How well does your OTS Guardian breathe?

Hello! I'm interested in hearing any feedback from OTS Guardian FFM users regarding how well their mask breathes at different diver orientations (e.g. on your back, on your left/right side, horizontal with head up/down, vertical with head up/down etc.)

I just got one and have only used it in the pool so far, but notice distinct differences in how easily it breathes depending on my body position. It is being fed by a Dacor Eagle Sport 1st stage that is supplying 140 psi to the Guardian's built-in 2nd stage. I do NOT notice anywhere near as much of a wide range of breathing work with my standard Dacor Eagle 2nd stages. I would expect that an $800 mask would be an easy breather in virtually any diver orientation.

The Guardian 2nd stage used to "stutter" occasionally when I breathed through my nose, but OTS worked with me and the dive shop to describe where to put silicone grease on a pin to create friction to stop the stuttering (which I could also stop by just breathing through my mouth once the stuttering started). That seems to have stopped the problem for now, though I'm a bit uneasy that periodic lubrication (supposedly about every 5 dives) is the answer instead of an inherent design fix.

So, what I'm left wondering about is how well the other ones out there breathe, including whether they stutter as well. I'll get 5 dives on it in Playa del Carmen next week, so we'll see if it gets any easier at depth.

Thanks!

I have not had an issue with it being hard to breath from, however I have had the "stutter" problem. My solution was to tighten the nut on the purge lever to make the break pressure a little higher. After doing that the "stutter" problem went away, and I still do not have a problem with any kind of labored breathing.

Thanks "todd_18". I just got back from Mexico and dove my Guardian on 2 drift dives at Palancar reef. I ended up removing the mask from my 1st stage after that and going back to my Dacor regs. They just breathe so much more comfortably and easily, which I really needed to help delicately control buoyancy in the tight spaces of the cavern dives I did the next day. I just never felt comfortable in the open water with the Guardian, despite numerous pool sessions before going down to Cozumel. There are about 6 things I absolutely love about that mask, but unfortunately also about 5 things I don't care for about it. I'll probably try to return it or sell it.

As for the stuttering problem, it disappeared after the local dive shop put a dollop of silicone grease on the 2nd stage diaphragm pin. OTS says that will act as a damper and create enough friction to stop the stutter. They were right, although you have to reapply the grease periodically. I'd prefer a more permanent solution, as it'd be disconcerting to be down at 100' and find out that the stutter is back because the grease wore off.

Hi Brian, sounds to me like your regulator needs some adjustment. It should breath very easy, if not, it's out of adjustment. Does it purge well when you push on the diaphragm? If not, this is an indicator that the lever is too low. To the flutter, it is an issue generally in shallow water and the grease does a good job of reducing the issue. I dive the Guardian exclusively, but I'm biased.

The last pool session I did before using it in the open water, I took the mask off underwater then put it back up to my face and pushed the diaphragm to purge it (with head tilted back per the instruction manual). I don't know how much air is supposed to come whooshing out of the 2nd stage, but it was forceful enough for me to get a ton of water up my nose (but maybe I did it incorrectly). I was able to successfully clear the mask that way, though it's a drill that definitely takes some getting used to. I wouldn't want to have to do it at depth, but then there is little reason I can think of in recreational diving to put a flooded Guardian back on once you've had some reason to remove it (except maybe if you dropped your backup mask). It seals so well I can't imagine it ever flooding for any reason. The same nose flush thing happened when I practiced an emergency bail out. As soon as you start to take off the mask and water hits the 2nd stage from the inside, it free flows. It definitely takes some composure not to start coughing and breathing before you get your backup 2nd in your mouth and your backup mask on. If you remove the mask quickly, though, you don't get anywhere near as much water up your nose as you do if you are more slow and tentative, and the mask swap is more graceful. Just takes practice, and there's probably some trick to it I haven't found yet that makes purging/bailing out even more routine to do. So, that may or may not help tell you how much air the 2nd stage is delivering. With normal use, once the air flow starts it seems to flow OK, but it does take more inhalation effort to get it started and fully exhausted than my standard 2nd stage (e.g. I need to exhale harder to get the diaphragm to open in the first place, then push a little harder to keep it open while I exhale).

brianf359:

Thanks "todd_18". I just got back from Mexico and dove my Guardian on 2 drift dives at Palancar reef. I ended up removing the mask from my 1st stage after that and going back to my Dacor regs. They just breathe so much more comfortably and easily, which I really needed to help delicately control buoyancy in the tight spaces of the cavern dives I did the next day. I just never felt comfortable in the open water with the Guardian, despite numerous pool sessions before going down to Cozumel. There are about 6 things I absolutely love about that mask, but unfortunately also about 5 things I don't care for about it. I'll probably try to return it or sell it.

As for the stuttering problem, it disappeared after the local dive shop put a dollop of silicone grease on the 2nd stage diaphragm pin. OTS says that will act as a damper and create enough friction to stop the stutter. They were right, although you have to reapply the grease periodically. I'd prefer a more permanent solution, as it'd be disconcerting to be down at 100' and find out that the stutter is back because the grease wore off.

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Hello "brianf359", I have a stutter problem but with an Ocean Reef so I'd like to understand where exactly were you advised to put a dollop grease? I don't see how grease can create friction quite the opposite but if it's just the presence of extra mass, as a dollop of grease, then that can introduce resonance damping. Is that what happened? If so then any extar mass say a small nylon nut, friction fitted to the pin would do a permanent fix. But I need to understand what exactly was the fix.

brianf359:

It definitely takes some composure not to start coughing and breathing before you get your backup 2nd in your mouth and your backup mask on.

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Ermmmm........