Would you use Air Integration without a SPG
- Thread starter SpaceCased
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SlugLife
Contributor
I agree with the replies so far. Everyone I know who has used AI for long enough seems to trust it and have no problems. If there's a problem, you can always surface safely.
The real downside I can think of would be you can't really loan your regs, without loaning your computer. I borrowed an AI reg-set once for a very, very short dive and it make me nervous as hell. You could always carry an SPG in your save-a-dive kit, and swap it, it doesn't take long, if you ever anticipate loaning equipment (I only do that with cheap equipment, or for close-friends).
I have some AI transmitters I haven't used yet, but my plan is to install these since I have 2x ports. It makes it a little faster/easier to check tank-pressure without having to check it with your dive-computer.
www.divegearexpress.com
The real downside I can think of would be you can't really loan your regs, without loaning your computer. I borrowed an AI reg-set once for a very, very short dive and it make me nervous as hell. You could always carry an SPG in your save-a-dive kit, and swap it, it doesn't take long, if you ever anticipate loaning equipment (I only do that with cheap equipment, or for close-friends).
I have some AI transmitters I haven't used yet, but my plan is to install these since I have 2x ports. It makes it a little faster/easier to check tank-pressure without having to check it with your dive-computer.
Mini-SPG { 1 in | 2.5 cm } Face
This Mini-SPG is larger than most and easier to read.
www.divegearexpress.com
I agree with the replies so far. Everyone I know who has used AI for long enough seems to trust it and have no problems. If there's a problem, you can always surface safely.
The real downside I can think of would be you can't really loan your regs, without loaning your computer. I borrowed an AI reg-set once for a very, very short dive and it make me nervous as hell. You could always carry an SPG in your save-a-dive kit, and swap it, it doesn't take long, if you ever anticipate loaning equipment (I only do that with cheap equipment, or for close-friends).
I have some AI transmitters I haven't used yet, but my plan is to install these since I have 2x ports. It makes it a little faster/easier to check tank-pressure without having to check it with your dive-computer.
Mini-SPG { 1 in | 2.5 cm } Face
This Mini-SPG is larger than most and easier to read.
Some of us don’t loan gear like regs - ever.
The button gauges are worthless if you have bad eyesight. If you want to check tank pressure, a pressure checker you put on the tank might be a better idea. Won’t work well in traveling, though.
Disregard some of the “grouches” around here - feel free to ask questions since, as you stated, opinions (and technology) changes over time! It’s a public forum so not sure why some folks take the time to tell new people to do their own research!
BTW - I have no SPG - I have 2 transmitters and I can monitor both on 2 AI computers (Perdix and Teric) - so full redundancy and no extra hoses to have to clip on/off to check air. It works for me - YMMV.
I have a Teric with AI and it has always worked flawlessly so I have no reason not to trust it, but I still have an SPG. I could take it off and leave it on the boat, but I would really be bummed if I were in the middle of a school of hammerheads or swimming with a whale shark and had to bail out because my AI failed. Sure, you can grab it out of your SADK and be back in business, but you can't just go back down and resume the dive if you are diving from skiffs/pangas, etc. off a LOB. For me it's worth the extra hassle to have it so I don't run the risk of missing a dive if my AI ever fails.
Belzelbub
Contributor
True, but as Marie points out, that may not be much of a downside.
Same could also be said for other configurations (DIN/Yoke, Std. Inflator/AIR2, etc.
I've never loaned out my reg. I have, however, once loaned out my daughter's reg. Special circumstance, though. A friend had just gotten his back from service, and had been butchered. Shop ended up replacing his 2nd stage. Anyway, I happened to have my daughter's regulator on the boat, so I let him use it. We were on my boat, so it's not like it wouldn't have been in my control anyway.
If I needed to, I would do it again. I have the tools on the boat to put on an SPG, swap out hoses, etc.
I dive mostly solo and with a single AI computer and am good with that. If it ever fails and my primary gas PSI in unknown, then my dive is over and I'm headed home. My "back-up" is that I also have a 19cf pony that is with me only for emergencies. On the pony I do have a small 2in SPG that I can check and monitor at any time.
SlugLife
Contributor
Loaning regs is a very rare circumstance for me, and typically friends only, so the "downside" I listed is practically irrelevant.
I have a complete, disassembled regulator (1st stage, 2nd stage, spg, all hoses, etc, minus octo) in a sealed bag, in my save-a-dive kit. Along with other things like o-rings, mouth-pieces, zip-ties, etc. So, it's much more likely that personally, I'd probably fix someone's reg or loan them a single component, over loaning them my main regs.
100% agree with diving with a backup air supply; I'm either doing side-mount, or modified sidemount with a 19cu that's emergency-only.I dive mostly solo and with a single AI computer and am good with that. If it ever fails and my primary gas PSI in unknown, then my dive is over and I'm headed home. My "back-up" is that I also have a 19cf pony that is with me only for emergencies. On the pony I do have a small 2in SPG that I can check and monitor at any time.
I love both the wire-protectors around the hose-clamps, and attaching the SPG to the regulator hose. I dive side-mount, but may just have to try-out one or both of those ideas. I don't want to derail this thread, but if you have any other interesting DUY ideas/setup, feel free to DM me, or drop links to the appropriate thread(s).
OP
SpaceCased
Registered
Thanks everyone for your replies. I also did what was recommended and searched the forums for previous posts on the same subject. I had better luck using google and looking up scubaboard threads.
It does seem like opinions are getting more liberal with using a trustworthy AI in replacement of a Spg. It also seems like some still prefer to have the redundancy with a Spg. I might consider the Y adapter that was mentioned in this thread as an option. The main reason why I asked the question in the first place is I recently got a 1st stage with a single HP port. My Spg reads a couple hundred psi low and my AI has been more accurate. Now with the single port I’m considering just using the Ai with the Spg in my save a dive kit.
Again, thanks for all of the replies, it was helpful As I don’t want to do anything that isn’t wide accepted by the community. Safety is always priority number 1.
It does seem like opinions are getting more liberal with using a trustworthy AI in replacement of a Spg. It also seems like some still prefer to have the redundancy with a Spg. I might consider the Y adapter that was mentioned in this thread as an option. The main reason why I asked the question in the first place is I recently got a 1st stage with a single HP port. My Spg reads a couple hundred psi low and my AI has been more accurate. Now with the single port I’m considering just using the Ai with the Spg in my save a dive kit.
Again, thanks for all of the replies, it was helpful As I don’t want to do anything that isn’t wide accepted by the community. Safety is always priority number 1.
Belzelbub
Contributor
I wouldn't necessarily say more liberal. Rather, it seems that AI has proven to be quite reliable. Some early (often Suunto) transmitters had reliability issues. That stuck in some people's heads, so they don't completely trust the AI.
Yeah, some do. Lots of others have seen that the reliability is quite good with most of the transmitters today. Transmitters can fail, SPGs can fail.
As you've seen, even SPGs are not perfect. The difference, is often how the failure presents itself. Apart from a battery running out, and the Garmin T1, it's extremely unlikely to have a transmitter work before the dive, but fail during. Most of the times, electronics fail on startup. And when they do fail, it's pretty obvious. SPGs, on the other hand can drift to inaccuracy, stick on a pressure and so on.
When I'm diving my own rig, I use just the transmitter. I also use an SPG when I use a local aquarium's gear. A few weeks back, I caught an intermittent failure of the SPG. SPG was still reading full after about 20 minutes underwater. I knew that couldn't be right, so flicked it a few times, and eventually it came back to making sense. Had it hung up at a point later in the dive, it might not have been so obvious.
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