I don't think Halcyon will offer a pull dump, but if you are horizontal, you can easily dump from the rear dump without having to lift the inflator hose.
Pull dump hoses can not only fail by the wire breaking, but the stress from repeated tugging can fatigue the plastic and cause the entire hose to come off when you pull -- this is one of the only total wing failures you can have, where you cannot add any gas, and the wing won't hold any in any position that is reasonable to dive.
I much prefer a pull dump inflator. From an ergonomic standpoint it makes absolutely no sense to separate the inflate and deflate funtion. If you are inflating the Bc and you add too much air, then you simply pull down on the inflator a little and can instantly correct. You don't even have to move your hand, it can remain exactly where it is when the inflation was done. You don't even have to move your fingers to find the deflate button on the inflator mechanism
Thiis seems much, much easier and simpler and more efficient than dropping the inflator and then moving your arm back down to your butt and then trying to locate a little knot on a little string and then dumping air and if you mess up and dump too much... well then start over.
If the internal pull dump wire breaks, it does not necessarily threaten the integrity of the BC, If/when it fails, then the Bc functions EXACTLY like a BC without a pull dump.. it is not really a failure of any consequence. If you are used to gently tugging on the inflator and feeling the valve open, it is quite evident when the cable has broken. However, I have broken SEVERAL internal cables,
The idiots seem to all use SS cable covered with plastic sleeve that always corrodes and breaks where the metal crimp compromises the plastic wire sleeve. I have even written to aqualung/sea quest about this telling them that they could use 300 lb monofilament which is probably stronger, cheaper and will never fail like this. That is what I always use when I fix the broken internal wires.
As for repeated tugging causing stress and eventual breakage of plastic, isn't that exactly how a rear pull dump operates?
Also I would much prefer a pull dump inflator if I should be in an emergency situation where i am ascending in a vertical posiion, face to face with the victim. It will be very simple to tug down on my inflator or the victim's BC rather than reaching around and trying to find my rear dump, or to even find the deflate button on my inflator and then lifting the hose. Plus in the verical position the rear dump does not function unless the BC/bladder is almost entirely filled.
I dislike having to locate the deflate button and to raise my inflator to dump air, it is an extra step that I don't want when my hands are filled with stuff and things are happening fast underwater.
However, I will admit that choosing a simple elbow versus a pull dump assembly on the inflator does eliminate a potential failure point. For me, until I get burned, I will generally opt for the convience of the pull dump.
I also think that many of the stories you hear about people yanking the inflator down so hard that it damages the BC (or puills the hose out) are probably caused by the use of a single zip tie rather than what I consider to be a decent attachment device. The hose separates because of a crappy attachment rather than the hose itself failing.
Also, my current favorite BC has no rear dump, just a plastic screw on plate. I figure eliminating the rear pull dump is reducing the complexity of my BC and eliminates a potential failure point (the springs in those things can and do fail; did halcyon have a recall on those springs?)
Also, we have all heard about the string on the rear dump getting caught on something and venting the BC and preventing it from operating. So having a rear dump is sorta like accepting a known failure point just for convenience isn't it?
to the OP: just replace the elbow with a pull dump mechanism and while you are at it, ditch that inflator and put an AIR 2 on it.
