I don't we use MSA but I was at a advance RIT class and got to play with those and a few things I did like was the quick connect (but scares me a little) and the single battery controlling all functions With the MSA One battery in heads up one in voice one here one there its a problem.
I use different SCBA at work than I do at my volunteer house. The most important thing is that you know your equipment. Each SCBA must meet the same performance standard as the next one. They are all essentially the same thing. Your knowledge and familiarity are what is most important!
We used to have the Scott 2+2s but 4 or 5 years ago we switched over to the Survivair Panthers with the 4500 psi 30 minute bottles. They are OK, very lightweight but we have had some problems with them. Mostly the high pressure lines became leaky on all of them and had to be replaced.
These are equipped with buddy breathing hoses, does anyone else have their SCBAs equipped for buddy breathing?
We have mostly the Scott 4.5's, as well as a few Drager Airboss' which I prefer over the others. Besides, drager mask straps dont wear out nowhere near as fast as Scotts lol
Our High Pressure lines had the same issue especially in temperatures below 35 degrees. Would turn the bottle on walk about 20 feet and develope a leak. We had them switched out for new ones (under warrantee) which are thinner, but have not seemed to have much of an issue so far with freezing and air leaking. Our Scott Next Generation Packs have the buddy breathing, but the older 4.5's do not
Our MSA's have buddy breathing and the heads up and pass are integrated the only problem we have had each component has its own battery and it seems like we are changing batteries all the time. Do any of you still share mask? or is each person given there own?
We use the MSA at work. Several batteries does cause a problem because we never know which battery will be dead when we pull it out for use. I change batteries monthly in a least a couple of units.
We do use shared masks. Each SCBA has a mask in the box. There are available cleaning supplies for after each use. The only problem with this is those that do not fit the "medium" sizing. There are at least one small and one large mask stored elsewhere in our gear for those that know they were fit tested for a different size.
We are in the process of ordering the buddy breathing connections for the MSA units. Does anyone know if these hoses are interchangeable through manufacturer? MSA to Scott for example? Outside agencies responding to our plant may or may not have the same BA that we use.
the scotts are okay but we been having problems with the batteries dying fast even those not used that much. called service rep. but have not heard from him yet.