Regulator - Wrong Present??

Hi,

With a bit of advice from this ng, I bought Janet a Suunto Geeko
computer and a Scubapro Regulator, (1st & 2nd Stage), for her birthday.
She was really pleased and surprised!!

I left the fins, mask and snorkel for her to buy, as she needed to be
there for these, and it wouldn't have been a surprise.

However, her dive instructor says she cant use the regulator until she
has got some other add-ons - i.e. octopus, gauges & tube to connect to
BC. They also say it is difficult to hire the add ons as they must be
suitable for the regulator - I had presumed that the connections were
universal?

Have I done the wrong thing, or is her instructor being a bit pedantic??

BTW - they seem to be happy with the computer <g>

--
Richard Faulkner

Richard Faulkner wrote:
> With a bit of advice from this ng, I bought Janet a Suunto Geeko
> computer and a Scubapro Regulator, (1st & 2nd Stage), for her
> birthday. She was really pleased and surprised!!
>
> However, her dive instructor says she cant use the regulator until she
> has got some other add-ons - i.e. octopus, gauges & tube to connect to
> BC. They also say it is difficult to hire the add ons as they must be
> suitable for the regulator - I had presumed that the connections were
> universal?

Well they bolt together. He won't have the bits hanging around.
If he was going to lend the parts out he'd need to dismantle one
of his school ones so he might as well get her to use the one he
would have taken to bits and save the work and the possibility
of something else going wrong.

Get used to it. There's always another piece of kit to buy...

nigelH

"Richard Faulkner" <richard@estate.demon.co.uk> wrote...

> However, her dive instructor says she cant use the regulator
> until she has got some other add-ons - i.e. octopus,
> gauges & tube to connect to BC. They also say it is difficult
> to hire the add ons as they must be suitable for the
> regulator - I had presumed that the connections were
> universal?

Hi Richard

There - you've just found out why we advised you to stay away from specific
dive gear until you knew a bit more

All is not lost by any means, there's nothing wrong with the regulator and
she will be able to use it, the instructor is dead right. Welcome to the
wonderful world of diving, you need to buy more bits!

When you buy a regulator you get the first stage (the metal bit that fits
onto the tank) and one second stage (the bit you breathe from. Those
blanking plugs on the side of the first stage are where the other bits fit
in, they are a standard fitting. You will need...

+ An "octopus" (it's a spare second stage). This will be on a slightly
longer (often yellow) hose, they start at around 60 quid?

+ A pressure gauge to show the tank contents. DON'T fall for the "console"
trap, over a hundred quid with bits like depth gauges and a compass, just
buy a simple contents gauge, around 40 quid?

+ A BCD low pressure hose - a tube with a connector on the end to plug into
the BCD, around 30 quid? Be careful here - find out what type of BCD she is
using, some have different connectors and your inflator must fit the schools
one.

Buy all of those from a dive shop (the original one you used?) and ask them
to put it together for you.

HTH

Keith L

On Thu, 12 Feb 2004 10:49:57 +0000, Richard Faulkner
<richard@estate.demon.co.uk> wrote:

>Hi,
>
>With a bit of advice from this ng, I bought Janet a Suunto Geeko
>computer and a Scubapro Regulator, (1st & 2nd Stage), for her birthday.
>She was really pleased and surprised!!
>
>I left the fins, mask and snorkel for her to buy, as she needed to be
>there for these, and it wouldn't have been a surprise.
>
>However, her dive instructor says she cant use the regulator until she
>has got some other add-ons - i.e. octopus, gauges & tube to connect to
>BC. They also say it is difficult to hire the add ons as they must be
>suitable for the regulator - I had presumed that the connections were
>universal?
>
>Have I done the wrong thing, or is her instructor being a bit pedantic??
>
>BTW - they seem to be happy with the computer <g>

First point is when people talk about a regulator then tend to mean
first stage, two second stages (one being the octopus), gauges and
direct feeds.

Pretty much all these extras are a standard fitting to the first stage
so there is no problem fitting them and they (Poseidon excepted)
generally work well together. There are basically two fittings for a
direct feed to the BCD or dry suit.

The catch is putting it together. When I'm teaching I don't have the
time to be swapping hoses, I might just about be persuaded to swap a
direct feed but that's about it and as such I don't think they are
being unreasonable. I would take the regulator you have bought as the
starting point for a complete set of regs and live with using hired
regs until you have got the rest



Pete
diving 'at' melbourne 'dot' me 'dot' uk

In message <402b6619$0$4100$5a6aecb4@news.aaisp.net.uk>, Keith Lawrence
<false@nospam.com> writes
>"Richard Faulkner" <richard@estate.demon.co.uk> wrote...
>
>> However, her dive instructor says she cant use the regulator
>> until she has got some other add-ons - i.e. octopus,
>> gauges & tube to connect to BC. They also say it is difficult
>> to hire the add ons as they must be suitable for the
>> regulator - I had presumed that the connections were
>> universal?
>
>Hi Richard
>
>There - you've just found out why we advised you to stay away from specific
>dive gear until you knew a bit more
>
>All is not lost by any means, there's nothing wrong with the regulator and
>she will be able to use it, the instructor is dead right. Welcome to the
>wonderful world of diving, you need to buy more bits!

<g>

At least I got a delighted response when she opened the presents!!

I dont think she will be buying a BC for a while so, if the connectors
can differ, it seems it might need to stay in the box for a while.

I can spring for another £100 for the octopus and gauge, so I might do
that to almost complete the thing.

Thanks for the info.
--
Richard Faulkner

On Thu, 12 Feb 2004 12:11:58 +0000, Richard Faulkner
<richard@estate.demon.co.uk> wrote:

>
>At least I got a delighted response when she opened the presents!!
>
>I dont think she will be buying a BC for a while so, if the connectors
>can differ, it seems it might need to stay in the box for a while.

Connectors are basically AP Valves and the rest. Make sure her school
in the UK is not using APV Buddies and then buy a hose for the rest of
the world.

When she goes to the Red Sea they will definitely have ROW hoses

HTH



Pete
diving 'at' melbourne 'dot' me 'dot' uk

"Richard Faulkner" <richard@estate.demon.co.uk> wrote...

> I dont think she will be buying a BC for a while so, if the connectors
> can differ, it seems it might need to stay in the box for a while.

> I can spring for another £100 for the octopus and gauge, so I might do
> that to almost complete the thing.

See Pete's message. For the sake of an extra few quid buy a 'ROW' hose and
the regulator is then perfectly usable.

K

> Poseidon have a different interstage pressure to most others. Richard
> bought a fairly main stream reg, something like a Scubapro, Apeks etc
> (can not be bothered to look back through the archives to find out
> which one).
>
> Giving advice to a newby its easiest to just tell him to avoid a
> anything that is not likely to be a bolt on a go solution which a
> Poseidon "may" not be
>
fair enough Pete.. nb. I've used my Poseidon Jetstream with a Mares
Voltrex Second stage with no problems at all, when I've had to. Never
had an issue with the Interstage pressure as that is dealt with in the
first stage and everything coming out to breath has been fine,
regardless of the reg attached to it.. perhaps I was lucky on my three
Jetstreams? :)

On Thu, 12 Feb 2004 15:57:53 +0000, rich <rich@nospam.co.uk> wrote:

>> Poseidon have a different interstage pressure to most others. Richard
>> bought a fairly main stream reg, something like a Scubapro, Apeks etc
>> (can not be bothered to look back through the archives to find out
>> which one).
>>
>> Giving advice to a newby its easiest to just tell him to avoid a
>> anything that is not likely to be a bolt on a go solution which a
>> Poseidon "may" not be
>>
>fair enough Pete.. nb. I've used my Poseidon Jetstream with a Mares
>Voltrex Second stage with no problems at all, when I've had to. Never
>had an issue with the Interstage pressure as that is dealt with in the
>first stage and everything coming out to breath has been fine,
>regardless of the reg attached to it.. perhaps I was lucky on my three
>Jetstreams? :)

Don't know if you've been lucky or not but I've heard of people having
big freeflow problems with Jetstreams at around 10 bar so not
something I would be comfortable recommending to a new diver. TBH for
someone this new the best option is likely to be just to get an
octopus to match the first stage

Pete
diving 'at' melbourne 'dot' me 'dot' uk

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"Keith Lawrence" <false@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:402b6619$0$4100$5a6aecb4@news.aaisp.net.uk...
<snip>
>
> Buy all of those from a dive shop (the original one you used?) and ask
them
> to put it together for you.
>

Sort-of-on-the-same-subject: when the dive shop puts the whole thing
together, are hose lengths more or less made to measure, or pretty much
standard provided you're not a totally weird shape or size?