Pony Bottle Vrs Spare Air?

[exitandleave]

Hey everyone,

I'm currently open water and in advanced and rescue courses (getting certified in spring) and hope to take some PSD courses if I can find some around here. I dive for recreation and will be rescue diving with my fire department when I get more training, and also looking into joining our local dive team.

I've been looking at getting a pony bottle and was wondering if anyone has some suggestions for me. Also, is the only difference between the Spare Air and a pony bottle the size and need for a regulator? I was considering purchasing both, since I could foresee a situation where a pony bottle would be too cumbersome to dive with.

Also, the 3 cu/Ft Spare Air system would seem to me to be sufficient for most diving emergencies, except for entanglement. I can also see that the larger pony bottle would be desirable simply to extend air supply. I'm not sure if that's acceptable use of a pony bottle or not- but I'm sure you guys can help straighten me out.

Any thoughts, opinions or concerns are greatly appreciated.

Thanks a lot,

Mike

 

[divestoclimb]

Search for pony bottle: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/search.php?searchid=7846810
Search for Spare Air: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/search.php?searchid=7846821

You won't get anything new in this thread...

 

[texdiveguy]

Mike... glad your on board. You might just use the 'Search' mode....you will find endless pages on this topic!

Pony bottle-19cf min.//rigged for slinging//basic no frills reg.//button SPG is fine//practice//air filled//contingency gas only remember........have fun.

 

[diver 85]

As the others have said, do a search....AND---also... I see 2 nice posters have responded so far.....But wait, the sharks are circling, just don't cut yourself, lol(there have been unbelievable threads in the past on this----wait & see).....

 

[exitandleave]

Thanks for the replies so far. I tried a little half-hearted search earlier but didn't return anything regarding a comparison of Spare Air to a pony bottle. I did find a few good threads on pony bottles and I've been reading up on what I've found.

Thanks again,
Mike

 

[divestoclimb]

Most of the spare air threads are very long arguments about whether or not enough they have enough air in an emergency. The only thing that you can really "compare" is the amount of gas each carries, the rest is just apples-and-oranges characteristics of each: "pony bottles work this way, and spare airs don't."

Doing a search for "pony bottle spare air" returned 67 threads, usually when one is asked about the other gets mentioned.

 

[exitandleave]

I've found the information I was looking for. Sorry for bringing up an old topic.

Thanks,

Mike

 

[Tomikp]

My opinion is to use none of them. I think loosing your air is not so often accident. First it is better to prevent such situation.

 

[DaleC]

I will not comment on which is better (you can do the math) but on a practical note I would suggest doing some investigation re: Spare air. In particular, check with your LDS to see if they can service the reg configuration and if there is a local source for hydro testing. Apart from the gas volume issue the inability to work locally on a Spareair unit changed my purchase decision to a pony (which is serviced as a regular tank/reg config. would be).
Also, if you are going the PSD route you may wish to check what set ups other members of the team use.
Good luck either way,
Dale.