advice on pony bottles

[GrumpyOldGuy]

i would get a al40 if i was going to get a bail out bottle why not have more air than try to cut it close.

I guess your the kind of guy who want to drive his 1 ton pickup with dual tires to pick up the mail .... 100ft down the street.

Yeah it works, it gives you lots of extra room, but why not match the gear to the need?

 

[DandyDon]

i would get a al40 if i was going to get a bail out bottle why not have more air than try to cut it close.

Yeah we've gone over that dozens and dozens of times and there is no right answer - just a personal call....

6 cf, 13, 19, 30, 40 - they all use the same reg and accessories, and the price differences between the tanks are negligible really, so yeah why not get the biggest - or dual 80s?

For me, it was a question of size and weight, as I am packing mine in luggage for flights, humping the bags around airports and vans, carrying it all to & from boats, climbing ladders, etc. Varying some with brands...

13cf : 12.87" long & 5.94# plus valve, reg, etc
19cf: 18.56" long & 8.09# plus valve, reg, etc
30cf: 20" long & 13.7# plus valve, reg, etc
40cf: 24.9 " long & 15.9# plus valve, reg, etc​

For me, the 19 gave me almost 50% more than the 13, or almost 1/4 of the usual 80cf for only 2# more, altho I do wish it wasn't as long. The 30 is 5.6# heavier, the 40 almost 8 pounds heavier and just excessive for bailout purposes to me.​

I guess your the kind of guy who want to drive his 1 ton pickup with dual tires to pick up the mail .... 100ft down the street.

Yeah it works, it gives you lots of extra room, but why not match the gear to the need?

Except that needs do vary, so while the 13 might work ok, I saw the 19 as my call.

 

[FritzCat66]

People debate pony sizes all day, but for most of us recreational divers, the 19cf/2.9L aluminum seems to find the sweet spot between size, weight, & bulk vs. capacity and airtime necessary to do a controlled ascent from recreational depths, even breathing a bit harder than usual.

I regularly test mine by ascending on it from the last dive of the weekend, and it has gotten me up from 130', with safety stop, with gas left. Of course, I'm not breathing hard under such controlled circumstances, but still - the 19cf/2.9L hits the sweet spot.

 

[NAM001]

well I have to say I personally dont think one is better then the other they each do the same thing just in a differnt way. We like what were used to and what we know.

after playing with ratio deco calculations the metric method is much easier than imperial. i am just not sure that being raised on imperial that i can become comfortable with anything else in metreic except wrenches and small gaps.

 

[KarolinaKid]

I guess your the kind of guy who want to drive his 1 ton pickup with dual tires to pick up the mail .... 100ft down the street.

Yeah it works, it gives you lots of extra room, but why not match the gear to the need?

If the "need" in an emergency were always predictable I would agree with your clever parallel. However, I don't think bail outs are predictable. Instead, it's all about how much risk an individual feels like mitigating.