Argonaut: Strange Regulators sighted off Cozumel coast.....

[DaleC]

Very exciting developments... congrats to all involved.

[USdiver]

The Argonaut will be next year's "gotta have it" product from VDH. Like many of you I've got a couple of Phoenix valve equipped units, even one with the HPR second stage, and I am really looking forward to this hitting the store/shore sometime soon.

What more can Luis and Bryan come up with to drive us further into debt? Well done sirs, well done!

[couv]

Luis,

I too feel honored to have been one of the test dummies, er...pilots for this exciting new regulator. I'll be able to tell sea stories to my kids and grandkids about being one of the first to dive this jewel. I can verify we certainly put it through heavy paces and it breathed like a dream regardless of the tax we placed on it.

I concur with Nemrod's list-including item number 6.

Well done Luis & company!

Couv

[8dust]

Has it been dove on a set of doubles yet?

wondering about the hose routing of some of the downward facing ports... It’s one of the things that gets me when I jump my PRAM back-n-forth between 72’s & dbl 38’s/50’s.

[Akita]

To echo what others have said, I feel very privileged to be an owner and alpha tester of one of these beauties. My first dive in "real" water since my heart surgery last April was with one of these "experimental" regs and turned into a night dive to boot. A bit of current and others "hoovering" theirs has already been mentioned. I'm not 100% yet so I was more like a Shop-Vac on mine It made no difference. This is the best regulator I have ever used. Period. Full stop.

Thanks Luis and Bryan for the opportunity.

Jim

P.S.: It was great diving with all of you!

[luis]

Has it been dove on a set of doubles yet?

wondering about the hose routing of some of the downward facing ports... It’s one of the things that gets me when I jump my PRAM back-n-forth between 72’s & dbl 38’s/50’s.

I intentionally optimized the ports orientation for single tank diving, but as much as possible I considered provisions for different configurations. I have not dived it with doubles yet, but I did try it in various configurations.

The HP port and the LP port at the top right were designed with enough clearance to easily add a variety of adapters (90 degree elbows and T’s). Even with a 90 degree swivel or a T, the ports are streamed lined enough to keep the regulator from looking like a kludge.

With a high pressure swivel you can also use a wireless transmitter. That is what Bryan used during our trip to Cozumel. My understanding is that it worked great.

The picture below is just one possible configuration with double. The HP swivel that is shown is also a 7/16” to 3/8” male adapter, therefore, I had to add a second 3/8” to 7/16 adapter to make it work for this picture. If you use a straight 7/16” to 7/16” HP swivel it will be more compact and streamlined.

In the picture there is also a T on the top right LP port, but it is not really needed. I was just trying different configurations.

I tried to make the design as clean and as versatile as possible, but as always, there are some compromises when it comes to fitting all possible configurations. In the case of double tanks, I don’t see any big issues. As a matter of fact, without the hookah port sticking back it actually works better than the basic Aqua Master or Royal Aqua Master.

[luis]

It was asked if this regulator would work in cold water or if it was only good for Cozumel… Well here is the answer.

I took my new Argonaut for an ice dive last Saturday. Below are some surface pictures of my dive gear and dive preparation (and more will follow).

As I expected it performed without a flaw. I actually pushed the limits by intentionally (and also unintentionally) inducing a free flow on the surface and stopping it at will by lowering the mouthpiece in the water. I intentionally leaned back on the surface and raised the mouthpiece to induce a free flow, but stopping it was no issue. This was expected, but it is always nice to confirm it.

As expected from a double hose, the cold water doesn’t tend to affect it since both the first and second stages are normally dry.


There was no surprise on the performance of the double hose, what was surprising was the performance of my alternate regulator. I use an environmentally sealed Conshelf for my alternate first stage and a Scubapro 109 for the second stage. When I got in the water I accidentally induced a wild free flow in the 109 and with my clumsy gloves it took me a few seconds to grab it and turn it facing down in the water. That stopped the free low immediately. I have yet to see a plastic second stage perform like that, even one with a metal barrel.


More later

Here is my new set of little doubles with the Argonaut. This is the first time I used this doubles. They were a lot heavier in the water than my other little tanks. I was way over-weighted, but managed.





Notice the Argonaut with a new chrome finish.





Cutting the hole.



The chainsaw was not long enough for the ice thickness so we had to finish with a hand saw.



We did have the advantage of all the power toys (notice the tracked four wheeler and a sled) and we had a nice cabin on shore to be able to change in a nice warm dry place.





Getting ready to dive.








Here are the other divers in the group.

[swimjim]

Thanks for posting the pic's Luis. Looks just like home! We've ditched the chain saw though and use a higher tech ice saw. This is what we use:

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7KrO1-I8h4[/video]

Cuts faster and no oil in the hole. Can't wait to see the new reg up close!

jim

[luis]

Thanks for the link.

I don't like the oil from the chain saw.
In the video it looked very easy with 4 Inches of ice. I just wonder how it works with over 24 inches of ice.

[swimjim]

Thanks for the link.

I don't like the oil from the chain saw.
In the video it looked very easy with 4 Inches of ice. I just wonder how it works with over 24 inches of ice.

I've used that saw in 20 inches of ice. It takes three guys about 10 minutes to cut the hole. I like the saw so much, I told the chief at the Fire department about it and we got one for the dive rescue squad.

[floatingpi]

Wow very cool and impressive, saw the phoenix and didn't know there was this project till I saw the Facebook post this morning.

On a side note we replace the oil for vegetable oil when we cut through ice.

[Nemrod]

Dang, it has certainly gotten cold in Cozumel . So much for global warming .

Nem

[luis]

Yes, I was thinking that there was something fundamentally wrong about posting ice diving pictures in a thread that contains Cozumel in the title.

Sorry...

[luis]

I have been asked a couple times if I was using the Mentor as a model when designing the Argonaut. The question has come up again recently with the recent pictures of the Mentor in another thread. The short answer is: no.

The longer answer is that the Mentor and the Argonaut both follow the long heritage of the Royal Aqua Master.

The similarities can be easily explained from the theory of converging evolution or converging design evolution. It is not uncommon that two or more designs converge on very similar solutions when they are given the same requirements and similar or the same constraints.

I can’t speak for Aqua Lung, but my observation is that we share very similar design philosophies of backwards compatibility. This will explain why we are both using the exact same first stage design introduced (by Aqua Lung/ US Divers) in 1965. Several other companies also use the exact same or a very similar design.

My 2005 Phoenix design also uses the same first stage mechanism (with the replaceable volcano orifice).

One of the advantages of using that first stage is the availability of replaceable parts from multiple sources. The same (fit and function) first stage seat was used by Voit and now by Mares.


The second stages of the Mentor and the Argonaut look similar, but there are a number of differences in detail. Both second stages are downstream demand valves, but most of the similarities stop there.

My second stage is an evolution from my HPR design with some subtle (but important) improvements. One improvement that I will share at this moment is the use of a replaceable and adjustable volcano orifice.

Anyone familiar with the HPR knows that the venturi flow is also adjustable.

I will explain many more of my second stage (and main body) design details and features later, but for now I will just say that every design detail was carefully considered and optimized for performance, simplicity, reliability, and ease of fabrication.

Some of the details in the Mentor are beautiful, but it also reflects a huge budget difference when designing and fabricating a regulator specifically intended for the US military.

I have not tested a Mentor, but based on all the testing I have done with the Argonaut (and many other regulators), I have a very strong opinion that the performance of the Argonaut is very hard to beat… at a fraction of the production cost of a Mentor.

[Drado]

I don't know if its an appropriate word to use, but that is a sexy photo of the argonaut right there!