To manifold or not??

[MATTBIN]

Going on from the other thread, which I dont want to completely hijack, lets have the age old debate, manifold or not.

I dive both so I'm staying neutral on this one, however for the sake of discussion I'll put up some pros and cons.

FOR MANIFOLD
1. They look techie
2. No reg swapping
3. Long hose on one reg only makes hose routing easier
4. Only one SPG
5. Redundancy. Well spotted.
6. Possibly greater gas saved if a reg fails (larger cylinders only)

FOR INDIES
1. Totally independant gas source
2. Easy to slot in another cylinder for the second dive
3. Easier to transport for gas fills, one cylinder at a time.
4. No manifold to shut if a reg fails during the dive
5. Positive gas management (i.e. one cylinder only to get to the surface)
6. Redundancy of ascent gas for buddy.
7. Have boots or they fall over if removed from wing

Over to you guys.

Matt

[MarkP]

Really?

[Mal Bridgeman]

Hi Matt is there anything new to add to the debate?

All the "Fors" you have for Indies, I would not see as a problem with a manifolded set because there are different ways of achieveing the same thing.

Apart from number 1 which is just ... well .... silly, for the manifolded set, the arguments win me over

Mal

[Woz]

For indies:

You only need 2 cylinders for all of your diving as you can just use one of them for a singles dive. In fact when you go and do some 20m club diving you have 2 handy singles rather than a stupidly heavy twinset.

[David Pye]

5. Redundancy (both wing and suit remain operable if one reg fails)

Could you explain that one for me? I run my wing inflate off my right post and my suit inflate off the left. So if one reg fails, only one of those will be operative..

[MATTBIN]

Originally Posted by David Pye

5. Redundancy (both wing and suit remain operable if one reg fails)

Could you explain that one for me? I run my wing inflate off my right post and my suit inflate off the left. So if one reg fails, only one of those will be operative..

True, sorry. Which is why I run my manifolded wing off the left post, assuming the right will most likely fail.

Matt

[Spike Jackson]

Manifolds for:
No reg swapping
Simpler to share gas with hog style rig
One SPG to monitor
Most failures will leave you with access to more gas IF YOU CAN SHUTDOWN PROPERLY
Easier to fill

Manifolds against:
More failure points
No true independence, certain manifold failures leave you deep in the poo, relying on your buddy
MUST be able to shutdown quickly

Indies for:
Fewer failure points
No need to shutdown
True independence of gas supplies

Indies against:
Gas sharing complicated, may need two long hoses (but if your buddy is also on indies this is negated)
In a non fixable failure you may have less gas than a manifolded system
Need to swap regs
Need to monitor 2 spg's
More faff to fill

So for me as I dive with a good, attentive buddy manifolds come out just ahead. If I was into solo diving I would only ever dive indies.

[Finless]

The selling point for me is that with a manifold you can utilise the gas in the manked cylinder (tech term! ).

[Steve S]

All of my pros and cons are above with the exception of another con for indies.

You will need to surface with a greater gas supply to plan for the need to bring yourself and buddy up [worst case scenario] on one cylinder, noting that in that WCS you would be buddy breathing unless you carried extra 2nd stages, which I feel is impractical and creates a Christmas tree effect.

Safe diving,
Steve

Edit: posting in a rush again of course with a manifolded set that could happen in the same way, but with more available air at your disposable [in theory]

[Scubee]

Originally Posted by Spike Jackson

No true independence, certain manifold failures leave you deep in the poo, relying on your buddy
.

**genuine question**
Can you explain this please? I have been trying to think, and the only one I can think of would be a complete manifold failure of a really serious nature, which I suspect is very rare