Upgrade or Replace?

[ChaosHokie]

In anticipation of some potentially nice black friday deals--I hope-- I've been considering making some changes to my regulator setup.

I currently dive an Aqualung Titan LX Supreme (cold water version of the LX) with an ABS Octo with a yoke 1st stage. The LX is awesome, and I have no complaints about it, but I pretty much hate the ABS--it's a pancake style. Also, I'm thinking about converting to the long-hose + bungee'd backup. I dove a friend's setup and found it to be more comfortable than the traditional setup.

As I see it, my options are:
a) swap out the ABS octo for another regulator
PROs: cost; no DIN
CONs: no backup reg; will have to buy new hoses to convert to long hose + necklace; what do I do with the ABS octo?
b) get a completely new setup and keep my current setup as a backup
PROs: get a DIN 1st stage; have a backup regulator set
CONs: cost; still have to dive the old setup occasionally to make sure it works; maintenance on two sets of regs
c) get a completely new setup and sell my current one
PROs: get a DIN 1st stage; subsidized by selling old setup
CONs: cost; typical issues with selling gear

Am I missing anything else? I'm not sure if having two sets of regs is worth it, and I'm not sure if having a DIN 1st stage is vital either. I'm not planning on doing any Cave or wreck penetration dives anytime soon, nor do I own HP tanks. My kids are 10+ years away from diving, and my wife is too claustrophobic to dive anywhere where visibility isn't the Red Sea .

I'm working with a limited budget...i.e. the less I spend on regulators, the more I can spend on actually diving....so cost is definitely a factor.

 

[tbone1004]

buy a used octo on here, lots of Apeks types laying around. Hell I have an extra one if you're interested, send me a PM.
Hoses aren't that expensive. If you don't have any tanks that require 300 bar, then just stay with the yoke until you end up with those types of tanks. Dealing with DIN regs if you have yoke tanks tends to be irritating *first stage sticks out about 2 inches farther towards your head.
Now, you don't need a true "long" hose. For open water dives I don't use one. I keep the octo on a suicide strap, and my primary is on a longer hose, but never more than 40 inches. Usually in the 3 foot or less range. I don't want open water knuckleheads getting that far away from me and trying to go where I don't want them to. My buddies are a different story but we are all on doubles or sidemount so less of a need for that since we have redundancy.
re. what to do with the ABS, just hold onto it for now. Won't hurt to keep it laying around, not much of a market for those types. I have a similar one that I use on my O2 reg, but that's because I'm too cheap to buy a newer one.

 

[Scott L]

If selling your existing ABS Octo and replacing with a Titan 2nd stage is somewhere in your post, I would go in that direction.

 

[ChaosHokie]

If selling your existing ABS Octo and replacing with a Titan 2nd stage is somewhere in your post, I would go in that direction.

I'm an engineer, so I tend to overanalyze everything

I was actually thinking about a HOG regulator.

 

[tbone1004]

just be mindful about the servicing aspect of the hogs, you will likely need to service them yourself as some shops may be leery about servicing them if they aren't officially certified just in case something goes wrong. It's the huge appeal for tech divers but a potential issue if you aren't comfortable servicing your own gear

 

[halocline]

No matter what you get, it will likely not outperform your current reg. So, unless you need or want another reg for some specific purpose, just keep using the one you already own. Sell the terrible octo on ebay, someone will buy it. You can replace it with a titan 2nd stage, or any decent full size 2nd stage. There's no problem buying a used one.

Since you're interested in the long hose, I'd suggest a 5' primary hose, 22-24" alternate, and 24" HP hose. You're going to have to buy those hoses separately even if you bought a new reg. Forget about the the 36-40" primary hose (sorry saxplayer) it won't rout in the hogarthian way, it'll just create a bigger loop. Some people do rout a primary hose that length under the shoulder and then up to a 90o elbow, but IMO it's not nearly as good as the 5' for air sharing and general streamlined hose routing. The idea that you want to 'keep' a panicking air-sharing diver close to you by limiting the hose length is very dubious IMO, and of course its not a rigid pipe, so having extra hose does nothing to prevent you from grabbing on to the diver. Why you want to do that, who knows...underwater wrestling with a panicked diver is not my idea of fun. And the idea that having an extra couple feet of hose will somehow allow this fictional diver to drag you around is likewise dubious. Longer hoses mean easier air sharing, period.

I'm not sure what you receive the advantage of DIN to be, unless you own or routinely use DIN tanks. If you do not, and are forced to use a DIN/yoke adapter, that's a big disadvantage IMO; and you might agree every time you look up and whack the back of your head. Modern yoke connections are fine; they get a bad rap because there are lots of rental tanks with yoke valves that have crispy o-rings and knackered up valves. The problem is in the condition of the tank, not the design of the valve connection. If all rental tanks were DIN, you'd see plenty of problematic ones. Just keep a couple of spare yoke o-rings in your kit so you can replace a rental one if necessary.

 

[tbone1004]

I route mine up and under the shoulder but I dive sidemount most of the time so I have wacky reg configurations. I've seen panicked divers pull hoses out of the fittings before from tugging on them, I'm not allowing any panicked diver to be only connected to me by a hose that could cause me total gas loss. Just not gonna do it. Luckily I'm a big guy so wrestling people underwater is a non issue. I've had primaries just grabbed out of my mouth and in my experience, the human contact will usually calm divers down a lot faster than letting them run around with 7 feet of hose between me and them, also prevents me getting kicked in the head which has also happened. There is nothing stopping someone from grabbing a long hose reg and pulling it up over your head as they try to ascent so you still end up wrestling. Just no need for long hoses in those situations imo.

Moral of story, pick hose lengths that fit you, and get a cheaper second stage that is still full size and works, but don't break the bank

 

[ams511]

I vote for replacing the ABS octo with a real second stage. The ABS octo is the worst breathing reg I ever tried. If cost is an issue purchase a used Conshelf from ebay. They are cheap to rebuild. I would also purchase a 22"-24" host to go with it. I would also recommend swapping the hoses from the octo and legend so you have a slightly longer hose on the primary for air sharing. This is your cheapest way out. Dive the setup a few times and see how you like it. If you want to buy a long hose latter then nothing is lost.

 

[scubafanatic]

If selling your existing ABS Octo and replacing with a Titan 2nd stage is somewhere in your post, I would go in that direction.

or, if you like the flat-pancake style octos, the Apex EGRESS.....I'm using those on all my recreational reg sets.

 

[DevonDiver]

Replace the ABS. Keep it in storage for the Pony cylinder you might buy one-day.