchasing. I need to buy before our upcoming vacation to Grand Cayman, this summer. The Cayman trip is in late July, so I have some time to research, before I buy.

In my brief dive career,(all in the Caribbean), the rental gear the dive-ops provided utilized yoke connectors.

Based on the diving you intend to do, a yoke is perfect for you.

DIN connections are stronger, in most cases are more secure and they have one less protrusion to snag monfilament etc, but they are a little slower to change, have the potential to trap more water in the valve, and they don't have fewer o-rings - at best they have the same and many designs have an additional o-ring inside the fitting.

Another often promoted feature of the DIN valve is the "fully captured o-ring". It sounds really good but the fact is that yoke connections also have a metal to metal fit with a fully captured o-ring as well. The only differences are that you are more likely to pop the o-ring out of the groove in the valve if you pressurize a less than tight yoke fitting and if you badly overstress a yoke fitting (by putting it on a tank with a pressure in excess of the yokes rating) it can stretch during use and cause the o-ring to extrude. But both of those are operator error issues, not yoke design flaws.

I have had DIN valves on unpressurized deco bottles work loose during the dive with very bubbly results when they were pressurized. I never had that occur before with yoke valves. DIN valves have their place and are the way to go if you are a technical diver, but despite popular opinion, DIN valves are not perfect and they are not the best choice for everyone.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Forgive the "Thread Stealing" here, but I'd like to ask an auxilliary question related to the question of DIN:

Since DIN has actual threads, is cross-threading something to worry about, or are the threads "bomb-proof" and hard to cross-thread?

And thanks to all of the answers to the original post. I'm converting to DIN in a bit (going with HP 119s for more bottom time), so the information is helpful for me also.

Thanks.

The threads are large and strong enough that cross threading is not an issue, unless you decide to try screwing the connection together with a monkey wrench. Even then it would be very hard to force the parts together enough to get the crossed threads to bite.

Normally, if the threads are mis-aligned, you will just turn the connection a few turns before it dawns on you that it is not getting tighter. Alignment is a little more critical and a little less obvious than on a yoke valve and getting the DIN connector started in the valve can be a little harder than attaching a yoke.

 

[Uncle Pug]

I'm still researching equipment for purchase. Please bear with me, as I suffer from a condition that my wife has dubbed the, RESEARCH EVERYTHING TO THE Nth DEGREE, syndrome.

That is what this Scbua Board equipment forum is here for. You will get a lot of opinions and when so many all line up on the same side of the issue (as you have here) you know which way to go.

Yoke it is.

fyi: to ease your mind... if you later decide that you want DIN after all you just buy the DIN converter for your reg. Unlike an adapter the converter replaces the yoke portion of the reg. I have a yoke converter (all my regs are DIN) that I use to make up a yoke reg set when going warm water vacation diving.