Northwest Dive Club

Asking some input from you guys. Is argon worth the money for fills and equipment? I dive a bare xcd2 tech dry with a h100 undergarment. Right now I'm only doing rec diving so my dive times are between 50-70 min. I usually stay fairly warm but I'm thinking about taking the plung into tech so working with longer bottom times and deco stop wonder if it's a good investment. Thanks in advance, I'm starting to piece together my rig.

I don't know too much about the H100, but if its a 100 gram as the name implies, I would much rather spend the money on a decent undergarment.

Argon does make a difference, but only if your undergarment is up to snuff.

I love it but I second having a good undergarment. I have a xcd2 also and a Weezle undergarment.

Another "yes" for Weezle undergarment.

I really like diving with argon as suit inflation, even on 60min or less dives. Maybe someone can lend you their bottle for a dive to try it out, before you go and get yourself a bottle and reg?

yep, fix your undergarment first. also fix your base layer. going from cotton t-shirt to capilene, or better to fourth element xerotherm or waterproof's body zor will be a big difference in thermal protection and will require adding relatively little lead.

lamont wrote:yep, fix your undergarment first. also fix your base layer. going from cotton t-shirt to capilene, or better to fourth element xerotherm or waterproof's body zor will be a big difference in thermal protection and will require adding relatively little lead.

If he's going tech, he's going to need the inflation bottle anyway (can't inflate with He). The cost for an argon fill is pretty much down in the noise, but during the summer I fill mine with air since I'm fine in my drysuit with thin UG.

Like Jake said, if you're heading towards technical diving, you'll likely need a drysuit inflation system anyway, but as others have mentioned, you should probably look at a new undergarment and/or base layer first.

As far as warmth goes, I personally don't feel any warmer when using argon. However, I do find that I don't start feeling cold or chilled nearly as early as I do when using air or backgas (non-helium).

Thank you for the good information. I will look into getting a good undergarment looking at the weezle at hood sport or any other place if anyone knows some good deals

json wrote:Thank you for the good information. I will look into getting a good undergarment looking at the weezle at hood sport or any other place if anyone knows some good deals

John Rawlings on this board is a Weezle dealer you can order through him. He's in Mill Creek though. Very happy with mine, it's warm and tolerates washing. It does require a veritable ton of inflation gas. But there's really no such thing as thin, minimally bouyant and warm too.

I wouldn't worry about argon for awhile.

+1 on John Rawlings.. I love mine as well and John has them at good deals and makes life easy to meet up and get it from him.

the only small grip I have with the weezle it that it makes my legs very floaty with the TLS suit.. but some body positioning and decent blade (heavy) fins will fix that.

Once I get money back in my dive slush fund ( recent can-light purchase ) I will be talking to John.