Do I want a Spare Air

[UTscuba]

If a diver wants to carry around an extra 7 or 30 lbs of extra "gear" on a recreational dive, why criticize them?

I personally wasn't criticizing them, but was criticizing the gear for being a dangerous, unreliable piece of junk

 

[agilis]

I often try to have it in my head, what I'll see when I next look at my SPG. Usually pretty darn close

Me too. It's almost always right where I expect it to be. Sometimes my guesstimate is off because I spent some time chasing a fish around, or better than I expected because the water that day was surprisingly free of currents and warmer than usual., but usually I'm right about where I expected to be. This in no way is an excuse for not checking your SPG frequently. It only takes a second, the damn thing is sitting right there on my chest. I've noticed some cowboys distain checking their SPG, their heads full of SAC calculations and spurious high tech play acting, much like adolescent boys -- "Look Ma, No hands!!"

 

[tbone1004]

Well, basic OW and AOW divers here in the Great Lakes and other cold water locations don’t find them themselves an exception. Warm water isn’t the only kind of water to dive in.

And do you think that OW AOW divers are not doing cold water diving? That’s the only kind of local diving done here.

are pony bottles formally taught in those courses? If not, then no, they do consider themselves an exception. If they thought it was necessary equipment, they would be used during training.

 

[Scraps]

FWIW, the equipment requirement for SDI/TDI’s Solo Diver course lists Spare Air as an acceptable alternate air source.

That surprised me.

 

[tursiops]

FWIW, the equipment requirement for SDI/TDI’s Solo Diver course lists Spare Air as an acceptable alternate air source.

That surprised me.

However, the PADI equivalent course -- almost identical -- does NOT allow a SpareAir!

 

[scubadada]

FWIW, the equipment requirement for SDI/TDI’s Solo Diver course lists Spare Air as an acceptable alternate air source.

That surprised me.

I'm surprised also, I wonder if that was the case when I took the course in 2013?

Funny, they say nothing about the size of the Spare Air, I guess you could use a 3 cu ft. I was required to use my pony on both of the two SDI training dives. On the 1st dive I switched to the pony, breathed off it for a little while swimming around, and switched back to the main cylinder. On the second dive, I switched to the pony, deployed my DSMB, and did the ascent and safety stop off the pony. I'm not at all sure you could do this on 3 cu ft, or a little less. I suppose you could recharge the Spare Air on the surface, between dives.

 

[tursiops]

There is a whole thread on SpareAirs for the solo classes....
https://www.scubaboard.com/community/threads/padi-self-reliant-diver-with-spare-air.535419

 

[Angelo Farina]

So for SDI a standard H valve is considered an additional independent air source? Without even the reserve ???
And if a single cylinder with H-valve is accepted, then why not a twin without isolation? It still has two valves and two independent regs...
Now I understand how they can accept the SpareAir...
In practice, they accept anything better than the basic octopus.

 

[tursiops]

So for SDI a standard H valve is considered an additional independent air source? Without even the reserve ???
And if a single cylinder with H-valve is accepted, then why not a twin without isolation? It still has two valves and two independent regs...
Now I understand how they can accept the SpareAir...
In practice, they accept anything better than the basic octopus.

One advantage for an SDI Instructor is he/she does not have to accept all those things....and many do NOT accept an H-valve.....redundancy does not mean slightly better than no redundancy.....also the PADI standard is a "redundant gas source." SDI uses the phrase "additional independent regulator attached to an air source" so they are less restrictive than PADI.

 

[UTscuba]

FWIW, the equipment requirement for SDI/TDI’s Solo Diver course lists Spare Air as an acceptable alternate air source.

That surprised me.

I just went through my SDI solo course manual and didn't see that, they recommend a pony over backmount doubles, but couldn't see any mention of a spare air