XS Scuba Swivel Opinions

[DENLASCUBA]

First yes I have read through quite a few posts about swivels and have mostly seen divers talking about swivels with a central screw to hold the unit together my question is not about those types of swivels. I have had bad experiences with them leaking, blowing out, and coming apart.

I am looking at XS Scuba's swivel adapter and I am looking for opinions from those who have actually used this product or have been on a dive with a buddy and a problem happened in front of you; not looking for I heard this I heard that. From what I can see there is less chance of a problem arising with this model compared to the 360 swivels.

The other option which I have not tried yet but am considering is the xs scuba 110 degree adapter.

I am considering purchasing one of the items as I have jaw issues and become fatigued fairly quickly, I have a 1.5m hose on my primary but this only helps partially. I have used many and still use the polished chrome plated brass generic 360 swivels as this is all that is readily available near me and have had issues with them and want to get away from this product due to its unreliability.

 

[tbone1004]

surprised you've had problems with all of them.... They are quite reliable if you make sure to clean them properly and lube the O-rings regularly, since you're diving salt most of the time, and assuming daily being an instructor out there, that should be about once/month to separate the halves, throw in the ultrasonic for 3 minutes and relube the o-ring. They're used on most of the FFM's and quite a few of the reg sets in cave country. Are you using cheap ones from China or the nice Omniswivels? The machining on some of the older Chinese ones were kind of crap and they were doomed to fail from the get go.

I think these are the same concept as the ones used by Atomic and now Hollis for their second stages and they look nice. I use 90's most of the time, but would personally go to the ball swivel over the XS, but that's based on the hose routing that I use, so depending on your hose routing depends on how much of an angle you really need. I've never used one, but have been in the water with them quite often and haven't seen one fail, but then again I've also never seen a ball swivel fail either and have about 200 ish bottom time hours split between them.

 

[Nemrod]

If you mean the simple 90 degree or 110 degree swivel, yes, I have one. You will not have any problems with it. It is a quality piece.

N

 

[DENLASCUBA]

After my first one blew out on me a few years back I started changing out the O-rings and cleaning every 4-5 weeks and would re assemble back to the specs supplied in their one sheet diagram. I found myself re-tightening the main screw after about 50 dives. I even took them to my repair tech a few times and had the same issues afterwards.

Nemrod these are the two im considering

 

[Nemrod]

The one on the left is the type I have. Mine is actually the 90 degree. I have several of these and several of the Dive Rite 90 degree. They are completely trouble free and add no real point of failure other than one more O-ring. You will have no problem with them and they are completely safe for any type of diving despite the hysteria about one more O-ring.

N

 

[Linedog]

I use a DiveRite 110, love it been using it for 3 years without a speck of trouble.

 

[fbk]

Those fixed elbows are great and I use them on several sets of regs:

The 90° works perfectly for 40" hose that comes under your armpit then straight up your chest, the 110° makes the 2nd stage tilt a bit

The 110° I use on hoses that come around the neck like your 1.5m hose will. I use it on my short (18" miflex) backup reg hose that positions it just right and allows full head movement with no hose sticking out to the side.

I tried the 110° on a 7" hose as well but it complicates S drills and is better left off.

Piranha sell them for $12ea, you could grab a couple of each. As already said there is no real failure point other than the one that is on every reg hose already (+1)

 

[DENLASCUBA]

Appreciate everyone's insight, I'm going to ditch the swivel and try the elbow.