Confession

[DaleC]

Having the pony may actually be more dangerous because you may attempt dives you would not do without it.

Those are my sentiments.

 

[SCUBA482]

Good info from all. I would ask the group their preference on Spare Air over Pony bottle? Sizes. I am looking to have enough air in a 2nd source to take care of a safe ascent from no more than 60'. Looking at the 3.0 Spare Air bottle setup. Thoughts? This will not be factored into my gas plan, and only used in case something goes wrong with my primary setup to bail me out of that depth for now. I can't see me SOLO diving beyond 75' after that, but if I do I'll consider that then.

 

[ucfdiver]

Good info from all. I would ask the group their preference on Spare Air over Pony bottle? Sizes. I am looking to have enough air in a 2nd source to take care of a safe ascent from no more than 60'. Looking at the 3.0 Spare Air bottle setup. Thoughts? This will not be factored into my gas plan, and only used in case something goes wrong with my primary setup to bail me out of that depth for now. I can't see me SOLO diving beyond 75' after that, but if I do I'll consider that then.

I think merely asking this question is a good indication you're not ready to solo dive.

 

[SCUBA482]

I think merely asking this question is a good indication you're not ready to solo dive.

Wow! I guess this forum is not the place to ask questions. What would I do without the wisdom you just shared. So there is no place to ask questions huh? Hmmm, where did you start your diving career? At the top of the food chain? :mooner:

For anybody else wanting to share their preferences or experiences on the original question please feel free.

 

[DaleC]

I once considered a spare air but am glad I asked questions (as you have) so that I could make a better choice for my needs.

Air volume. First there is the issue of 3 cuft. of air. While theoretically enough to get you to the surface from <50ft it leaves no room for (real life) error. At the surface you have 3cuft. At 33ft you have 1.5cuft and at 66ft you only have 1 cuft. Someone asked me why I was seeking a safety solution that provided such a bare minimum of safety (like buying a car with the thinnest seatbelt material possible in order to save weight). Made sense to me.

You must also factor in small losses of air from momentary freeflows and breathing the reg during predive checks. 3cuft is the optimum volume you can have but you could actually be diving with less.

Cost. It will cost about 2-$300 for a spare air setup (depending where you are) which is almost the cost of a real pony bottle set up. With the spare air it will only be good for shallow diving at best and will spend the rest of your diving career sitting on the shelf with your snorkel (money wasted). A real pony bottle can be re used (re sold) for many other needs. The regs can be used with other scuba units (stages, doubles etc...) and a small cylinder can be used as an argon or O2 bottle while a larger cylinder can be used as a deco bottle/O2/stage bottle.

Servicing. My LDS won't service spare airs and has to ship them out to the manufacturer for Hydro's, reg servicing etc... Your LDS may differ but it is worth checking out ahead of time as it will add cost and lost dive time to your decision.

Mockery. Last but not least, everyone will laugh at you if you show up wearing a spare air (and those that don't you should avoid ). I say this partly in jest (and who cares what others think really) but you should consider what personality type you are and wether you may tire of having to constantly defend your use of it.
I'm a nice guy but these other divers are a hard, cruel, unforgiving bunch.

 

[paddler3d]

Good info from all. I would ask the group their preference on Spare Air over Pony bottle? Sizes. I am looking to have enough air in a 2nd source to take care of a safe ascent from no more than 60'. Looking at the 3.0 Spare Air bottle setup. Thoughts? This will not be factored into my gas plan, and only used in case something goes wrong with my primary setup to bail me out of that depth for now. I can't see me SOLO diving beyond 75' after that, but if I do I'll consider that then.

I'm not a solo diver, I'm not trained, so on so forth.

The Spare Air over a pony...

A buddy I dive with has a spare air. Got it as an x-mass present. Bascially we came to the conclusion that it is fine if you're 60ft or less and you're not committed to doing a SS. Good choice for a Caribbean live aboard.

I personally use a slung AL40 on any dives were I may end up alone, deep, diving with some new guy, what ever. It is my buddy bottle.

I slung it vs. back mount it because eventually I'll do some tech courses and they sling everything. It is easy to pass off in the water. It is easy to leave on the quarry's edge between dives.

I went with the 40 because it is 1/3 of my back supply. I dive a HP130 and I'm typically pretty good with the whole rule of 1/3's thing.

I went with the 40 because I got a lot of feedback from tech folks that the 40 makes a nice deco bottle.

Hopefully this helps you.

 

[SCUBA482]

DaleC,

Again, thanks for answering the question and even the final thought. I have pretty thick skin and am not too worried about what others think, unless they offer a sound reason for bringing the issue to my attention.

I was just at my LDS the other day and asked the same questions as I was able to put my hands on both and see the differences. After that trip to the LDS, and based upon the general vibe on this site, I am looking at pony bottles. Now I am in the size consideration phase. I like the 6.0 cu bottle size, but still in research mode for sure. I'm not really interested in slinging it across my D rings right now and will save that for the tech stuff later in my diving career (If I ever receive the secret handshake from ucfdiver that is). I like the set-up of strapping it to my AL80 with hose, reg, and SPG. All things point to this set-up for me.

Without trying to hi-jack this thread too much, would it be safe to say it's just a personal preference on mounting of the pony bottles to your BC or are there drastic benefits of one way over the other?

 

[SCUBA482]

I'm not a solo diver, I'm not trained, so on so forth.

The Spare Air over a pony...

A buddy I dive with has a spare air. Got it as an x-mass present. Bascially we came to the conclusion that it is fine if you're 60ft or less and you're not committed to doing a SS. Good choice for a Caribbean live aboard.

I personally use a slung AL40 on any dives were I may end up alone, deep, diving with some new guy, what ever. It is my buddy bottle.

I slung it vs. back mount it because eventually I'll do some tech courses and they sling everything. It is easy to pass off in the water. It is easy to leave on the quarry's edge between dives.

I went with the 40 because it is 1/3 of my back supply. I dive a HP130 and I'm typically pretty good with the whole rule of 1/3's thing.

I went with the 40 because I got a lot of feedback from tech folks that the 40 makes a nice deco bottle.

Hopefully this helps you.

This makes perfect sense and thanks for the input. I was looking at a 40 (or maybe it was a 30) and my first blush was it being a tad larger for my takings, but you offer somethings to consider. I'm SOLO in shallow (60' or less) most of the time and off my own boat. Kind of hard to crawl up my ladder onto the swim step with my reg dive gear without putting too much stress on my swim step ladder. What would you say the weight of the 40 is full and outfitted? 15-20 lbs?

 

[paddler3d]

DaleC,

Again, thanks for answering the question and even the final thought. I have pretty thick skin and am not too worried about what others think, unless they offer a sound reason for bringing the issue to my attention.

I was just at my LDS the other day and asked the same questions as I was able to put my hands on both and see the differences. After that trip to the LDS, and based upon the general vibe on this site, I am looking at pony bottles. Now I am in the size consideration phase. I like the 6.0 cu bottle size, but still in research mode for sure. I'm not really interested in slinging it across my D rings right now and will save that for the tech stuff later in my diving career (If I ever receive the secret handshake from ucfdiver that is). I like the set-up of strapping it to my AL80 with hose, reg, and SPG. All things point to this set-up for me.

Without trying to hi-jack this thread too much, would it be safe to say it's just a personal preference on mounting of the pony bottles to your BC or are there drastic benefits of one way over the other?

Backmounting.

BTW it is all personal preference.

Anyway, there two varients that I've seen and think make sense. One is the bottle is mounted valve up with the hose coming over or under your shoulder. I've seen various hose lengths for the 2nd. The other is the bottle mounted valve down with the hose coming up under your shoulder/side. The difference for selection one over the other is ease of access by the diver to the tank valves. Some find it easier to reach over their head others don't. Personal preference.

If the tank is mounted valve down they just use a slightly hose with the 2nd clipped to the BCD.

If the tank is top mounted, I've seen guys got with a shorter hose to a necklass or I've seen guy bring them under their arm and clip off to BC.

Most ponies I've seen back mounted have a button SPG. I've only ever seen one guy that actually had an SPG long enough that he could read.

If you dive with lead, shift it around to help offset the weight of the tank.

Look at the AL19 as a back mount.

Mount it on your right side. I was dive conning a class and the student had just gotten a new pony for this class. He had it mounted on the left side of the tank, BTW he was back mounting it. He had the reg coming under his left shoulder and clipped off to his BC. This was sort of a dick move. Once he was dressed, suited up, I asked him to demonstrate how he would deploy his redundant air source. He grabs the 2nd stage with his left had, just like you would an octo on your right. He puts the regulator to his mouth and realizes it is upside down, tries to flip it over, so on so forth. It works in the position, but you don't want to dive with it that way. We got that squared away, but then he learned it is a lot more complicated to switch to you redundant air source when you are wearing a full face mask. This was a specialty course towards AOW.

Good luck.

 

[SailNaked]

There is a solo diver course that would not only answer your questions but also suit them to how you dive and when. take it or not.

I dive with my wife, her safety is more important to me than mine so I am never very far from her ever. it is a frame of mind, not a how to. it is easy to be a same ocean buddy, but it has to be important to you to be a real buddy that is there when you are needed. if you find your buddy always runs off and it is not the same person then you should look at yourself before you cast blame. having a buddy can be thought of as having a spare everything that you do not have to carry or pay for. I will take the solo dive course but not because I want to dive solo I do however want to survive all of my dives.