My Dad was certed in the 50's or '60's. Trained my brother and me the same way. (in the water, as well as the wilderness, or a city street.)
Why do we hate the Air2?
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My Dad was certed in the 50's or '60's. Trained my brother and me the same way. (in the water, as well as the wilderness, or a city street.)
dragoonpvw
New
But seriously though folks. I was only being facetious. I did actually just pick up a complete package as my own stuff was pretty old. Though I had to get padi to get air when I moved to the USA in '86. I actually learned to dive in the British Army in '82. I was trained with one reg and a wrist depth gauge, and the only thing was buddy breathing. We were taught out of air strenuously. My instructor who was a bit crazy would turn off the air on our tank in one your first three dives just before you rolled back for your entry. After trying to flip the j valve while you were drowning you realised it was no good. and you would end up buddy breathing and try to blow up your fenzy jacket if we were wearing one.. No bc's back then and only manual inflators. Then we would do drills when he would turn your air off underwater and have to buddy breath or Cesa.
The point is I never saw an octopus till I did civvie diving on my padi course. Thought it was cool but they still taught buddy breathing. When I saw this new BC with the Duo air I thought what a load of crap. After realising that the only way was to donate my primary and use the duo air, I did my reading on it and decided to give it a try before switching it out.
When I took this new equipment to the pool to do weight checks and buoyancy setup I took the boys. They are early in there course and need experience.
First I Tried the oasis and and then switched to the duo air, just to see how quick it was. It is actually easier than finding and giving an octopus. Even through drills, I always knew where to find an octopus but nowhere near as fast as I can find my inflator. I touch my inflator regularly throughout my dives as do almost all divers. If you know where your inflator is you know where your air2 is and we all know where our inflator is. Simple. That would be less training wouldn't it. I did it a few times and it is too easy.
How does it feel, it breathes easy and is very manouverable, not as loose as an octo might be but still 180 degrees side to side and better than an octo bungied to your vest might be. . and that is with the hose still in its velcro. If you needed you could unleash it to give five or six more inches to the right. I dove only using the Duo air for 40 minutes in the pool. No problem, it really is quite a nice reg so far. If other reports of its breathing at depth are correct it is a no brainer. Letting the boys alternate on the donated primary I asked them what they thought. The older one was a litle worried at first as he felt the reg was pulling when he was at my side. I changed my donating position for horizontal movement with the ooa on my right and the hp behind me. The little guy was as happy on it as being on his own. so he just adapted. It all in all is a good system.
What do I like. I like the fact that I have my hand on the inflator and also on my regulator. With one hand, I keep the regulator in my mouth, always important if there is a panicked diver around but I can also conrol my buoyancy with the same hand. It works well and the ergonomics are pretty right. That to me is a reduction in workload.
That leaves one arm free to control the other diver. If he is holding the reg in with one hand which is likely, then the other hand can hold his and keep it away from his inflator leaving me in control of our ascent. It does not have to seem like a control grip even though it is, it is as much to be a reassuring grasp. One of the problems that I always remember, was OOA divers would tend to bolt upwards when panicked and still will rush. If the other diver had a donated long primary in his mouth and decided to inflate his BC. I would be stuck there with a panicked diver swinging around above me like a balloon dragging me to the surface. Not an ideal situation. Then you are stuck contending with kicking feet and not in control. We were taught to try to reassure the other diver with our eyes and how we grabbed them, always keeping control of the situation. It is hard to do that from a distance isn't it. Though a flailing diver close up is tough too, but either option has that at the beginning. There was talk earlier of panic, but nothing reduces it in OOA divers as the ability to breathe, it is never guaranteed though. .
Obviously, in passages and narrow ingress egress situations a longer hose would be necessary, but the setup I have right now seems very workable so I will give it a fair shake.
What dont I like , Not much, I will fasten off the Air 2 to stop it swinging down just as I would an inflator hose if necessary. The purge valve seems very soft, it is like you could sneeze on it and activate it. It may be fine but it seems delicate.
Anyway, as I said earlier. Though for the last six or eight weeks I have been doing continuation training and have gone on here for a bit. I am still new back here so you can give my points as little consideration as they might deserve. I am always willing to be wrong on here and try not to be wrong in the water if possible. Thanks for all the good stuff on here. It has seriously helped in getting my training up to speed.
Good Luck
Paul
The point is I never saw an octopus till I did civvie diving on my padi course. Thought it was cool but they still taught buddy breathing. When I saw this new BC with the Duo air I thought what a load of crap. After realising that the only way was to donate my primary and use the duo air, I did my reading on it and decided to give it a try before switching it out.
When I took this new equipment to the pool to do weight checks and buoyancy setup I took the boys. They are early in there course and need experience.
First I Tried the oasis and and then switched to the duo air, just to see how quick it was. It is actually easier than finding and giving an octopus. Even through drills, I always knew where to find an octopus but nowhere near as fast as I can find my inflator. I touch my inflator regularly throughout my dives as do almost all divers. If you know where your inflator is you know where your air2 is and we all know where our inflator is. Simple. That would be less training wouldn't it. I did it a few times and it is too easy.
How does it feel, it breathes easy and is very manouverable, not as loose as an octo might be but still 180 degrees side to side and better than an octo bungied to your vest might be. . and that is with the hose still in its velcro. If you needed you could unleash it to give five or six more inches to the right. I dove only using the Duo air for 40 minutes in the pool. No problem, it really is quite a nice reg so far. If other reports of its breathing at depth are correct it is a no brainer. Letting the boys alternate on the donated primary I asked them what they thought. The older one was a litle worried at first as he felt the reg was pulling when he was at my side. I changed my donating position for horizontal movement with the ooa on my right and the hp behind me. The little guy was as happy on it as being on his own. so he just adapted. It all in all is a good system.
What do I like. I like the fact that I have my hand on the inflator and also on my regulator. With one hand, I keep the regulator in my mouth, always important if there is a panicked diver around but I can also conrol my buoyancy with the same hand. It works well and the ergonomics are pretty right. That to me is a reduction in workload.
That leaves one arm free to control the other diver. If he is holding the reg in with one hand which is likely, then the other hand can hold his and keep it away from his inflator leaving me in control of our ascent. It does not have to seem like a control grip even though it is, it is as much to be a reassuring grasp. One of the problems that I always remember, was OOA divers would tend to bolt upwards when panicked and still will rush. If the other diver had a donated long primary in his mouth and decided to inflate his BC. I would be stuck there with a panicked diver swinging around above me like a balloon dragging me to the surface. Not an ideal situation. Then you are stuck contending with kicking feet and not in control. We were taught to try to reassure the other diver with our eyes and how we grabbed them, always keeping control of the situation. It is hard to do that from a distance isn't it. Though a flailing diver close up is tough too, but either option has that at the beginning. There was talk earlier of panic, but nothing reduces it in OOA divers as the ability to breathe, it is never guaranteed though. .
Obviously, in passages and narrow ingress egress situations a longer hose would be necessary, but the setup I have right now seems very workable so I will give it a fair shake.
What dont I like , Not much, I will fasten off the Air 2 to stop it swinging down just as I would an inflator hose if necessary. The purge valve seems very soft, it is like you could sneeze on it and activate it. It may be fine but it seems delicate.
Anyway, as I said earlier. Though for the last six or eight weeks I have been doing continuation training and have gone on here for a bit. I am still new back here so you can give my points as little consideration as they might deserve. I am always willing to be wrong on here and try not to be wrong in the water if possible. Thanks for all the good stuff on here. It has seriously helped in getting my training up to speed.
Good Luck
Paul
VooDooGasMan
Contributor
Nice post paul, even the first one. I like your Air2 way of thinking.
Dan, you have lost something, to much DIR in your brain, I don't know what it is.
Dan you are the one that made a comment on the rugby guys brain, not only can,t you read your post, you don't even know what they say or mean.
Now your saying your Dir group has a diver, that can handle the rugby guy, you get tougher by the sentence.
Fundies class is not even a path I follow, I do savage dives, planes, helicopters, yacht's, and vehicles that break through the Ice, pull out the victims.
When I dive with a group it is to make a big chunk of money. And we use Air2, the fitting is perfect for filling lift pillows, so if ya need extra air, disconnect LPI and connect to lift pillow.
Back when started using the Air2 for these dives, the Air2 would not free flow in mud and muck, and worked very well for Ice diving.
Dan, you have lost something, to much DIR in your brain, I don't know what it is.
Dan you are the one that made a comment on the rugby guys brain, not only can,t you read your post, you don't even know what they say or mean.
Now your saying your Dir group has a diver, that can handle the rugby guy, you get tougher by the sentence.
Fundies class is not even a path I follow, I do savage dives, planes, helicopters, yacht's, and vehicles that break through the Ice, pull out the victims.
When I dive with a group it is to make a big chunk of money. And we use Air2, the fitting is perfect for filling lift pillows, so if ya need extra air, disconnect LPI and connect to lift pillow.
Back when started using the Air2 for these dives, the Air2 would not free flow in mud and muck, and worked very well for Ice diving.
fnfalman
Contributor
Air 2 sucks, but Atomic SS1 is awesome. Never leave home without the Atomic.
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Voodoo guy (who is afraid to use his own name - and considering the lack of comunication skills demonstrated, I guess I can understand why...)......."this response now", is a slightly offensive comment I am making, though in response to many offensive comments you made....
The Rugby player comment was not offensive to rugby players. You chose to take it that waay, because that's just the kind of guy you are--a guy who gets his feelings hurt easily. You have had your nose out of joint for some time now, and apparently the "idea" that DIR diving might somehow make a diver better, makes you even more insecure and upset.
Unfortunately for you, it is not my job to spend hours trying to figure out how to protect your delicate sense of your own "worth" as a diver. I will apologize for that now, but it will certainly not help anything.
I was just trying to lighten up the discussion. And, it is amusing ( at least to me) that ONE of our DIR buddies is 6 ft 8 and 325 lbs, and an elite level pro athlete you may have seen on TV
So are you saying you don't enjoy diving because you have to make money in order to do it? Or are you driven by your ego, to say that your skill levels are so incredible, in this "SAVAGE" environment, that we should all be very impressed that you get paid to dive???
News flash for you delicate Voodoo guy...lots of people on this board get paid to dive!! Really.
Another news flash....how much they get paid to dive, is not actually the criteria which does a good job at indicating how much skill they have in surviving a "savage environment underwater".
I am happy for you that you like the Air II. This thread was not started by DIR people, and we are NOT saying that everyone who uses an Air II is going to have trouble with it. We answerwed, because we were asked. We, at least I, had no idea that in describing how Air II user with a short primary and training only for octo donation, could get into trouble , would have UNDERCUT your self image, and caused you to come on scubaboard with intent to teach those evil DIR people a lesson for "demeaning you".
Another newsflash, we were not demeaning you, we were not describing you, we were not talking about divers who had been diving for many years in harsh conditions...we were talking about new divers that had never been trained to donate anything other than an octopus, and to never take the primary out of their mouth. Even now, none of us is belittling your divng skills. Maybe you are really good at what you do... I would actually like to think so...
So one more time....This thread was NEVER ABOUT YOU....
And suck it up man, stop getting your nose out of joint so easily..most of us post here to have fun, not to "walk on eggshells for christ's sake!"
BDSC
Contributor
VooDooGasMan
Contributor
Dan your post are nothing but, word salad sentences. Dan I know DIR divers and they are nothing like you.
Dan you are not a leader, and you speak on behalf of DIR when you say we, yet the DIR divers are not at your mindset.
Its all about me, alright this is great, so what do I do keep answering your word salad sentences, OK.
Wait, how do I answer.
Fnfalman, I would have to see about that, I have seen them, just never tried before, if it is I would switch, or at least have a few in stock.
Others have mentioned there different brand octo/LPI, I am sure they all perform great this far along in production.
Since I do not enjoy diving, I am going to hate diving out in the middle of the salmon boats today, Just like I am so up set about my 2 cabezon, my limit of crab, then having to be on the surface reeling in Kings. Oh well sometimes in life you have to do things you just don't like.
Dan you are not a leader, and you speak on behalf of DIR when you say we, yet the DIR divers are not at your mindset.
Its all about me, alright this is great, so what do I do keep answering your word salad sentences, OK.
Wait, how do I answer.
Fnfalman, I would have to see about that, I have seen them, just never tried before, if it is I would switch, or at least have a few in stock.
Others have mentioned there different brand octo/LPI, I am sure they all perform great this far along in production.
Since I do not enjoy diving, I am going to hate diving out in the middle of the salmon boats today, Just like I am so up set about my 2 cabezon, my limit of crab, then having to be on the surface reeling in Kings. Oh well sometimes in life you have to do things you just don't like.
a_mart
Guest
I have Air 2, I love it. How did anyone that flips out in the water without an reg in there mouth ever get basic scuba certification? Six pools dives and five open water were my basic scuba cert requirements - each time we practiced losing our reg (and finding it), mask, and what to do with an OOA etc etc. Then it was up to the instructor to evaluate how comfortable each
person was during these drills before certifying them.
The problem seems to lay more with unqualified people being certified then it does with equipment. We had a combination of both - people with Octos and others with AIr2 in the class - you trained with what you had. That simple. What scares me more then an octo, Air2 or single hose are these vacation dive schools that have people that rarely get wet outside the shower underwater and diving in a day.
I won't quote the post but some guy was blaming the AIr2 because his lp connector didn't work yet he continued his dive. If one continues a dive with malfunctioning equipment they are asking for it. Would one venture out onto the freeway on a motorcycle without a front brakes(I hope not)?
I only do relatively shallow OW rec diving but most of the stories I've read about fatal accidents involved highly trained divers that thought this little malfunction or change in diving plan is no big deal and continued their dive. Then another little issue arises, then a third. Before they know it they are dead. Don't panic, don't be cocky, don't be stupid.
person was during these drills before certifying them.
The problem seems to lay more with unqualified people being certified then it does with equipment. We had a combination of both - people with Octos and others with AIr2 in the class - you trained with what you had. That simple. What scares me more then an octo, Air2 or single hose are these vacation dive schools that have people that rarely get wet outside the shower underwater and diving in a day.
I won't quote the post but some guy was blaming the AIr2 because his lp connector didn't work yet he continued his dive. If one continues a dive with malfunctioning equipment they are asking for it. Would one venture out onto the freeway on a motorcycle without a front brakes(I hope not)?
I only do relatively shallow OW rec diving but most of the stories I've read about fatal accidents involved highly trained divers that thought this little malfunction or change in diving plan is no big deal and continued their dive. Then another little issue arises, then a third. Before they know it they are dead. Don't panic, don't be cocky, don't be stupid.
Personally, I love my Air-2. The button placement and size is far more to my liking than any of the other standard inflaters I've been using while mine is in the shop. I also like the extra weight of the Air-2 which generally keeps my inflater in the down position where I can find it readily. The other two inflaters tend to let the hose elevate. Of course I don't use the Air-2 as a second stage to breathe from.
DaleC
Contributor
Hi Paul,
Not to appear insensitive but... if you follow through with this, can I have your dive gear?
Just thought I'd ask
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