Octopus for scubapro setup

[gfisher4792]

Hi all,

I'm shopping around for an octo to go with my scubapro mk25/G250 setup. I was wondering what other people with a similar set up have, and what is compatible with a mk25. I don't want an AIR II, I like having a standalone octo. I've used a Genesis SKO, and that seemed to work well, but I'd like a broader range of opinions. Thanks in advance.

 

[Waterlover]

Scubapro R190 or R380 octopus to go with your regulator

 

[gfisher4792]

but I've seen different octo choices off the same 1st stage (spec. the mk25), including regular SP octos (R190, R380), other manuf. octos (genesis, (I think) apeks), a SP S550 octo (Europe-only, maybe?) and just matching 2nd stages (2 D400s; nice setup!). Just curious what others on the board had and opinions.

 

[Charlie99]

A regulator with the exhaust port on the side, such as a Dacor Viper octopus, works equally well rightside up or upside down. That means that in the possible confusion of an incident where you need to share air, you can't inadvertantly donate the reg upside down and breathing wet.

I tried another side exhaust octo, the Aqualung LPO and discarded it as being a horrible reg, but am very happy with the Dacor Viper.

Charlie

 

[jonnythan]

Charlie99 once bubbled...
A regulator with the exhaust port on the side, such as a Dacor Viper octopus, works equally well rightside up or upside down. That means that in the possible confusion of an incident where you need to share air, you can't inadvertantly donate the reg upside down and breathing wet.

I tried another side exhaust octo, the Aqualung LPO and discarded it as being a horrible reg, but am very happy with the Dacor Viper.

Charlie

Donate the reg in your mouth... eliminates the problems of giving the OOA a reg style they're unfamiliar with AND the "upside down" problem.

And you avoid having to make anyone breathe off a Dacor Viper.

 

[Charlie99]

jonnythan once bubbled...
Donate the reg in your mouth... eliminates the problems of giving the OOA a reg style they're unfamiliar with AND the "upside down" problem.

And you avoid having to make anyone breathe off a Dacor Viper.

The above is an appropriate response if the original question was about a secondary reg, but he was asking about an octo, which implies he is using the standard method.

Do you have a useful comment to make about the Dacor Viper --- do you even know anything about the relative WOB of the various regs?

Donating the reg in your mouth does NOT eliminate the problems of passing off a reg upside down. Perhaps it is time to think a little rather than parrot slogans.

Charlie

 

[wreckchick]

I'm looking at the R380 as an octo if I get a Scubapro set-up.

Re: Dacor Viper
During my open water pool sessions, my buddy has his pretty much fall apart and start delivering him water instead of air. After seeing that I don't think I would dive with a buddy who had one as an octo. I would consider that he/she was diving without one.

My $0.02

Rachel

 

[jonnythan]

Charlie99 once bubbled...


The above is an appropriate response if the original question was about a secondary reg, but he was asking about an octo, which implies he is using the standard method.

Do you have a useful comment to make about the Dacor Viper --- do you even know anything about the relative WOB of the various regs?

Donating the reg in your mouth does NOT eliminate the problems of passing off a reg upside down. Perhaps it is time to think a little rather than parrot slogans.

Charlie

I don't parrot anything. When you have your primary on a long hose and you donate that reg, there's no way the OOA will get it upside down. You grab the regulator and shove it in the direction of the OOA and it's just right side up. It would take some weird hand contortions for anything else to happen. Have you ever tried donating your primary when it was on a long hose?

There is more to a reg than WOB. In the only tests I've read of the Viper, the WOB is about average for regulators. However, I've used one. The air output is horribly placed so it streams bubbles across your left eye, and the purge is a joke. I actually think you're the first person I've seen to recommend the reg... I've seen a lot of people who have them tell other people not to get them.

Also, breathing off a side-exhaust reg is a bit different from a bottom-exhaust. If your head is tilted the wrong way, the water simply won't evacuate (especially on the Viper... a Jetstream probably will). This is second nature for someone who uses one regularly, but in a stressful situation, an OOA doesn't need the added stress of a strange regulator. Bottom exhaust regs are pretty much all the same - water goes out the bottom, not the left hand side.

 

[Charlie99]

jonnythan once bubbled...
I don't parrot anything. When you have your primary on a long hose and you donate that reg, there's no way the OOA will get it upside down. You grab the regulator and shove it in the direction of the OOA and it's just right side up. It would take some weird hand contortions for anything else to happen.

Surely you jest.

The other mantra constantly repeated is that the OOA diver will yank the reg out of your mouth.

Imagine an OOA diver coming up to you and grabbing the reg. If he takes it in a straight line to his face, first pointing the mouthpiece down, then around to point to him, then it will be upside down. That's not what I would call either a weird hand contortion or something that is all that unusual.

I have seen exactly what I have described above occur during OW training.

If you do have an emergency, verifying that the recipient actually got the reg in rightside up is something worth checking.

Charlie

 

[Lead_carrier]

I like the AquaLung LPO. It is low profile, thus the name. Plus there is no upside down to it. So you can breath it in any direction.