what regs do u dive w/?

I was wandering, do ne of you dive solely w/ an Octo, no main? Reason being I have been seeing a lot of pics of divers w/ just an octo in their mouth and someone wanted to sell me equipment w/ just 2 octos. He said he always just dove w/ an octo. From my training and logically speaking, it would not be wise to dive this way in my point of view but I was just wandering if ne one here actually does/did and y if u have.


Thanks again,


:spider:

i think you might be mistaken or at least have a mistaken idea of what an 'octopus' is.

an 'octo' is a redundant second stage. in contruction the same as any other second. the main difference is, it is (usualy) on a longer hose. the exception being a tek diving setup were the primary second stage is on a longer hose and the secondary one is kept short (there are reasons for this - but not here/now).

on certain regs sets the octo is 'detuned' slightly to prevent freeflow, and some are of a different design than the primary and breath much harder then the primary (avoid those). a reg that is sold as an 'octopus' is often given a brite colored outer shell compared to one marketed as a primary but that is the only difference, the internals are the same. you will see colored regs in photos mostly because of just that - the color.

The defination of an octo i recieved was an "back-up" reg not intended for primary use.



But thanks for the explaination.....so my question then is why dont the industry just sell one "main" reg and ppl can buy 2 regs. use one as a spare if they are the same and do w/o octos?


Thanks

A good example would be that my deco bottle has a Aqualung Calypso for a reg. This is a great reg for what I use it for and for Caribbean diving. I wouldn't necessarily trust it for twenty minutes below 100 ft. in cold like I would either of my primaries.

Those two are better designed to be at that depth in those conditions. Neither one is as inexpensive as the Calypso. The only use for my deco bottle is twenty to thirty foot, so it is fine for its use.

The octo is designed to save you money (the manufacturers say anyways). The minute you go to it, your dive is over. You are coming up. It doesn't need to be as high quality as a regulator that you intend to breathe off of for awhile, so its internals are of a lower grade material and it will tend to breathe quite a bit harder. But, it will be cheaper. In the end, they assume that it will make the customer a little more happy.

scubaspider once bubbled...
The defination of an octo i recieved was an "back-up" reg not intended for primary use.

But thanks for the explaination.....so my question then is why dont the industry just sell one "main" reg and ppl can buy 2 regs. use one as a spare if they are the same and do w/o octos?

Thanks

Click to expand...

they DO. if you look at what the manufacturers offer you see that most regs come as a first stage/ single secound setup. most offer the same second stage in a colored housing with a longer hose and call it the octo. but because it is intended for limited ( if any) use, most people (and some manufacturers) put a cheaper ( or old reg) secound stage on as the 'safe second' - another word for it, because a number years ago the octo was incorporated into the BC inflater, that setup seems to have fallen out of favor in recent years. with the inflater hose second you passed off the main and used the safe secound yourself. in recent years there has been a lot of manufacterers who have made a oct specific secound stage - these are small, breath very bad and are good only for emergency ascents ( preferably in good conditions )

i recomend matching seconds - give you an example
a few years ago i did a shore dive in rather bad conditions, there was a lot of forest trash floating on the surface. on the swim out ( >500 yrds) i got stuuf in the main and it started breathing very wet a depth. i switch to the other reg and finished the dive. i had an aqulung "octo" ( one of those sidebreathing half sized things) on a stage bottle once, if i'd have had that POS on as a second i'd have aborted the dive.

Hi Scubaspider,

I don't like or use 'octo' regs. Had one once but my LDS was nice enough to give me store credit towords the 2nd ATX100 secondary for it.

I just don't like the idea of failing over to a lower standard / harder breathing reg right when I'm most likly to be breathing hard and want all the gas flow I can get... OR passing that low flow reg to another diver who may be near panic and the lack of air flow from it helps push them that last little bit over the edge. NO THANKS. =-)

My recreational Regulator setup - used for single tank beach & 0-100 fsw boat diving:

ATX100 primary (yoke fitting)
2xATX100 2ndaries - one takes place of the 'octo'
console (SPG/Depth/Compass)
BC inflator whip

I've got 2 more ATX100s and 2 ATX40s (DIN fittings) setup for Tech diving with doubles and deco bottles (Use the long hose setup mentioned above, etc...).

I use poseidon Jetstream 2nd stages for main and Octo, using the yellow jetsream octo.

The jetsreams have a -/+ switch to desensitize the 2nd stage so I suppose I get the best of both worlds.

I never use an actual "octo" either, My set up contains a Scubapro MK25 1st stage w/ 2 m600 second stages, I keep my primary on a 7 foot hose and the secondary hanging around my neck. The reason I dont use a lower grade octo is that in an out of air emergency or a 2nd stage failure I want my backup to breathe just as well as my primary. As far as tuning and free flow issues are concerned, the m600 like alot of ther quality regulators, has Diver adjustable VIVA , inhalation controls.

I dive with a Dacor Viper Metal and a Dacor Viper Octo.....

A true redundant 2nd stage would be the EXACT same kind of regulator as your primary 2nd stage...with only one number off on the serial numbers.

Sherwood Blizzard as my main..

SeaQuest Octopus...

Pony REg...