A Tale of Two Octos

[ew1usnr]

I wanted to update my AquaMasters with octo/inflators (see photo). The inflator integrated octopuses seemed to have a bad reputation judging from comments on this board, but for my particular application they seemed the way to go. The regulator only has one LP port and I didn't want to add another adapter just to let me use separate inflator and octopus hoses. The additional clutter of hoses would also detract from the appearance of the regulator. So, I got a ProSub octo (the one on the left). It breathes great. I tried it at 120-feet. No problem. I thought "Why do these Scubaboard people not like these? They breathe just as good as any other regulator." So, I bought another. This time, a Sherwood Shadow Plus (on the right). I at first thought that they were all the same and that the ProSub was a just a re-badged Sherwood. Wrong! When compared side by side they turned out to be sustantially different and not the same at all. When I tried the Sherwood, I was very disappointed. It breathed BAD. I had to really draw on it to get any air. Even when I pushed the purge, I had to push it hard to get any air to come out. It was borderline unusable. I know that Sherwood designed this as an octopus and made it stiff so that it wouldn't free-flow, but this was ridiculous. I opened the case and looked at it. The demand lever was not high enough to contact the diaphram properly and it didn't seem to be made so as to allow the lever to be adjusted any higher. So, I bent the end of it up some with my fingers. Some of you will say "You can't do that!!!". Well, I did. With just a bit of trial and error I improved the breathing of that Sherwood Octo at least 1000%. It now breathes easy and smooth. Vastly better than how it was initially. The ProSub is still better, but the Sherwood is now completely acceptable. The inflator integrated octopusses should not all be lumped together and painted with the same brush. Some are good and others are bad. I recommend the ProSub. I think that Sherwood needs to do some recalibration on their Shadow Plus.

 

[Boogie711]

My opposition to inflator hose air-sources has nothing to do with how well they may or may not breath.

 

[ew1usnr]

The new "Shadow Plus" style octopus is a significant improvement over the more conventional original Shadow (see photo). The Shadow Plus can be used with near equal ease which ever side is up. There is no potential "upside down" confusion as when an out of air dive grabs a conventional octopus from the wrong direction. The old Shadow partially addressed this by reducing the size of the exhaust tee, but it was still awkward to use upside down.

One note: I replaced the original short hose that came with the octo inflators and replaced them with a longer air hose. This was because the "loop" created by feeding the hose to the left required some extra hose length.

 

[Groundhog246]

I'd really like to see how air sharing is going to work. Since donating the double hose will be difficult, you'll have your buddy hanging off your inflater/octo as you both try to ascend.
I'd suggest a pony as a better alternative.

 

[ScoobieDooo]

Groundhog246,
I don't see where that's a problem - scuba agencies such as NAUI, PADI, YMCA, SSI have been teaching air sharing / buddy breathing via an octopus for years. Where is that a problem?

Air sharing via an octo is the same be it when diving a double hose reg or a single hoser. Air sharing is air sharing...

Besides - your missing the whole 'point' to this. The idea is to move to a style of diving where simplicity was the way back then. Its like putting a GPS in a '69 Dodge Charger!

 

[ew1usnr]

Groundhog246 once bubbled...
I'd really like to see how air sharing is going to work. Since donating the double hose will be difficult, you'll have your buddy hanging off your inflater/octo as you both try to ascend.
I'd suggest a pony as a better alternative.

It seems that a worry is that it would be difficult to dump air from my BC while ascending with a person breathing off my inflator hose. This is easily avoided by using one of my manual inflator BC's (see photo). Manual inflator BC's also avoid the whole issue of a sticking auto-inflator. I can then route the inflator/octo to my right and simply use it as an octopus. Then there will be no problem. The main reason why I wanted an inflator hose in the first place was to have a place to attach an intermediate pressure gauge in order to fine tune the regulator.

 

[Groundhog246]

Yes, dumping air with someone on your inflator hose would be the biggest issue. Even without an inflator present (or assuming you disconnected the hose from the inflator), it's an awfully short hose for sharing. On the plus side, they're better octo's than say an Air2. However, any octo is probably better than no octo, which leaves you to share your primary (I was trained on that too, it ain't a lot of fun).

ScoobieDooo
The agencies teach air sharing on a standard octo, usually on a 30" hose, not an octo on your 20" or so inflator hose. "Proper" technique for a shadow octo or Air2 is to donate your primary to your buddy and switch to your octo. Either technique with a double hose reg, will put you in very close quarters amking a nice controlled ascent more challenging. For my own set, I located a 36" hose for my octo. 6" doesn't sound like much, but it's a 20% increase in length and practicing with it, I think worth the expense.

 

[ew1usnr]

Groundhog246 once bubbled...
Even without an inflator present (or assuming you disconnected the hose from the inflator), it's an awfully short hose for sharing.

I replaced the short original hoses with longer octopus length hoses. The one on the left is 36". The one on the right is 30".