Heavy AL80 vs hp100 steel
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The Neutral AL 80 is sort of like polishing a turd. For cold water diving the AL80 is not a nice solution to begin with due to excess buoyancy. To make it sink better they made the wall thicker hence heavier. Buoyancy of course is weght & volume so the outside was kept the same. This means the inside is what changed and it got smaller. In order to pack the air in there the pressure goes up to 3300 PSI, putting it in the realm of a HP cylinder. This is not that big of a deal, I dive HP almost exclusively and good fills are not that big of a problem. The heavy weight of these beasts are the biggest downside IMO.
I highly prefer the HP steels, generally from Worthington / XS Scuba. There are others out there such as Faber that are perfectly good but may actually have more negative buoyancy than some divers may desire.
Depending on your diving the HP 80 or 100 may be a good choice. At times the 80 was highly discounted making it an awesome buy. Lately it's been within $50 of the HP 100 making the 100 a very easy cylinder to settle on.
Pete
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I would recommend the Worthington x7-100. Buoyancy characteristics are nice and having the extra gas volume is great especially if you are going to be diving Nitrox which most people do.
To recap what others have said, the N80 tanks aren't the ideal tank. They're an oddball pressure that most fill station operators won't recognize the 3300 psi rating; they still LOOK like an AL80. They're not very popular on the used market, either.
Regular old AL80's are positively buoyant enough that we can send them up the line when the pressure is less than about 1000 psi in salt water (with reg and stage kit attached).
The HP100's are an almost ideal cold water tank and leave you with plenty of options later on. Their buoyancy characteristics are such that you'll be able to take more weight off of your belt than the difference they weigh (compared to the AL tank), being lighter overall when walking to the dive site. When/If you switch to technical diving, you'll be able to double them up, saving you the cost of buying new tanks. Finally, if you decide to sell them, their value and popularity is such that you won't be waiting very long to find a buyer.
Regular old AL80's are positively buoyant enough that we can send them up the line when the pressure is less than about 1000 psi in salt water (with reg and stage kit attached).
The HP100's are an almost ideal cold water tank and leave you with plenty of options later on. Their buoyancy characteristics are such that you'll be able to take more weight off of your belt than the difference they weigh (compared to the AL tank), being lighter overall when walking to the dive site. When/If you switch to technical diving, you'll be able to double them up, saving you the cost of buying new tanks. Finally, if you decide to sell them, their value and popularity is such that you won't be waiting very long to find a buyer.
It's all about the right tool for the right job.
Personally, my favorite tanks are the old Catalina 3300psi AL90's.
13 more cf than a standard 80, neutral when empty and no worries when I fill from my Rix without a desiccant tower.
Personally, my favorite tanks are the old Catalina 3300psi AL90's.
13 more cf than a standard 80, neutral when empty and no worries when I fill from my Rix without a desiccant tower.
mike_s
Contributor
FYI... Faber cylinders are not "Hot dip galvanized".
from Fabers website.
Faber the leader in scubadiving cylinders Faber the leader in scubadiving cylinders Faber steel cylinders for high-pressure gases, diving, scuba, diving cylinders, diving cylinders, diving cylinders, scuba diving cylinders
Hot Zinc Spraying vs. Hot Dip Galvanizing
HDG, dip galvanizing, zinc spray, zinc spraying, coating
For many years Faber had evaluated the possibility of hot dip galvanizing (HDG) its scuba diving cylinders. Extensive research has been carried out and many trials and tests have been performed in order to evaluate the industrial process and the performance of the coating in relation to the more commonly used hot zinc spraying process.
In the case of HDG, (Hot Dip Galvanizing) taking into account the large number of cylinders manufactured by Faber, would imply a considerable negative impact on the environment. In addition, the temperature at which the HDG is undertaken is quite high (around 450°C) and could affect the final properties of the steel cylinders (it is worth noting that most periodic inspection and test documents limit temperature of steel cylinders to around 350°C during all parts of the retest cycle).
HDG has also been known to cause an embrittlement of the steel material, due to the evolution of hydrogen during the initial pickling stage of the overall HDG process with the hydrogen getting absorbed into the steel.
On a separate note, when it comes to surface finish, our studies have shown that the performance of the top coat is not acceptable when applied on HDG treated cylinders. This is often related to the criticality of surface preparation when a top coat paint is applied.
Thus after careful deliberation of other available coating processes, Faber has decided not to adopt the HDG process and has instead optimized its production cycle involving hot zinc spraying coupled with a primer + top coat of paint, which gives the best trade-off between corrosion resistance and an attractive appearance.
Our clients appreciate and are accustomed to the winning look of Faber cylinders, not to mention the beneficial effects that our approach has towards the environment.
Just ordered my 2nd set of Worthington Steel 100s. I have been nothing but pleased with them.
Do you really think nitrox has overtaken air? There is a lot of places that don't even offer mixed gasses. For a high percentage of dives there is no definitive benefit.
ams511
Contributor
Why bother with neutral Al-80's you could always just add weight pockets to the cylinder to make it heavier. Years ago someone manufactured a weighted tank boot which made a regular Al-80 similar to a neutral Al-80, it was probably a better solution because it kept the bottom of the tank from floating up at the end of the dive when pressure was low. I haven't seen them in a while so I guess they did not work out.
My guess would be they really aren't a good solution because:
1. AL tanks have flat bottoms and don't really need boots in the first place.
2. I've always been foot-heavy in A80s to begin with (since they're so long), having a permanent weight boot exacerbates this, and also limits options for managing trim by moving weights around.
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