Why do we hate the Air2?

[dumpsterDiver]

Dang it, dD, you did that on purpose!

Yeah i had to go back and edit it.. just for you.

 

[maniago]

Glad to be able to breath a little life into this thread...Is this really an issue? How many cumulative (or is it serial)

Nono, I'm sure its cereal......

The devil made me do it....

 

[Jared0425]

I heard the Air2s do sometimes free flow, but then it seems every reg will do it at least once in its life time. A quick slap and its happy again. Haven't had my 3 do it tho; my octo yes. And mine is no harder to breath on than my octo. Not as nice as my second, but that's not its purpose anyway. The air is good and thats all that counts...

If all 3 of your backups get a free flow or freeze flow, somebody wants you gone or you are very poor at maintenance. I would never recommend somebody use one as a primary backup in deep diving in cold water like what lake divers do or cold water divers do. Too much can go wrong, but I feel a tad better having 3 air sources on me instead of 2. My Poseidon free flowed when I was in the river a few weeks ago, a reg that they said could never do that, it was 25 degrees out and I was under the ice. Another guy had freeze flow with is AGA full face abet some tough handling of going under water many times in series of minutes.

 

[Couv]

Almost without exception, I've not been on a dive vacation without seeing some unfortunate diver's inflator button stick or a SPG swivel leak or both. However, of all the inflator problems I've witnessed none have been on a ScubaPro balanced inflator or an Air 2 which has the same inflator incorporated into the housing.

I didn't want to retype the following mess so forgive me for quoting myself.

"The AIR 2 is a solution in search of a problem!" You read that all the time on the boards, but for some of us it was quite the contrary. Forgive me if I get a few timeline details mixed up, but in the early seventies we learned to dive before the BC, power inflator, and octopus were "required" pieces of equipment. In my Basic Open Water class we had pressure gauges, but the moss backs in the dive club I joined still had a J valve or an SPG rule, but I digress.

So how did the AIR 2 fit into my scuba equipment evolution? Well, around the time the AIR 2 was introduced (late seventies) not all first stages had more than two lp ports. In fact some only had one. My Dacor Olympic had 1 hp and two lp ports and there were plenty of other regulators outfitted similarly. When the "industry" started pushing buoyancy compensators, power inflators, then a safe second/octopus on us, we had to attach multi-port swivels to satisfy those requirements. But ScubaPro came out with a unique solution-the inflator regulator. It made a lot more sense to many of us who learned buddy breathing in Basic Open Water. Give up (and not have to share) your primary and breathe off the secondary. It had the added advantage of a regulator you could take a drag from, then exhaled air directly into the BC just as we did before power inflators.

So the AIR 2 was a solution to a solution in search of a problem.

I still use one, albeit a 3rd generation. If you decide to incorporate one into your system, don't forget you'll be donating your primary, so a longer primary hose is necessary. I've also found using the correct length corrugated hose and a Myflex regulator hose with an AIR 2 quick disconnect coupling makes the "can't turn your head" complaint a non-issue.

Dang it, dD, you did that on purpose!

I think your wrong to.

 

[CT-Rich]

You know if you have 3 back-up air sources, and you are worried they will all fail/ free flow, I would also take the time to check the propellor on the boat, lest it fall off while you are diving and it brains you on its way to the bottom...

At some point, you either are trained and prepared or you have really sh*tty luck. I can totally understand multiple redundancy for wrecks, caves and deco diving. but unless you have some absolute reason to either not being able to do a free ascent to the surface. I think a primary, octo and a pony should have you covered. even a free flow is not a dangerously fatal situation, just annoying.

To many contingencies carry their own perils. I have seen plenty of divers end up in a panic at the surface overwhelmed by all the sh*t they thought they needed. The attraction of the Air II is that it reduces the clutter, while bringing along some redundancy. It will be be available and easy to locate from muscle memory much more readily than an octo (how many times have you reached for your octo during a dive versus your BCD inflator?) If you get mugged for your Primary, the Air II is right there and the paniced diver will most likely ignore it anyway. does it breathe as easy as a primary? Probably not, but it isn't there for that. It is there as a secondary to get you to the surface safely. If you are diving under ice, you should be taking a critical look at all your gear to decide what is appropriate for the conditions, not just the air II. There isn't any reg that I would guarranty to not freeze up or free flow in all instances.

 

[halocline]

Aaaaahhhhhh!!! Will it never stop?

It was a joke!! No reason to loose your sense of humor....

 

[Paladin]

It was a joke!! No reason to loose your sense of humor....

I can't take it anymore! I'm leaving now. I'm going to go dive the Andrea Doria on air with a single AL80. Goodbye cruel world!:vintagediver:

 

[Jared0425]

I can't take it anymore! I'm leaving now. I'm going to go dive the Andrea Doria on air with a single AL80. Goodbye cruel world!:vintagediver:

I will beat you. I will dive the Doria with a pony bottle using an Air2!:reaper:

 

[Couv]

I will beat you. I will dive the Doria with a pony bottle using an Air2!:reaper:

I suppose if your SAC is so high that a 3 cu ft Spare Air makes you nervous....go ahead and be conservative.

 

[Jared0425]

I only got one breath off of a spare air at 140' when we pumped it up pretty good. Needless to say when I got into tech, I sold them and got some real ponies that made a difference. My Argon bottle would have lasted longer.