YOKE vs DIN

[El Diablo]

I had an interesting discussion with a newly certified diver in my gym and he asked me what reg type he should purchase because the majority of YouTube videos showcase YOKE first stages instead of DIN.

I suggested DIN as IMO, it is a better construction overall: it is smaller, lighter, will not snag on anything and much safer as the o-ring gets threaded inside the valve and it is not exposed to the elements as on a YOKE valve. Safety for me is the n.1 reason to buy a DIN, that's why you can find 300bar 1st stages.

In the American market it seems that YOKE is much more popular but I cannot find one simple reason...
Can you guys explain why you chose it? Is it because you learned to dive with it, was suggested by your buddies, dive store? Is it because you cannot find tanks with a donut insert?

 

[johndiver999]

They are much more robust and resistant to damage by mishandling. They are also the most common tank available for rental. They have been used for a long time.

 

[El Diablo]

They are much more robust and resistant to damage by mishandling. They are also the most common tank available for rental. They have been used for a long time.

I can see that... potentially the YOKE could protect the valve if dropped really hard.

Not easy - if you ask me - as there are hoses around the reg and the weight of the 1st stage isn't concentrated on the DIN valve* to make it tip while falling so you have to be very unlucky to strike it in a specific angle and with such force... the question is, how often has anyone hit the reg so badly and is this remote possibility enough to let go of all the other benefits. Personally in 20 years I've seen 2nd stages hit the floor hard, consoles, computers but never a 1st stage. But nevertheless, makes sense, thanks.

*On the YOKE system on the other hand, I believe the weight is balanced towards the valve.

Regarding renting, I was expecting that. In EU we have a donut insert so the customer can chose.

 

[tbone1004]

I had an interesting discussion with a newly certified diver in my gym and he asked me what reg type he should purchase because the majority of YouTube videos showcase YOKE first stages instead of DIN.

I suggested DIN as IMO, it is a better construction overall: it is smaller, lighter, will not snag on anything and much safer as the o-ring gets threaded inside the valve and it is not exposed to the elements as on a YOKE valve. Safety for me is the n.1 reason to buy a DIN, that's why you can find 300bar 1st stages.

In the American market it seems that YOKE is much more popular but I cannot find one simple reason...
Can you guys explain why you chose it? Is it because you learned to dive with it, was suggested by your buddies, dive store? Is it because you cannot find tanks with a donut insert?

Yoke regulators predate DIN regulators and as the market in the US was very large with the yoke regulators they never changed. @Luis H has a story about contacting Scubapro USA I believe who had never heard of DIN when their European counterparts were selling it.

Now, I preface this argument by saying that I own somewhere around 30 tanks which are all DIN and I own well over 30 regulator sets all but 1 of which are DIN.
If you are diving in North America *USA, Mexico, Caribbean, etc* just buy yoke and be done with it. It is VASTLY superior for that type of diving which is why the dive shops don't want to change. They are easier and faster for filling, when the bottle is dropped they generally don't ruin the valve by going out of round *very common on dive boats unfortunately*, the dynamic screw portion is on the regulator so is the customers fault vs. having to worry about maintaining threads if someone cross threads it, probably a few others that are not coming to mind because I haven't had enough coffee yet but those are more than enough for anyone running a dive operation to prefer yoke to din. This is the reason that while all of our personal tanks are DIN, all of the tanks/regulators at the university are yoke.

Now, as new bottles are being cycled in, many dive shops are going to pro valves which are convertible, but if the insert is not removed regularly the risk of the insert being fused to the valve are very high so you can't rely on that insert coming out. The choice for DIN/Yoke should be made on an individual basis based on the location and type of diving that your friend is doing. If I were in Europe, DIN all the way, if I were in North America and planned on renting tanks then yoke all the way. If owning personal tanks, I do generally recommend getting DIN but make sure when travelling that you have contingency for yoke-only tanks.

 

[lexvil]

I have and use both, primarily use DIN locally but take yoke when traveling because it’s more common and also works fine. Yoke is much more forgiving when you encounter tanks/cylinders that don’t get a lot of care.

 

[El Diablo]

Yoke regulators predate DIN regulators and as the market in the US was very large with the yoke regulators they never changed. @Luis H has a story about contacting Scubapro USA I believe who had never heard of DIN when their European counterparts were selling it.

Now, I preface this argument by saying that I own somewhere around 30 tanks which are all DIN and I own well over 30 regulator sets all but 1 of which are DIN.
If you are diving in North America *USA, Mexico, Caribbean, etc* just buy yoke and be done with it. It is VASTLY superior for that type of diving which is why the dive shops don't want to change. They are easier and faster for filling, when the bottle is dropped they generally don't ruin the valve by going out of round *very common on dive boats unfortunately*, the dynamic screw portion is on the regulator so is the customers fault vs. having to worry about maintaining threads if someone cross threads it, probably a few others that are not coming to mind because I haven't had enough coffee yet but those are more than enough for anyone running a dive operation to prefer yoke to din. This is the reason that while all of our personal tanks are DIN, all of the tanks/regulators at the university are yoke.

Now, as new bottles are being cycled in, many dive shops are going to pro valves which are convertible, but if the insert is not removed regularly the risk of the insert being fused to the valve are very high so you can't rely on that insert coming out. The choice for DIN/Yoke should be made on an individual basis based on the location and type of diving that your friend is doing. If I were in Europe, DIN all the way, if I were in North America and planned on renting tanks then yoke all the way. If owning personal tanks, I do generally recommend getting DIN but make sure when travelling that you have contingency for yoke-only tanks.

Thanks friend, makes sense

I've seen the donut getting stuck because of poor maintenance (W40 and heat helps). Not usual but I've seen it.

Cross threading no as it is extremely difficult. Never seing that.

I still prefer to have the o-ring on the DIN itself as it helps maintaining it protected. I've never encountered a DIN failure in +20 years while on YOKE I see o-rings bursting all of the time due to being dry, poorly maintained.

As I imagined, rental tanks should be the number one reason.

In any case, as both systems are interchangeable and easy to switch with adapters, there's no issue for a EU citizen to travel abroad and vice versa. Of course, you need to carry the extra weight if you are a YOKE user.

Closing with humor, by filling faster, you mean attaching the compressor hose is faster than the DIN by 7sec?

 

[CanadaDan]

One of the criterion I had when choosing first stages were that they were easy to convert back and forth (Apeks XL4+ and Cressi MC9-SC CP's) The Cressi actually came with both types and I just swap them before a trip. Temporary adaptors are easy but it's one more thing that can get lost. We dive DIN here at home and in Tulum, yoke in a lot of the rest of the Caribbean. It really boils down to the tanks available when travelling but having a preference for DIN.

 

[hedonist222]

This side of the world has moved on to modular tanks (remove insert to convert to yoke).
A two and a half day liveaboard trip I was on - 15 divers - 3 dives a day
On the last day, they ran out of DIN and modular tanks and only had YOKE tanks left - a diver had to sit out the last dive.
I still carry a DIN to YOKE converter in my kit - so it wouldn't have affected me.

Get DIN + converter.

 

[tbone1004]

@El Diablo you said closing with humor, but it is a VERY big consideration and if I owned a high volume shop, they would all be yoke or have the inserts in the tank valves. Call it 7 seconds each on attach/detach. 15 seconds to make easy math. When I worked at Seacamp it was not uncommon to have to fill 100 tanks in a session. 15secs/tank*100 tanks=25 minutes of extra time to fill for the tank monkeys. 200 tank fill sessions are not uncommon in some of the high volume shops in North America and that time is certainly valuable.

I agree about o-ring failure and it is why we teach our students to bubble check and make sure the shop sends them with fresh o-rings when they rent, but from a fill station and commercial operations perspective, yoke is vastly superior and certainly outweighs the admittedly negligible benefits of DIN in most recreational diving.

 

[parzdiver]

In my experience in North America, it is primarily because most rental tanks are yoke. It isn't a technical decision or necessarily a "that's what I was trained on." I agree that a captive o-ring and threaded fitting are a better connection. All of my personal tanks are DIN, my doubles regs and my local dive regs are DIN. My travel reg, however is yoke. For a while I traveled with a DIN reg and a yoke adapter, but that was a pain, so I put together a reg set just for travel, which is mostly Caribbean diving. If I am going somewhere new, I will check to see what kinds of tanks are typically used at the destination and pack accordiningly.