necklace not annoying?

[stuartv]

I suggest you try it. I'm guessing you tend to question everything, so why not just answer your own question?

Yes, I do question everything. I feel like that's a good trait, but anyway.... When I am able to get my own equipment, if nobody has told me why it's a bad idea, I probably will try it, just to see. For now and probably the immediate future, I will be using rental equipment.

I know I'm inexperienced and ignorant. I *think* I am capable of learning from other people's experience, though. So, I asked here in case there's some reason that it's a bad idea and I just don't see it because I'm inexperienced and ignorant. If I thought I knew everything, I probably would not ask and would just try it.

---------- Post added October 29th, 2014 at 01:08 PM ----------

I don't even notice that it's there I'm not sure what the OP means by obstructing view, since it's under your chin

If it's preventing you from lowering your chin to your chest, then I'm guessing you can't see your own BC belt buckle. If it's hanging a bit lower, and you can lower your chin to your chest, then a reg resting on your chest just below your chin seems like it would obstruct your view of your belt buckle. Either way, you would not have a clear view of your lower torso. At least somewhat. But, I'm gathering from the responses here that, in the real world, that bit of obstruction just doesn't ever bother anyone, so I should probably figure that it's not going to bother me, either.

 

[MrChen]

I don't even notice it.

 

[doctormike]

Yes, I do question everything. I feel like that's a good trait

Everything has its limits, though.

When you are learning a highly technical skill in which the underlying science, equipment and protocols have been refined over more than a hundred years of experimentation, data from vast numbers of dives, and costly experience in terms of time and lives, you might want to rethink that approach.

Because if you go from the assumption that anything and everything can be re-engineered and improved upon by an intelligent but untrained and unexperienced person, it's hard to make much progress. Sometimes, you need to get far enough into a field before you have the perspective to fix things that no one knows are broken.

Certainly, question away. The devil is in the details. But sometimes, the reason that something is widely adopted is because it works, and the people who use it may not be up to mounting a detailed thesis defense for every little aspect of the sport.

 

[djtimmy77]

I also switched to a bungeed necklace recently and don't notice it.

I suppose if you tilted your head down and the reg was in the way you could turn your head and push it out of the way with your chin.

Once you get your own rig you will also start learning where your d-rings and such are simply by feel and won't have to look down at your torso as much.

 

[doctormike]

If it's preventing you from lowering your chin to your chest, then I'm guessing you can't see your own BC belt buckle. If it's hanging a bit lower, and you can lower your chin to your chest, then a reg resting on your chest just below your chin seems like it would obstruct your view of your belt buckle. Either way, you would not have a clear view of your lower torso. At least somewhat.

Hmmm... not sure, but I never noticed either of those issues, and I never heard anyone who dives with a necklace mention them either. Maybe it varies from diver to diver or something, depending on body type?

Actually, what probably happens is that when you look down, your chin just pushes the reg to the side and you don't notice it.

 

[CptTightPants21]

You really don't notice it. The necklace is big enough that it hangs lower than your chin..more like a tie. I have never noticed it looking down, back, whatever.

It may have already been covered, but the reason that the octo is kept in a necklace is so that you always know where it is AND you can get to it with no hands.
A story was relayed to me recently about a cave diver who was going through a narrow obstruction when it partially collapsed on him, pinning him the ground with his hands on his sides. His primary reg fell out of his mouth and he had to dig with his mouth through a silt and mud pile (pinned to the ground) to get his octo. He ended up spitting out silt for the next few days, but he lived.

In a real emergency/panic, having it clipped off somewhere is a mistake, you never know what you might accidentally grab that isn't your regulator.

 

[Doppler]

Great to question everything... however, also great to recognize that a method developed by trail and error more than 30 years ago and adopted by tens of thousands of divers, once explained and understood, becomes a standard best-practice for a reason.

 

[tbone1004]

Cpt, the suicide strap shouldn't hang that low.... You need it tight enough to where you can rotate the case with your chin to get to the mouthpiece, so it's a balance between how tight it is and how low it hangs.

To the OP, you can try this with existing equipment if you want, it's a buck of bungee cord.

[video=youtube;X0aS6kRYkeQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0aS6kRYkeQ[/video]

You shouldn't need to be looking at anything on your rig except your SPG to manipulate it, you need to train yourself to do it all based off of touch.....

 

[eelnoraa]

Does anyone ever put their alternate 2nd stage on the same 22 or 24" inch hose (like for a necklace), but then run it over the right shoulder and down to some kind of octo keeper attached to the right shoulder strap of the BC? .

Be careful with this, if your octo come loose from the holder, and float behind you, you may not be able to recovery that easily with a 22" hose especially with thick suit. Imagine a OOA diver rip your primary and you have to search for your octo in this case.

 

[Lorenzoid]

So, having determined that some people use a bungeed secondary, most people who do don't find their chins bumping it when they look down, and a few people have but don't really care, how is this little survey going to affect your choice of gear? You know you're going to try it at some point, if only out of curiosity.