pony vs large tank and h valve

[dumpsterDiver]

Running a 120 and then adding a pony (40) to the mix, you would be better served to just switch over to twin Alu 80s with an isolator valve. You will find that the alum 80s are better balanced, easier to swim and will improve your trim without all the extra nonsense.

You look at these guys with one big steel tank then a extra pony or two, they have hoses going every which way and are completely vertical in the water, its a joke.

HEY!!! I like vertical.. it makes me look taller!

 

[yardpro]

dumpster...

i guess you are shooting much larger game than i am... i have never had any fish drag me around at all...

In the situations you described i would think that having an additional tank slung would be just one more thing for the line to get hung up on.

I also don't see how in any of the circumstanced you describe a pony would help.

if a line were nicked i would have more than adequate time to abort the dive and surface... it takes a LONG time to drain a tank with just a nick in a line.

I am NOT a deco dive , so when i hit my ndl ihead back and up. i may go into a minute or two on deco time but it usually clears as i ascend,

I have yet to surface with less than 1K psi from the 120's...

as for trim, i am a big guy... 6'3 and 265, so i cary the 120 very well...i have no trim issue with it.

I completely understand the redundancy of the pony, but i think that the likely hood of having a problem that a pony would solve over a h valve is pretty rare. and i am not sure it is worth the encumbernace of a pony.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

dumpster...

i guess you are shooting much larger game than i am... i have never had any fish drag me around at all...

In the situations you described i would think that having an additional tank slung would be just one more thing for the line to get hung up on.

I also don't see how in any of the circumstanced you describe a pony would help.

if a line were nicked i would have more than adequate time to abort the dive and surface... it takes a LONG time to drain a tank with just a nick in a line.

I am NOT a deco dive , so when i hit my ndl ihead back and up. i may go into a minute or two on deco time but it usually clears as i ascend,

I have yet to surface with less than 1K psi from the 120's...

as for trim, i am a big guy... 6'3 and 265, so i cary the 120 very well...i have no trim issue with it.

I completely understand the redundancy of the pony, but i think that the likely hood of having a problem that a pony would solve over a h valve is pretty rare. and i am not sure it is worth the encumbernace of a pony.

You still are stuck on the reserve of air in your big tank.. That is not the issue. Having an H-valve is safer than nothing. I sometimes dive with a 6 cu-ft pony bottle, it is essentially zero encumberance, but even a 13 is minimal problem when back mounted. My son is literally half your size and uses a 13 cu-ft back mounted pony with no issues.

We all have to balance safety versus convenience. An H-valve is more convenient than a pony, but not as safe. A back mounted pony is safer (than an H-valve) and it is out of the way, but a slung pony is safer than a back mounted pony (but they tend to get in the way when spearing). Once you start spearfishing, you have moved a long way away from doing "safe" dives. So there is no correct, universal answer. Everyone has to weigh their own pros and cons.. and rig their gear like they want. i have a buddy who dives 130 plus, spearing with zero redundancy.. no pony, no h-valve and he often gets away from me.

This video shows a dive last summer where the screaming current separates us in 130 feet of water, still he dives with no redundancy (like a lot of people).

Jupiter Deep Ledge: Scuba Spearfishing - YouTube
[video=youtube_share;JIN1uz94HNQ]http://youtu.be/JIN1uz94HNQ[/video]

Think hard about how quickly and accurately you can trouble shoot the H-valve while diving solo. If you can't see how a pony bottle will provide some advantages in some of those scenarios, then I can't offer any more examples.

 

[yardpro]

i am not stuck on the reserve of air...

several posters responded with the more air with a pony response.

I totally get the redundancy of a pony.

I have done the practice drills shutting down the two sides and can do it within seconds.

i could see using a small 6cuft tank, etc... maybe even a 13.. but a 40... seems like overkill to me.

 

[bumcikaz]

Double your tanks up and you're good
I often dive my hp100 doubles and a al40 slung and spearfish with no problem, its how u configure your gear..you wont even notice properly slung tank

 

[flots am]

Those that truly understand the principal of redundancy know why cave training (cavern & intro) start with a single high volume cylinder with an H Valve.

Because it's hard to get new divers to part with enough money to do it right. (not DIR, just correctly).

While there's nothing wrong with an H valve, it's definitely a compromise. There's only "fully redundant" and "everything else".

An H valve is not fully redundant. For that matter, manifolded doubles aren't either.

A tank with a regulator, and a second tank with another regulator, and nothing connecting them is fully redundant.

Anything else isn't.

flots.

 

[jadairiii]

.....
This video shows a dive last summer where the screaming current separates us in 130 feet of water, still he dives with no redundancy (like a lot of people).

Jupiter Deep Ledge: Scuba Spearfishing - YouTube
[video=youtube_share;JIN1uz94HNQ]http://youtu.be/JIN1uz94HNQ[/video]
......

Who needs mix when you are that smooth on air? You must be awesome in 180'?

Helium is your friend......

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Who needs mix when you are that smooth on air? You must be awesome in 180'?

Helium is your friend......

what dropped a reel? A few weeks ago, I attached the lift bag to the wrong component of my reel. Instead of attaching to the line, i attached to the body of reel and then inflated the bag- a lot.. Couldn't sort it out and had to let it go before it drug me up too much.. i did that at 100 ft.

 

[jadairiii]

what dropped a reel? A few weeks ago, I attached the lift bag to the wrong component of my reel. Instead of attaching to the line, i attached to the body of reel and then inflated the bag- a lot.. Couldn't sort it out and had to let it go before it drug me up too much.. i did that at 100 ft.

Not surprised, I think I posted this before but I was doing an exploration dive which we thought our "target" was going to be deeper so all of our mixes were 21/35. After the first team surfaced we realized we needed to move in shore, so here I was diving 21/35 in 95' of water. It was eye opening to say the least. I felt almost like I was watching a movie everything was so freaking CLEAR! I remembered every part of that dive. Try it some time.

Also, when coming up from a deep dive, when I switch to the 70' bottle for deco, I can "feel" my mind slowing down especially if we were on a really high HE mix.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Not surprised, I think I posted this before but I was doing an exploration dive which we thought our "target" was going to be deeper so all of our mixes were 21/35. After the first team surfaced we realized we needed to move in shore, so here I was diving 21/35 in 95' of water. It was eye opening to say the least. I felt almost like I was watching a movie everything was so freaking CLEAR! I remembered every part of that dive. Try it some time.

Also, when coming up from a deep dive, when I switch to the 70' bottle for deco, I can "feel" my mind slowing down especially if we were on a really high HE mix.

I don't have any technical training, nor any real interest in helium diving. I looked into it a little and would need to take several courses to just get started..