Spare Air Package Vs Assembling Yourself

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Hello Everyone,
I have been researching dedicated systems like the Zeagle and SPARE air brand ponys for myself and my wife. What I'm curious about is wether or not it makes sense to just buy a decent regulator and a 13cf tank or around that capacity and just mate the two along with a good tank strap system. Seems like the cost of a small 6cf SPARE system could lend itself to a bigger spare tank and a good reg that you are familiar with. Does this make sense?
 
I think alot of it has to do with where you plan on using it. Locally yeah the bigger the better in my eyes. If your going to do nothing but travel, hauling your gear, your wifes and tank is sometimes less than fun
 
We just had a big long thread about that. The general consensus was that 6cf or less is not enough air to reliably make a safe ascent with stops. While some contend that ANY extra air is better than NO extra air, others pointed out that there is little if any additional cost to go with a small pony and just do it right.
 
The other thread (and the many like it) have lots of information, of course, so I'll just add an anecdotal two cents to the mix and leave the physics to the other discussions.

If you get one of the regulator-attached-to-tank systems, it'll naturally be lighter and smaller, as you don't have a big, standard valve in mix, but you also lose flexibility. For my pony, I have a normal tank (a 19cf, in my case) and a standard regulator. The nice thing about it is that I can use it as a normal regulator, and if you ever want, you can use it with any tank.

I normally dive the 19cf tank as my pony, and I normally have one nice second stage attached. Occasionally, I'll decide that I want to use a larger tank for some reason, and it's trivial for me to sling an AL80, even. I can even put an additional second stage on if for some reason I'd like to have it. If I'm planning to recover something of moderate size, I can sling a larger tank to use for lift work.

Basically, going with a "normal" regulator and tank gives you a lot more flexibility than a tank-integrated bailout first stage. Your diving might "outgrow" the tank or tank-integrated reg, but it's quite a bit less likely you'd outgrow the normal reg, as you can always use it for something. :D
 
SDScubaNoob:
Seems like the cost of a small 6cf SPARE system could lend itself to a bigger spare tank and a good reg that you are familiar with. Does this make sense?

Yes it does make sense and its the best option. You can then have a spare reg if you need it in the future, a possible stage tank, can rig out how you want whether thats side slung, back or back mount. You can choose what reg you want, what size tank you want.
Its a far better idea.

As others have said though, you need a bigger tank.
 
String:
Yes it does make sense and its the best option. You can then have a spare reg if you need it in the future, a possible stage tank, can rig out how you want whether thats side slung, back or back mount. You can choose what reg you want, what size tank you want.
Its a far better idea.

I agree but I think it's all those options that drive newer users to the packaged "spare air" solutions. They don't know what kind of reg to add, how long of SPG hose or if they need an SPG at all, how to mount/carry it, etc. I'm sure it's out there but it would be nice if more shops offered a "starter pony package".
 
String:
Yes it does make sense and its the best option. You can then have a spare reg if you need it in the future, a possible stage tank, can rig out how you want whether thats side slung, back or back mount. You can choose what reg you want, what size tank you want.
Its a far better idea.

As others have said though, you need a bigger tank.
what he said.
 
SDScubaNoob:
Hello Everyone,
I have been researching dedicated systems like the Zeagle and SPARE air brand ponys for myself and my wife. What I'm curious about is wether or not it makes sense to just buy a decent regulator and a 13cf tank or around that capacity and just mate the two along with a good tank strap system. Seems like the cost of a small 6cf SPARE system could lend itself to a bigger spare tank and a good reg that you are familiar with. Does this make sense?
The best thing you can do is learn to be effective buddies for each other. If you want a self-contained back up system consider a 30 or even 40 cubice ft cylinder, price is about the same.
 
I personally think that is depends on what you are doing. If you are cold water and deeper then i would suggest putting together your own. If you’re only in shallow water then go ahead and get a large spare air. The benefits of a pony bottle is that, it is more customizable, in terms of size, ease of breathing and other things that may be a positive. I personally don’t like the idea of a spare air because they are overpriced and really small. You can factor your choice by spare air = 5 breaths or pony bottle = a safe accent with a possible safety stop.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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