Spare Air- good for diving or not?

[Crush]

This thread/poll is in response to the thread http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/sc...are-air-%96-best-item-your-scuba-toolbox.html

Spare air is undboutedly a great tool for trained helicopeter crews needing to egress a submerged helicopter. But is it useful for scuba diving? There are many opinions out there. Let's hear what you think. Which of these best describe how you feel about the usefulness of spare air for scuba diving and your level of experience in scuba diving:

 

[Akimbo]

The conflict is a spare-air might be adequate for an experienced diver with much greater situational awareness and confidence. The capacity is questionable for some (many?) inexperienced divers who are more prone to panic and less comfortable in the water. No vote on this poll.

 

[chrisch]

The conflict is a spare-air might be adequate for an experienced diver with much greater situational awareness and confidence. The capacity is questionable for some (many?) inexperienced divers who are more prone to panic and less comfortable in the water. No vote on this poll.

Adequate for what? They are a great tool for boaters clearing something off the prop or similar. No practical use in Scuba whatsoever.

 

[Grocio]

In a very shallow dive, it would be better to have spare-air rather than no alternate air source whatsoever. However I prefer my 4 litre pony bottle, because it would also allow me to make a safety stop if necessary.

 

[tridacna]

This aint a poll. This is a troll. We've beaten this to death since it was first released. "Poll" accomplishes fark all.

 

[kelemvor]

I think they're too small. The aquarium where I dive recently purchased and required us to carry them on aquarium dives. My take is that they're a bit of additional gear to manage and use, and they're so small that you aren't going to be able to use them outside of ESA depths anyway. Also, it's one more tank and regulator to maintain annually. It isn't even really much cheaper than a fullsize pony setup. Carry a pony or dive doubles if you feel the need.

During "spare air" drills I decided it was FAR easier to do an esa than to fumble around with the spare air. However I'll concede that a 20' deep aquarium is probably a bad example.

 

[BrewsKampbell]

I carry a AL40 for emergency use. Spare air is worthless.

 

[Crush]

I want to see if there is any correlation between claimed level of experience and support for spare air. And yes, I know that this is non-statistical.

This aint a poll. This is a troll. We've beaten this to death since it was first released. "Poll" accomplishes fark all.

I am not trolling. My motivation for the post was clearly stated in the OP. Accoding to Wikipedia:

In Internet slang, a troll is a person who sows discord on the Internet by starting arguments or upsetting people, by posting inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community (such as a newsgroup, forum, chat room, or blog) with the deliberate intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.

There are topics like spare air, deep air, split fins, etc., that always start aguments and provoke emotional responses. In this sense I am guilty as charged. However the post is not inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic, nor is this an attempt to disrupt a normal on-topic discussion. I want to see if there is any correlation between claimed level of experience and support for spare air.

 

[redacted]

A properly sized pony is a far superior solution. But a spare air is better than no air and it is easier to travel with. That said, my spare airs have not been wet in 15 years.

 

[Akimbo]

Adequate for what? They are a great tool for boaters clearing something off the prop or similar. No practical use in Scuba whatsoever.

I have regularly practiced free ascents from 100-150' since I started diving over 50 years ago. Therefore a spare air would be “adequate” to get me to the surface. I am not a proponent of them but saying that nothing is better, which is what the vast majority of recreational diver use, is folly.

There have been far too many successful ascents with spare airs to make your assertion remotely believable. A few extra breaths “can” make the difference between surfacing alive or not, providing nobody panics.