Sidemount regulators, Poseidons?

[Wizard]

There's good and bad in everything. People have had bad experiences with even the best equipment. The best regs I ever owned were Sherwoods, they took a awful beating and preformed perfect, a lot of folks dogged Sherwood at the time. The worst regs I ever had (about a 15 percent failure rate) were a popular brand everybody thinks is a great reg. I gave then to a guy that uses them to work on pools. They were always serviced properly and even new complete assemblies failed often.
Have Poisedins now and love them. Don't see changing for a while.

[Brian Kakuk]

I was just doing some diving on the Island of Eleuthera with some researchers when something very similar to Mike's scenario occured. My dive partner, Tami Thomsen and I were collecting cave critters for a scientist in a virgin cave at a depth of 160 feet when one of her posideon second stages was leaking water so bad she had to try and get at the diaphram with a small twig to get the debris loose. It didn't work and we aborted the dive early. We had deep stops, so during the stops she continued to try to dislodge the crud from her reg with various other twigs, rocks etc...again without success.

During the last deep stop, I tried to get her to shair air with me so that she could save the air in her last cylinder for passing the two major restrictions we still had to go through in zero viz. She refused at first, but then took it to apease me i guess. People say you cannot share gas through side mount restrictions with a 7 foot hose...well, it can be done and was done, though somewhat of a comical experience looking back. I was just trying to get her to use my gas during the stops, but she assumed that I meant to use it all the way out.....ah, communications in zero viz! Awesome. Regardless, the exit went well to open water where we hit our deco cylinders.

I dived Posideons for years, but too many of these types of incidents have moved me away from them. "No-Handed" regs are awesome for side mounting (poseidons, Omega II etc.) from a comfort/hose routing standpiont, IF they work properly. From my experience, if you have to poke at it with a stick at 160 feet to make it work, I don't want to use it for cave diving.

I think just about any good quality reg can be used if rigged properly (proper hose lengths, angled adapters...don't use swivels guys!). The brits have been using the pantyhose trick on those regs for years with fair results. I'm just not a big fan of having to modify my life support to make it usable in the cave.

Current regs: Scubapro Mk 25 first stages with S550 second stages, Dive Rites, Apex. All used below 400 feet and none of these has ever needed poking with a stick.

Safe diving,
Brian

So much for not bashing a certain model of equipment.

[FW]

So much for not bashing a certain model of equipment.

Do you remember which Poseidon that was? The Xstreme has a different exhaust valve than any of the previous Poseidons, so isn't any more prone to debris in the valve than any other reg. It also has an easily removable "exhaust T" so you can clear debris at 160'

[Brian Kakuk]

I believe the regulators Tami was using were the Jetstreams, but I have also seen the same thing happen to the Cyclons (I still have 3 of them in a box somewhere around here). I have used the Xtreams on movie shoots (very steril environments in comparison to caves) and had success with them....how are they in the caves?

Brian

[FW]

....how are they in the caves?

Brian

I have had good luck with the new Xstreams. The first batch was recalled, but since then they are fine. They breathe as well as any regulator I have ever tried.

What I like about the Cyclons is their simplicity. You can remove the inhale/exhaust "puck" underwater, and clean it out. I don't use anything else for sumps. I do have nylon mesh over the mouthpieces, to reduce debris intrusion.

[BillGraham]

It is true. I am the guy you're thinking about. I've dove with Tami, Keith, Ethan, and "the group" before. And I do plan on taking a sidemount course. I'm just holding off for a little while, not like I'm gonna go into a cave with the thing. Just a wreck or two.

Tamara is a cave instructor and teaches sidemount (among many other things) and would be an excellent choice.

I like the poseidons for sidemount because I don't have to run a hose behind my head, but that's my own preference. The regular size hoses work fine but I've been carrying an 8 foot hose lately bungied to one tank, it's not a problem either.

[Line Squirrel]

It is true. I am the guy you're thinking about. I've dove with Tami, Keith, Ethan, and "the group" before. And I do plan on taking a sidemount course. I'm just holding off for a little while, not like I'm gonna go into a cave with the thing. Just a wreck or two.

Tamara is a cave instructor and teaches sidemount (among many other things) and would be an excellent choice.

Brian Kakuk would be an excellent choice, he was my SM instructor. The class was fantastic, I learned alot from gear config., to safety considerations, everything in between.

Brian also wrote the IANTD sidemount/nomount training manual.

[pittsburgh cave diver]

hey all you poseiden lovers, they now offer a lifetime warranty...
Just get them registered and rebuilt every 2 years and they are covered.....even the old ones
Check out the website..i just found out and wanted to pass the word.
If you have any questions I contacted poseiden directly and they were great! Here is the the poseiden contact Jörgen Nilsson [[email protected]] He is great to deal with
Also Poseiden now makes a Jetstream for Dive rite.....
Guess service may be a little easier to find in the future
Doug

[JDostal]

Sweet.

I just had to order new hoses, and I guess they have a new dealer in the US now. Looks like some positive changes.