Opinions on different hoses?

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

DiverG

Reached My 2nd Goal!
Messages
1,489
Reaction score
287
Location
Houston, Texas, United States
# of dives
100 - 199
I will be doing a cavern course in Mexico this summer, and will be purchasing the tech hose set up. I'm interested in hearing peoples opinion on the different type of hoses such as the standard rubber hose vs miflex or other similiar material hoses. I do know of the hp miflex hose recall. My instructor's opinion is that miflex in the 5 or 7ft size is to flexible and hard to work with while the shorter sizes are great? So I would like the opinions of tech divers on the type material of hose they use and why. Also do you agree with my instructors opinion on the long miflex hoses being to flexible?
 
Based on personal experience braided hoses over 40 inches are less than desirable. I'd say floaty rather than too flexible which may be why they seem too flexible, also tend to take a set when coiled for any period of time, and for me they feel like sandpaper on the back of my neck and tend to grab those little hairs. I have a 40 on one stage reg that I will keep on this season just to give it a fair trial. The shorter ones are nice and I have the Edgeflex 6" HP braided on my stage regs and 24's on the main SPG I like em as they are easier to bend than rubber ones and tie up neater. I've sold a bunch of recreational reg sets with standard lengths and people seem to like em. Even have one set for myself. But anything I am using for tech has rubber hoses as a general rule. I'm used to them and just find it easier to manage. I don't even carry ones longer than 40 inches and don't plan to.
 
I use miflex/nylon-braided hoses for the short hose and LPI. The long hose remains rubber. My 24" SPG hose is metal braided.

Miflex/nylon-braided works well for me on the short hose and LPI... the flexibility is a benefit. I found that miflex/nylon-braided wasn't ideal for the long hose... I prefered the 'stickiness' of rubber and the weight to keep it securely in position. The metal-braided SPG hose is/was just an experiment - thus far, no better or worse than rubber (miflex HP hose seems to have a lot of negative issues/failures, so I've avoided that on advice).
 
I use miflex/nylon-braided hoses for the short hose and LPI. The long hose remains rubber.

+1

I tried Miflex long hose as well as deco bottle hose, and didn't like them for either. There's something about the way they resist torsion (while being laterally very flexible), that makes them cumbersome for the long hoses. I also found them to be too "floaty" - the long hose floating up behind my head - and too slippery to easily keep in place.

Great for inflator and back-up hoses though, especially in doubles where - depending on your first stages - these hoses may take a tight bend.

Henrik
 
I had the same problems as others with MiFlex on anything longer then 36". They like to stay the way they were coiled and are unruly on long hoses. My inflator hoses are MiFlex though, as are some of my short hoses. I am using either rubber, or Phantom braided hoses as my long hose. They seem to work much better then the miflex IMO.
 
Disclaimer: Im not a tek diver:)

Depending on your regs miflex might work well on apeks / sp 17 regs for the backup. For Mk20/25 it does not matter. For the stages IMHo miflex is not a plus as generally 40" hose will not have a very tight bends. And the flexibility of the hose does not help when you stove the hose.
The rigidness of the rubber hose helps it actually.
 
I am not a tech diver either. I used my 22" backup and HP hose to Phantom hose for fundie. I didn't like nether. With my double setup, I went back to rubber for all hose. 22" hose is just to whimpy for my liking. It doesn't stay in a arch shape around my neck. The HP hose is too rigid in the torsion direction, making rotating spg difficult.
 
I have one miflex lp hose. I use it on my left sidemount tank due to a less than perfect hose routing. Apart from that I prefer regular hoses.

Would not touch HP miflex with a long pole.
 
I have both rubber and miflex in 7ft configs......Im trying the miflex out on SM since the hose spends the dive bungeed to the tank, so far no too bad.....

i do like the shorter ones though, just not touching me, so my deco/stage regs all have 40in rubber
 
Agree w/the problem(s) of long Miflex LP hoses and unreliability of HP Miflex.....I attach two small knives [Remora] to my hoses and the Miflex's are too slippery and too thin for the attachment adapter that comes w/it....But where I can use LP Miflex I do and they're fine; deco bottles, secondary 2nd stage, inflator etc....If your tall and need a longer primary hose [I use a 9' one] I don't know if Miflex comes in longer than 7' lengths ??.....Miflex hoses will eventually replace standard, but like all new technologies it'll just take some time to work the 'bugs' out.......
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/
http://cavediveflorida.com/Rum_House.htm

Back
Top Bottom