Advice on OTS Guardian?

[Triker]

I enjoy my Guardian FFM. I do the bulk of my dives in quarries in Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky (read: cold water) and am not terribly cold tolerant. When my dive buddies wound up with one and raved about its benefits in cold water, I knew I had to experience it. I bought one last year and haven't looked back. I also like the wider field of view, lack of fogging issues, GoPro mounting options and of course, the warmer face.

I also have the BuddyPhone communications hardware, however the only place I've used it is in the pool. I found that it was causing a small leak on that side of my mask (possibly pulling down on the strap) and the bubbles became annoying. I hope to spend some time in the pool this winter perfecting it. I think with enough people around me having it, there are some situations where it would be useful. I don't think I will dive with the BuddyPhone all the time, however, since I do enjoy the silence when underwater. I wonder if the Aquacom unit and the separate transceiver would be less susceptible to causing leaks/annoying bubbles since the transciever is mounted off-mask?

 

[anelson-OTS]

Hi Toddville 393,

Any decent / high performing 1st stage will work with the Guardian. For best performance, it is recommended that your 1st stage is set to an IP of 135psi.

Go-Pros are easy to mount with the Guardian (we have mounting brackets) and the video comes out great, depending on if you are whipping your head around underwater or not. I have seen some video that will make you a little nauseous.

Here is a video from a dive done on opening night of lobster season with a GoPro. What we've found is that attaching one of the two earphones (right earphone) from an ear/mic assembly, typically used with our transceiver units mounted to your tank strap, such as our SSB 2010, to the back of the underwater housing of the GoPro with a small amount of Dual Lock, which you can buy at any hardware store for cheap works great!

All the audio from the video is coming directly from one earphone to the back of the housing : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uw9CppAem4Y&list=UUPPGCZm-6AdTl1c3y64kcYQ

If you have any questions regarding the masks or any of our communications, give me a shout and I'd be glad to answer them for you.

Happy diving! I'd be interested in hearing how your experience goes with the mask at your local dive shop!

--Andy

---------- Post added November 17th, 2014 at 12:57 PM ----------

I enjoy my Guardian FFM. I do the bulk of my dives in quarries in Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky (read: cold water) and am not terribly cold tolerant. When my dive buddies wound up with one and raved about its benefits in cold water, I knew I had to experience it. I bought one last year and haven't looked back. I also like the wider field of view, lack of fogging issues, GoPro mounting options and of course, the warmer face.

I also have the BuddyPhone communications hardware, however the only place I've used it is in the pool. I found that it was causing a small leak on that side of my mask (possibly pulling down on the strap) and the bubbles became annoying. I hope to spend some time in the pool this winter perfecting it. I think with enough people around me having it, there are some situations where it would be useful. I don't think I will dive with the BuddyPhone all the time, however, since I do enjoy the silence when underwater. I wonder if the Aquacom unit and the separate transceiver would be less susceptible to causing leaks/annoying bubbles since the transciever is mounted off-mask?

Triker,

I'd be happy to direct you to a more expensive unit with an earphone assembly, but this sounds like an improper adjustment of the straps. When you seal the mask, be sure that it is sealed completely on either the skin of of your face -- or on top of a thin latex hood. If you are trying to seal on top of a thick neoprene hood, the mask can leak.

What I've found with the buddy phone is when you seat the mask on your face, try tightening the left side straps first, starting with the bottom. Then go back to bottom right, then right middle, then lastly, the top. This will force the strap harness to seat correctly on the back of your head and it pulls the weight from the buddy phone up to where it needs to be. The strap OTS logo should be seated just above the "knowledge knot" on the back of your head and all straps should be snugged up, but not cranked on your face.

One common problem we run into it that users of the mask tighten the top strap first, which can cause jaw fatigue over time, especially if you are using communications and cause discomfort.

Sometimes I wish I could I could take 10 minutes with divers face to face and help alleviate small issues like this, but unfortunately teleporters haven't been introduced yet.

Or if you'd like I can still direct you to the nearest dive shop

Hope this helps! If you have any more questions, please let me know!

 

[toddville393]

So for their Black Friday Sale Dive Right Into Scuba has Guardians for $500 which really got me over any concerns I had and I just ordered one. Thanks everyone for your advice. I'm still a lil worried about how well it will work with my first stage but I guess we'll see. Also can anyone recommend a cheap quick disconnect I can buy?

 

[anelson-OTS]

So for their Black Friday Sale Dive Right Into Scuba has Guardians for $500 which really got me over any concerns I had and I just ordered one. Thanks everyone for your advice. I'm still a lil worried about how well it will work with my first stage but I guess we'll see. Also can anyone recommend a cheap quick disconnect I can buy?

Toddville393,

I think you'll be pleased.

This is the quick disconnect we offer for the Guardian : Shop | Ocean Technology Systems

Keep in mind that the Guardian mask already has a quick disconnect for the regulator inside the oral nasal of the mask. Unless you are switching gases / hoses it may not be necessary for you to purchase one and it may save you even more money I spoke with a couple at the DEMA show who thought they needed a pair and saved them a few bucks.

Let us know how your 1st stage works with the mask when you get the chance to try it. I'd be interested in how it performs. Also, keep in mind we recommend setting it to 135 psi.

Hope this helps!

 

[TotDoc]

The black Friday sale got me over my couple years of indecision also - just bought a pair of guardians with D2s last night. Now I just need to figure out what would be the best 1st stage to go with them...I know that any first stage will technically work, but any idea what first stages work best? I'd really like one that works well with a traditional second stage at the same IP so I have a backup to donate for someone with an OOA issue. I would love to know if these work well with the aqualung legends - I'd love to have this set on a first stage with an auto closure device!

 

[kwinter]

I disagree with anelson a bit. A quick disconnect is very useful. While the reg does disconnect from the mask, I find it more useful to disconnect the hose from the reg and keep the mask & reg together in the case. Fortunately the Guardian uses a standard LP hose connection (unlike the AGA), so any QD will work. Of course the Omniswivel is the gold standard and I use them exclusively. Omniswivel QD-YF-S is the set of male and female QD parts. Pricey, but effective. Of course you can just use a regular hose and unscrew it each time. It only needs to be finger tight.

And note to TotDoc - The Legend or any other decent first stage will work perfectly with the Guardian second stage. Honestly, the days of matching firsts and seconds are over, despite what the manufacturers would like to believe.


iPhone. iTypo. iApologize.

 

[TotDoc]

Thanks for the info kwinter!

 

[Hoyden]

I use Guardian masks at work for a variety of reasons. I dive one several days a week on multiple dives. We use them with both Aqualung Titans and Sherwood Brutes. As all have mentioned above, they work fine with pretty much any first stage. I just got back from a dive vacation and after a week of diving a regular mask, I am ready to get a Guardian for my personal use. I would urge you to seek some training in the use of the mask. I run the training for all of our divers and there are some basic skills (like tightening the mask straps in the correct order, doff and don, bail-out procedures,etc) that are not necessarily intuitive.

Good luck,

Jackie

 

[UofO Scaup]

Really enjoyed the video.

 

[toddville393]

I know this is an old thread, but I just wanted to post this update for anyone who may come across this.

The HOG D3 1st stage works well right out of the box with the OTS Guardian. This setup breathes extremely well at depths below 30ft, but in shallower depths it is a little difficult to breath from not unbearable though. When I get my 1st stage serviced I'm going to have the IP adjusted to exactly 135psi.

Also, I went cheap and bought the XS Scuba QD and it works fine and makes life so much easier. I just get out of the water disconnect the hose and keep my Guardian on until I get to a suitable place to doff it.

A note that I would like to inform first time Guardian users of is that even when the Ambient Breathing Valve open if you breath hard enough, such as in a tiring surface swing to your dive line, you can pull air through the regulator because the ABV can only flow so much air and if you breath hard enough you will begin to draw a vacuum in the mask and since its a positive pressure FFM the 2nd stage will begin to flow to fill the mask back up to ambient pressure. So keep that in mind as you can easily suck down 500psi just the surface if you're breathing heavy, so calm down an don't in a rush.