Necklace or stow the pony reg?

[Ragnar]

I've done a lot of reading, but am still undecided. I have a slung AL40 and have been diving with three second stages at the moment, primary on a longhose, octo on a necklace and the pony's reg stowed on the bottle. Most of what I've read has shown that when tank-mounting a pony most people put the reg on a necklace, but when slinging they leave it on the bottle. Why?

I'm comfortable I could quickly deploy my pony reg from the bottle, but lately have been thinking it may be better to have that reg on the necklace and either secure or eliminate the octo. I have no problem diving with only two second stages, mostly I've kept three to avoid having to always change my gear around when not using the pony.

I suspect that leaving the reg stowed on the bottle has something to do with being able to easily pass it off if needed without having to remove the necklace, yet for solo diving this isn't a concern. Other considerations? Thanks.

 

[vladimir]

What use does the long hose have for solo diving? What use does an octopus have while solo diving?

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Get rid of the octo and if you are going to sling the pony do not put the reg on a necklace, keep it under bungi's attached to the pony bottle.

 

[jridg]

Get rid of the octo and if you are going to sling the pony do not put the reg on a necklace, keep it under bungi's attached to the pony bottle.

What he said.....

I Also use an Atomic SS1 as my 'octo' - that way if the pony is not there, I have two.....

 

[dannobee]

I'm all for keeping the gear in a familiar configuration; long hose, bungied alternate, and the pony rigged as a stage with the second stage stowed. When it all goes to crap you'll grab what you're familiar with.


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[dumpsterDiver]

Especially if you are a solo diver, having an octopus (third second stage) provides very little potential benefit, and adds an additional failure point, possible free-flow location and also the ability to confuse regualtors if things get bad.

 

[DaleC]

I've done a lot of reading, but am still undecided. I have a slung AL40 and have been diving with three second stages at the moment, primary on a longhose, octo on a necklace and the pony's reg stowed on the bottle. Most of what I've read has shown that when tank-mounting a pony most people put the reg on a necklace, but when slinging they leave it on the bottle. Why?

I think it's more the fact that tank mounted pony users have no choice but to attach the reg somewhere on their person. Unlike a slung pony they can't rig it like a stage.

As Dannobee suggested, familiarity has its advantages. If you dive a long hose config. and use an Al40 pony perhaps you are "tech" oriented? If so, perhaps equipment standardization has a higher priority than situational convenience (it's your call).

Do you switch hit between solo and buddy diving regularly? If so, switching rigs repeatedly may get old and add more of a potential failure point than just keeping things as is.

you also have to consider the potential for unknowingly breathing off the wrong tank (which might not necessarily kill you but it could come as something of a shock when your SPG says full but you can't breath).

Not saying nay or yay, soloists must make their own decisions. Just offering some food for thought.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

I agree that diving the same basic configuration makes sense. If you dive redundant doubles, it is a moot issue as no pony is required. But there would still be no benefit to swapping out a long hose on every dive depending on whether you are solo or not. Besides, two out of the three real world air shares I had were with divers who were not my buddy and I was a solo diver on one of the dives. In that regard having both a long hose an an octo would make some sense as you never know when ypu may end up donoating gas.

Also, second stages do fail closed with a lot more regularity than used to be the case and an octo gives you access to all your tank contents rather than just what is in the pony (and if you bail out on the pony in that situation, you are more likely to need to refill the pony before you dive again).

For a single tank solo diver, an Air 2, SS1, Tusa Duo Air, etc can make a great deal of sense as you get most of the octo advantages without the extra hose or additional conventional second stage.

If you carry a slung pony as your redundant air source, you would not want to bungee the second stage. It would just create the potential for more confusion and would complicate the process of handing it off to a low on air diver.

In short, my preference for solo diving is:

1. redundant manifolded doubles with a long hose primary and bungeed backup.
2. Single tank with long hose primary and Air 2 along with a slung 30-45 cu ft stage/pony and a reg with a second stage on a 40" or 42" hose bungeed to the tank.

 

[Ragnar]

Thanks guys. No, I don't always dive solo, I do have a few friends It looks like I'll be leaving my gear set up the way it is, but am still surprised at some of the answers given here. What if I did Always dive solo, in that case why would I want to ditch the octo AND not necklace the pony reg, I don't get that. Having a fully redundant reg on my neck in that scenario seems safer, and even in the rare event I did stumble on a diver needing gas I could donate the longhose and switch to the necklace, exactly what I would do now. But anyway, that's not my case since my diving is about evenly split between going solo and with a few good friends.

I put out the scenario that I sometimes leave the pony bottle behind when diving with a buddy, and with that I'm willing to accept the risk of the third second stage instead of always changing my gear around. It gives me the most uniform gear set-up for all my dives. If I'm solo the pony is always with me, if I'm with a buddy and leave the pony behind my gear is still configured, and if I'm with a buddy and the pony it gives the possibility to hand it off and still have an octo for myself.

I do a lot of diving from my kayak and doubles that would work well with that would have to be too small for multiple dives causing me all kinds of problems. I also travel a lot and would have to change configurations yet again when doing that, I decided the whole thing just wasn't worth it.

I think now that I have this settled I'll pick up a AL19 and occasionally sling that on buddy dives or when traveling which will give me the same gear configuration almost all the time. The 40 does fit in my divebag with the valve off and I'll still bring it to certain destinations, but on tropical dive boats there never seems to be a proper place to stow it and the 19 will just be way easier to lug around in general. Besides, with a smaller pony I hope to endure less questions from vacation divers

Cheers and safe diving!

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Running a hose from a stage bottle under your arm to around your neck sounds like a pain to me. If you want to not change configuration, you can use an air2 inflator, that is what I do mostly and was suggested above.

What benefit does having it around your neck provide? Are you afraid you can not deploy the reg from the stage fast enough? One of the benefits of having a slung pony is the ability to unclip it and hand it off, which would be more of a problem if it is tied around your neck.