I just got rid of an AL100, so I could get another 80. I did not care for the 100 much, for the reasons already mentioned. The guy I sold it to loves them, so it's all personal preference.
-Mitch
-Mitch
Aluminum bigger than 80?
- Thread starter compton384
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This is basically what I thought looking at the OP's avatar, number of dives and intended purpose (shallow dives at a familiar site), though it wasn't what was asked. (Sorry.) If "shallow" means "30 feet and less", then I personally would expect to be easily pushing 1hr 15mins when I hit 500psi on an AL80 under similar conditions. Since the petite females I dive with seem to regularly use 75% or so of the air I use, the OP should theoretically be capable of 1hr 45 mins dives on an AL80. Obviously there are a bunch of things I don't know about the OP's dive conditions or gear setup, but I would suggest that the OP ask an experienced local diver how long he or she can dive on a similar profile, and multiply that by 1.5 or so if the person she is asking is male. If she's not in that ballpark, the easiest way to get more bottom time is to keep diving and make an effort to get more comfortable in the water, e.g. making sure their weighting is optimal so they can go into an effortless hover at any point in the dive and breathing deep slow breaths while finning with long and slow movements. On the bonus side, extending your bottom time this way also works when you're diving on vacation and don't have your own tanks.
If the OP is already at this level of comfort and still wants more bottom time, I think the AL100 may be annoyingly long/bulky for a woman, unless she is exceptionally tall/strong. Definitely try one out before buying. Getting a second AL80 for repetitive diving or something like a HP100 would make more sense, imo. You might be able to get used ones for a reasonable price.
Welcome to scuba. You said, "we have a cottage and a boat right on the lake we want to dive", do we live there or visit on the weekends? If you just dive on the weekends, and considering your lack of expierence I wouldn't recomend buying any new tanks until you have at least tried a few different ones. Is renting an option, and does the shop you trained at have anything besides an al 80 to rent or try in a pool? Do you know any other divers that might be able to let you try their tanks? Educate yourself about tanks. valves and the maintainence involved and you can find some hot deals on used tanks if you are patient. Best of luck.
OP
compton384
Contributor
I like AL 80s- the reason we were looking for something more was that the lake we want to dive is over an hour away from any dive shop, so that's a 2 hour or so round trip just to get fills. We don't live there but we don't just go for the weekend usually either.
Yes, at 30 feet, I can probably get a pretty decent dive time in, but if we're there for a couple weeks, we are still going to be making lots of long trips for air and I just wanted to get the most out of those trips. Also, my dad's air consumption is more than mine, so that still leaves him with less bottom time.
All that said, we decided to go with some used Al 80s.
Yes, at 30 feet, I can probably get a pretty decent dive time in, but if we're there for a couple weeks, we are still going to be making lots of long trips for air and I just wanted to get the most out of those trips. Also, my dad's air consumption is more than mine, so that still leaves him with less bottom time.
All that said, we decided to go with some used Al 80s.
Just be careful about 6351 AL80s. They are older aluminum (pre-1999 Luxfers) and many shops will just refuse to fill them. They are often listed on places like Craigslist for unsuspecting/unsavy buyers.
OP
compton384
Contributor
scubaops
Contributor
i just sold 2 of my al80's today and am looking at getting al100's to replace them. i dive with my mom and she uses less air then i so i figure if i use a al100 we should run low at the same time. compton who is that in your avatar? 
OP
compton384
Contributor
That's a good idea... my dad and I both got al80's but he goes through air about twice as fast as me.. when he's at 700, I still have about half a tank left. I dunno, some broad... I make a habit out of putting pictures of other people as my avatar..
If you look at all the possible tanks you could get, an Al 100 has to be the worst... a luxfer is roughly 27 tall, by 8 inches in diameter. it weighs in at 41 lbs, and when empty is 3 pounds buoyant. Compared to say a Faber FX 100... which is 25 inches tall, by 7.25 inches around, weighs in at roughly 34 pounds and is zero buoyant. That means all setup, the Faber weighs around 10 lbs less for the same amount of air. The Worthington is around 4 lbs better than that. Even a Worthington 119 cfm tank is lighter to carry and smaller (as is the Faber 117).
You have to go all the way to the Faber 133 before you get a tank of similar size and weight.
You have to go all the way to the Faber 133 before you get a tank of similar size and weight.
i just sold 2 of my al80's today and am looking at getting al100's to replace them. i dive with my mom and she uses less air then i so i figure if i use a al100 we should run low at the same time. compton who is that in your avatar?
scubafanatic
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That's a good idea... my dad and I both got al80's but he goes through air about twice as fast as me.. when he's at 700, I still have about half a tank left. I dunno, some broad... I make a habit out of putting pictures of other people as my avatar..
I think he really just wants to know if you're 'single'......
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