Is octopus useless?

(afraid of being yelled at but anyway)
People have not always used octopus. To my mind it became "the must" only within past 20 years or so. And it's being marketed as "important safety feature".
But what it really does?
1. It has nothing to do with the first stage failure as may happen with icing or contamination or rusting (relatively common faults).
2. In the event of LP hose rupture/leak the air will still be leaking but you should be able to use the main 2nd stage anyway.
3. Octo is an extra 2nd stage, but how many times did you have selective 2nd stage failure, preventing you from using it?
4. Octo as a backup for your buddy?
a. on a regular open water dives any two (and more) trained divers should be comfortable breathing from one regulator taking turns.
b. on cave/complex wreck diving the standard octo hose length will not permit simultaneous use anyway.

So what I see from this is:
a. using complete redundancy with twin cylinders/twin first stages and independent valves
b. at least using long (4') hose for octo when going wrecks
c. diving with people who know how to dive and not just how to hold a mouthpiece
d. regular octo is useless.
(i guess i'm coming close to DIR but don't need the whole DIR discussion)

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Well, I had to use mine the other day coz my main second stage died a horrible death. I was glad I had one. Would a different set up have worked? Sure. Is the occy easy and workable for my needs? Yup.

Thankfully there are lots of choices out there.

May I ask what happened to your second stage, what model was it?

It was my old reg and it totally freaked out. Wouldn't stop freeflowing unless we completely shut the valve. Which we did with a zip tie and some duct tape Worked just fine. Probably never happen in another million years...but there you go, Murphy at work!

It was, of course, the one day we didn't bring spares with us, so duct taping the thing and using my occy was the only way I was diving that day.

My octo isn't useless--it's what I'll be breathing from if I have to donate my primary to an OOA diver. It sits nicely under my chin where I can always find it. This really doesn't have anything to do with DIR.

Which means you went diving without main 2nd stage..

selytch:

Which means you went diving without main 2nd stage..

Click to expand...

Ummm...yes?

i don't think you should have dived with this malfunctioning reg at all. from what you said one cannot be sure if freeflowing is due to stuck valve on the 2nd stage or exeeding intermediate pressure from the 1st.
not to mention that most divers choose for octo backup cheaper models.

The main reason to have a second second stage is to be able to provide gas to a buddy. Buddy breathing is harder to do, and more stressful, and more prone to error, as you transfer the regulator from one person to another. If someone can receive a working regulator and begin to breathe, their safety is better assured. Your buddy is carrying YOUR emergency air supply -- don't you hope he has one?

I do agree with you that the traditional arrangement of the octopus stowed somewhere and a short primary hose is suboptimal. Even my husband, who remains resolutely anti-DIR, has adopted the 5' hose/bungied secondary configuration because it quite simply makes sense.

Being a new inexperienced diver, I'd rather have my octo/2nd stage on my lp, and not ever need it. Than need it and not have one. I also always dive with my pony bottle. So in essence I have 3 2nd stages. I always dive with a buddy but dont care to vision what will happen when all feces hits the fan and that buddy turns out to be one of the horror buddies I read about. And if he needs it it all well and good, I'm prepared. I'd rather rely on myself than someone else to get me out of a bad situation. Better safe than sorry at this point in my tiny little career.