Air Buddy Alternate Air

[FritzCat66]

Gerard, if you're looking to slim down your bailout rig, that's certainly understandable. When I was building mine, I also thought a traditional standard valve, standard first stage, and standard second made for an awfully bulky solution for my smallish 19cf pony tank.

I looked at that Air Buddy as a possibility for a slimmer second, but opted for a small, flat, but otherwise more standard second to wear on a necklace to keep it close - not sure how you would necklace the Air Buddy. I ended up with the XS AirWave Octo reg because 1) it's relatively small, 2) it lays flat on my necklace, and 3) has a left-handed hose port, which is the side I wear my pony on and thus makes for easy hose routing. Having tested it many times since, it's a fine reg for a bailout. Breathes a little wet, but does a decent job even at depth.

However, even the pony bottle solution on the Air Buddy site consists of a pretty standard first stage, which is bulky and still leaves that huge valve knob on the bottle; it only saves bulk on the second stage.

What I ended up with is the Zeagle Razor, which combines the valve and first stage into one streamlined unit. The compromise there is you must keep an adaptor around to allow it to be filled from a standard yoke whip. However, there's also a transfill adaptor to let you fill it yourself from another tank, and the fill orifice also turns out to be a standard paintball valve, and a lot of scuba shops turn out to have a paintball fill whip on their compressor so I often don't need the adaptor at all.

A similar combo valve/first stage is available from H2Odyssey. This unit and the Razor are really traditional valves & piston first stages, just combined into one streamlined housing. I know, because I had to have mine serviced after Cozumel airport security screwed mine up and it turns out the internal parts were replaceable with standard valve components.

The only other factor I can think of is that, with the Air Buddy, the unit really can't be used as part of a rig to be handed off to another diver, because they wouldn't necessarily know how to use it, whereas that's no issue with a more standard second. That being said, I don't ever intend to hand off my bailout, I'm the only intended user.

Just some options for you to consider if you're trying to streamline.

 

[doctormike]

To reply to some of the other observations,
My plan is always to give up my primary second stage as the air donar, the reg on the bc is for me. HAD I got an air buddy, the same concept would have applied. OOA person gets my primary 2nd stage, I get the air buddy so their experience on one is moot.

Hey, Gerard...

Glad that you are getting some good advice. Just to speak to this point - in an OOA situation, expect whatever you have planned to potentially fail. The one thing that you can do to optimize your outcome in any emergency is to have your systems be as familiar and as simple as possible, and not to be completely reliant on any specific sequence of events or new technology.

This device requires training in special breathing techniques. I'm not doubting that you easily learn to use it in a pool session, but it will never be as second-nature to you as breathing through a regulator. And in an emergency, you don't want to rely on special techniques that you don't use every day if you don't have to.

Furthermore, while you may plan on donating your primary, you can't be sure what an OOA diver will do. With two standard second stages, even if they both get knocked loose in the fray, as long as each of you grab one you are good to go.

To be honest, you can't even be sure that you yourself in an OOA situation would calmly and smoothly give up your primary regulator and switch to something new and different, no matter how often you train with it…

My 2 cents…. It just doesn't seem like free flow (which we all get from time to time, and which is relatively easy to fix) is enough of a problem to justify the downsides of this solution.

Thinking more about the sling instead of the hard mount. Being able to hand it off is a plus.
Thanx for all the replies. All good tips born out of experience!

I far prefer the sling to the tank mount. I carry a 30 under my left arm, and I barely notice it in the water, even though I carry a big DSLR housing with two strobes. The tank mount is awkward, IMHO, and makes it hard to rack your tank on some boats. You might also have a bigger problem if that regulator had a free flow, since the valve and the regulator can be less accessible.

Mike

 

[NC Wreck Diver]

Thanx for the replies, finally got some good advice surrounded by logic and experience! To answer some, I'm not "getting pissed." I've been on enough boards in different fields to know some people tend to sarcasm rather than facts. You just have to wade sift through the BS to find the pearl. Doesn't mean you have to like the BS! The info I found helpful here is the fact there these aren't widely used, that does say something and for a couple extra bucks I'll likley go with a regular second stage. To reply to some of the other observations,
My plan is always to give up my primary second stage as the air donar, the reg on the bc is for me. HAD I got an air buddy, the same concept would have applied. OOA person gets my primary 2nd stage, I get the air buddy so their experience on one is moot.

I had planned on at least a 13 cu foot pony and mounting it to my main tank. Not sure if I could reach the valve to turn it on in an emergency so I think it would be on all the time.

I like the idea of surfacing on the pony. As stated good practice and insures the reg is operating properly.

Thinking more about the sling instead of the hard mount. Being able to hand it off is a plus.
Thanx for all the replies. All good tips born out of experience!

Cool.........I'm glad you're not 'pissed.'

Before you make a purchase, if I may add more info... I'd rethink a 13. I had a 19, and I really didn't think it was enough gas. My standard is a 30. Look at pricing between all three sizes. It may not be THAT much of a price difference.

Here is my reasoning:

1). In an OOA situation, you are going to be nervous (to say the least). Just to get your composure, you are going to suck some of that gas, right away. You mention you are going to be in cold water often...........more gas. Of course, depth is an issue, and I'm sure you're considering it, but again........more gas.

2). I'd bet my bottom dollar that you would come up faster than what we are trained to do. If you have a good size tank, this won't be so much in the equation.

3). Even in an OOA situation, a safety stop should be thought about. I know that it may not be your primary thought, but even if you are in NDL's, or close to deco, you should consider a stop (obviously, deco is a must - but these divers are carrying double slung 40's with different O2 mixes, or maybe an 80. You're not there.......yet). With the 30, you have more choices and a clearer head, since you know you have a fair amout of latitude with the bigger bottle.

The plan here is to arrive at the surface WITH gas in your bailout bottle, not to suck that dry too. I dive with this as my standard set up (mainly NDL), and these are my 'personal' choices:

A). I always dive doubles. I like a lot of gas. I have reasons for this, but it's too involved to go into all of that. On my doubles, I have an isolation valve with two DIN ports. I have my primary that includes my reg, my AIR2 power inflator hose and my SPG/console. When I'm in my drysuit, I have my standard power inflator hose on that main first stage.

B). On my other port, I have my octopus. It's on a yellow extended hose to my second stage. This reg is on a necklace. If I was to hand off my primary reg, my octo reg is just below my chin. I can get it for me, or, hand it off if time permits. Bear in mind, if it's not you that is out of gas, but your buddy, or another diver, they may jump you and go for your primary. A paniced diver who is OOA, is going for the first reg they see that is working. I know it, because I have seen it. Humans do unplanned things when they are in real trouble (even your good buddy). They teach us signals and they should be followed, but in the heat of the moment, that training goes away, and someone paniced is just going to grab what they see is working.

C). As I mentioned, I sling my 30. I do like the idea of passing it to my buddy if need be. Actually, I have done it, when my one buddy was getting low on gas, but nowhere near OOA. I had plenty of backgas, and he is new, so his SAC rate is higher. We just went up to 15-20 feet, went around the quarry wall to our entry point. It gave him time to offgas as a 'slow swim' safety stop, and he still had some reserve in his main tank, as a backup. This slung bottle clips to my BC, and I do offset my weight a pound or two heavier on the opposite side of the tank. The slung pony has a bungee to slip the reg hose into, and I do have an SPG on that DIN regulator too.

So, I dive with four second stages on three first stages. Some people may look at me strange, but I could care less about them. I hope this may give you some insight how one diver does it, and you can make your own personal choices from what you like, and what you don't like. Safe diving to you.

 

[FritzCat66]

I had planned on at least a 13 cu foot pony and mounting it to my main tank. Not sure if I could reach the valve to turn it on in an emergency so I think it would be on all the time... Thinking more about the sling instead of the hard mount. Being able to hand it off is a plus.

I far prefer the sling to the tank mount... The tank mount is awkward, IMHO, and makes it hard to rack your tank on some boats. You might also have a bigger problem if that regulator had a free flow, since the valve and the regulator can be less accessible.

How one mounts or carries a pony is a big part of the Great Pony Debate, and decisions here revolve around donatability, access to the valve, and convenience, among other things (not the least of which is what size pony we're talking about).

That being said, and after trying most of the options, I chose a back mount, but to the cam band, not the tank itself (for one reason, if your tank slips out for some reason, you don't want it taking your pony along with it; for another, "hard" tank mounts with clamps are fine when using your own tanks, but fairly useless on rentals). You can accomplish a cam band mount with some of the brackets and pony bags out there, but these also limit the size of your pony to a 13cf or 19cf max, anything larger like a 30cf or 40cf would require a tank mount if not slung.

For a backmounted 19cf pony, I have not had much difficulty on Florida boats - its small size and cam band mount puts it in the space between two upright tanks in typical tank holders. And as far as reaching the valve goes, with the Razor mentioned above, I put the reg hose in the port right above the small valve knob, so all I have to do is follow the hose back right to the valve, no real problems there. That ties in to the whole "valve-on vs. valve-off" debate, personally I leave it on.

And while many slingers claim it doesn't obstruct them in any way, nevertheless nothing gets the pony completely out of the way like backmounting. Then again, a backmounted pony isn't very donateable, it's pretty much for the diver only.