Which brand of steel cylinder / tank should I buy?

[Aegir]

Oh dear this has turned into a DIR debate by the looks of things : /

Atomox..like i said they have saved lives. Your saying that better thought and preparation would prevent the use of a pony. We are humans (as if i needed to point THAT out) and by definition WILL make mistakes. So what your saying amounts to "well you should be able to see into the future".
The people who designed DIR for example are/were human, and no doubt many people follow that philosiphy blindly without so much as a thought of there own. If your not flexible in your thinking then you are inflexible in any given situation. Dive for yourself and think for yourself.

 

[Green_Manelishi]

I do not ALWAYS carry a cannister light either but have
not had a problem with the bottle on the left. Keep in
mind the AL30/40 (80 if staging way into caves etc) is ideal for this application and effects your bouyancy not
at all.

The ideal is to start configuring your gear and be able to
add/remove as necessary without changing where gear is
located. So, let's say you have your bottle on the right
and then get a cannister light. Now you have a problem:
the cannister light (because it can flood and become too
negative) needs to be ditchable so it goes on your RIGHT
side onto the non-buckled waist strap. Need to ditch the
light, open buckle, pull light free (that is another discussion) If you've been placing the bottle on the right
you need to move it and become accustomed to the change.

Keep in mind to that with a long hose (2 meter or 7 ft) wrapped you'd need to run it OVER the bottle if it was on
your right (now the hose is "way out there") or you'd need
to run it UNDER the bottle and now it is kinda-sorta trapped
unless you remove the bottle: not a good thing.

Additionally, if you are scootering you'll drive with your
right hand which leaves your left hand free to unclip/drop/reclip stage/deco bottles.

I do not use an "octo". What i have is a backup second stage
which is on a shock-cord necklace and placed around my neck just below my chin.

 

[Atomox]

Aegir,

This has not turned into a DIR debate, for there is no debate about it. I am DIR and I have not ever seen a use for a pony/spare air source as your suggest. What I have pointed out is the unneccessary use of a pony. You may disagree, this is your loss.

BTW
The ignorance of the Non-DIR is not suprising to me.

 

[Aegir]

For Atomox , i dive dry, but never mentioned it because it is beside the point. You dont agree with pony bottles...neither does the DIR philosphy (thats were i drew the simalarity). Did i say you represented DIR? Futher i didnt say it had turned into a DIR debate i said it was going that way.Pfff apples and oranges. Your opinion is duly noted.

One more thing i would like to say regarding using a pony and the "how do you tell which pressure gauge you are looking at" debate. This is only a problem if you make it a problem. The same way technical divers tell which regulator they want to use next.. 30/40/50/80% 02 mix? The answer is easy, get 2 different pressure gauges that look distinctly different from one another. Tape them with coloured tape for example.

Why would i need a pressure gauge on my pony anyway? they are for emergencies only and the only way you should be going ,when forced (which granted should never happen) to breath from a pony, is UP. If you want to check your fill then use an attached pressure gauge or temporarily attach your primary pressure gauge. It is my opinion also that the pony is only worth using in an open water situation. Anything more demanding than that and you should be considering doubles/stages.

 

[Atomox]

Well which is it?

Diving dry or wet is important. You need to consider the whole setup not one little part such as what tank.

Brad

 

[Atomox]

Aegir,

You will get yourself or someone else killed with this poorly thought out scheme. All of the examples that you have presented have the same hallmark of poorly thought practices.

Brad

 

[Atomox]

Aegir,

I read your first question and it does matter. Read my response.

Brad

 

[large_diver]

Looks like the heat has been turned up a notch on this one....

Brad -- I appreciate your response, but I think you were taking me a wee bit too seriously (notice my little winking guy at the end of the "if your not 100% hard core DIR then you are an idiot" statement).

Regarding ponies -- come on....not all of us can or want to be hard core technical divers. I generally agree with your statements about using air storage that is appropriate for the dive -- singles for shallower recreational dives and doubles for deeper or more technical dives.

That being said, I still think ponies have legitimate uses. Take me, for example. I dive 20-25 times a year in New England. About 60-70% of my diving is shore diving at depths from 20-70 FSW. The other 30-40% is boat diving as deep as 100 FSW (some wrecks -- no penetration). On these deeper dives, is a single tank enough? As with anything else, depends on my air consumption. I use a 98CF LP steel for these dives and ALWAYS dive with a buddy -- probably an adequate gas supply. Would doubles be safer -- yes. Would a pony add some measure of safety over and above my singles config -- I think the answer here is also yes. I don't have the money or the desire right now to invest in a set of doubles. Diving doubles also adds a level of complexity that I don't want -- especially when I would only use them 5-7 times per year. Doubles/technical diving is a type of diving that requires frequent repetition to become proficient at it -- I don't have the luxury of going diving every weekend. Adding a pony to my gear config adds almost no complexity to my simple shore diving rig, yet it provides an additional safety margin on some of the deeper diving that I do. It is also a config that I can practice with without much hassle while diving at shallower depths.

My point -- different equipment works for some and not for others.....and given the different point we are all at in our respective diving "lives", I think it is unwise to condemn a particular technique or gear config without understanding a person's unique circumstances and reason for diving the way they do.

My $0.02.

 

[large_diver]

By the way aegir -- he's right about the wet vs. dry question. Diving in a wetsuit with 2 large steel tanks could leave you pinned to the bottom with no decent way to surface if your BC gave out due to -- (1) negative buoyancy of steel tanks and (2) compression of wet suit at depth.

 

[Aegir]

lol you win Brad.

But i wasnt asking you, i was telling you, that for the purposes of my question it makes no odds wether i am diving dry or wet. If i wanted such exact answers which happen also to be beside the subject then i would have mentioned that.

I repeat myself for the last time now..read my initial post properly. Cmon Brad try to refrain from posting purely antagonistic responses. Things get heated in passionate discussions...no bigee.

Large diver ...i just asked if anyone knew a good brand of steel tank..i never mentioned doubles. I said "A" 15 litre tank. I am just trying to stick to the subject otherwise my question will never get answered.