Looking to buy some new (steel)tanks

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terrasmak

Contributor
Messages
785
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Location
Las Vegas
# of dives
100 - 199
Well i've been eyeballing steel tanks for some time now and its time to take the plunge. The two i've been looking at(drooling at) are the X7-100 and X7-120. I keep seeing nothing bad about the 100's except the trim part with being tall 6'1. The 120's on the other hand may trim out a lot better for me , but i feel they may be way to heavy ( 5 seperations on the Lt shoulder , 1 major seperation the Rt side and collor bone broken a few times )

So should i risk the 100's or just go for the longer tanks at the expense of my shoulders , are there other tanks out there i should look at. Oh ya , the other thing i'm looking at is having a lighter total weight , i would get that with the 100's over my alum 80's.
 
I don't think you will find a better weight to gas ratio than the X series so I'd say you are on the right track. The exception may be cave filling of LP steels but that's a local luxury for some, not a safe shopping strategy.

The 120 is 5 pounds heavier in dry weight and will ask you to add 1/2 pound to your weight belt since it's a little less negative when empty. The air will add 1.6 pounds. All in all how does 7 pounds sound?

What sort of dives do you make is there a need for 120CF? Where do you thnk you are on your air consumption progress? Leveled out or still improoving?

The 100s are very close to an AL80 so they are not stumpy like my E7-80s which do fine for us. I'm 5-9 and my wife is shorter. At 6-1 I would think either will trim well but length is your friend here.

No dive is worth hurting yourself for. If this could cause you an injury then it's better to have lots of shorter dives than to be laid up or out of the game for good.

Pete
 
120's really sound like they way to go , but that 14 extra pounds when there turned to doubles may hurt. Right now i'm having a hard time with my Alum 80's. For now i ordered one 100 to play with, i'll see how it feels as a single than maybe order another to band up. All else fails i'll just have to have 100's for singles and 120 for doubles.
 
If you run a rig that negative like a set of steel doubles, make sure you have all your bases covered on buoyancy devices.

Good story in the January 2007 Rodale's about a guy diving on a wreck with steel doubles who had a wing failure.
 
Bases are covered , in fresh i'll have to run the Alum plate with 2 to 3 pounds probably in a tail weight pouch . In salt steel plate with a pound or two extra and of course i'm diving dry and carry a lift bag or SMB with me .
 
The HP-100's are a really good tank. A close second choice for me would the LP-85.

I also have a couple of Worthington HP-80's which are fantastic for shore diving. Less weight to hump out into the surf, and if your SAC is decent plenty of gas for a dive at 40-60 feet.
 
terrasmak:
Well i've been eyeballing steel tanks for some time now and its time to take the plunge. The two i've been looking at(drooling at) are the X7-100 and X7-120. I keep seeing nothing bad about the 100's except the trim part with being tall 6'1. The 120's on the other hand may trim out a lot better for me , but i feel they may be way to heavy ( 5 seperations on the Lt shoulder , 1 major seperation the Rt side and collor bone broken a few times )

So should i risk the 100's or just go for the longer tanks at the expense of my shoulders , are there other tanks out there i should look at. Oh ya , the other thing i'm looking at is having a lighter total weight , i would get that with the 100's over my alum 80's.

You know, with the shoulder injuries - maybe a RB would be a better choice. (I'd have one if I could afford 2, wife would take the first one).

No RB, I'd stay with the 100's or LP85's. Both good tanks.
 
The RB, well not for a while , but it would be nice. I may have to look into the lp85's and see what their stats are . Only thing that sucks is i doubt i could get PROPER fills for them here , thus making the HP tanks a little better deal.
 
terrasmak:
The RB, well not for a while , but it would be nice. I may have to look into the lp85's and see what their stats are . Only thing that sucks is i doubt i could get PROPER fills for them here , thus making the HP tanks a little better deal.
Meaning no one will overfill them for you? Usually one hears complaints the other way... hard to get their HP tanks filled all the way up. With an LP tank you can almost always be guaranteed you'll get at least the rated gas, if not considerably more. OTOH, with an HP100, you'll still always have more than an Al80.

I'm 6'3", and love my HP100s. That's the route I would go. I also have an HP119 (same size as the HP100 but 8" wide, and a LOT heavier) and really prefer the 100. It's rare that I would need the extra gas, too... I'd only take it on dives that were planned to be especially deep/long, and only when I don't have to schlep it too far!
 
From experience most dive shops will fill LP tanks to at least 3000 anyway with all the other tanks they are filling, So if the tank is rated to 2400 for its listed cubic feet, and you are getting 3000psi fills, you can figure another 25% or so the cubic feet the tank contains, just something to think about.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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