Potential rig. Comments?

[tbone1004]

sorry, just realized you are doing more recreational stuff. The PST tanks listed are 3500psi which means they require DIN valves per DOT law. My apologies.

bit of an expansion on what Lynne said.
AL80, what you're used to, too long for most divers actually, best for people 6' or taller at about 26". Only hold 77.4cf of gas, and weigh an ungodly 32lbs on land, plus the 5lbs of lead required to sink them.
The HP80 listed above is only 20" long so quite short, holds 82cf of gas, still weighs about 28lbs, but is 3.3lbs negative so you have 8 less pounds of lead on you. So you save 12lbs on land by diving that thing.
HP120, beasty of a tank, but my favorite, 28" long, 40lbs empty, and 1.3lbs negative, so you carry 3lbs more, to get 1.5x the gas of an AL80 if you're tall enough to dive it, generally not recommended for people less than about 6'2" or so since they become hard to sit with.

Both of them do require din valves, so you are probably best off passing on them at this point. If they were pairs I'd wire you the money and have you pick them up for me, but alas as singles they don't do me any good. Either of the tanks would be good for you but would limit your first stage buying ability a bit since your LDS likely has yoke connections on all of their regulators.

 

[stuartv]

Thanks, tbone! Great info.

So, with these tanks with DIN valves, could I not just get an insert to make them usable with a yoke 1st? (although I still don't see how that would work with that HP80)

Of course, another option for me is to get a 1st stage that can be converted between yoke and DIN. If I'm traveling to the Caribbean, set my 1st up for yoke before I go. If I'm diving my own tanks, at home, convert the 1st to DIN. And, obviously, eventually just get a second reg set and have one of each. Eventually...

 

[tbone1004]

no, the 200bar valves can be converted to yoke and that is why the manufacturers have gone to service pressures of 3442 instead of 3500psi, they are exempt from the mandatory 300bar DIN fittings.
You need to evaluate what you're going to be doing the most of. If most of your diving involves caribbean travel, then buy yoke, if you're doing most of your diving locally and plan on going to tech training, going to din is probably a good call.

 

[TSandM]

DIN to yoke converters lengthen the first stage a little, so they can make the head-banging problem worse.

Only certain valves accept the "doughnuts" that convert DIN to yoke. The Pro valves we have on some of our tanks do; the Genesis valves on my HP100s do not.

Yoke connections are almost universal in the Caribbean and Hawaii. Places that get more divers from Europe tend to have at least some DIN tanks.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

The short PST 80's were sold with convertible valves. I bought two of them in 2004. The shop I got them from ordered a dozen of them at the time. All came with convertible valves and were 3442 PSI tanks. I still have one here and use it occasionally with yoke regs. No problem. I sold one because they don't trim out very well for me. You can buy the HP tanks rated at 3442 with convertible valves from all the tank manufacturers. You can put a convertible valve in either the 80's or 120's. The shops around here won't hassle you.

 

[tbone1004]

the one in there was the older 3500psi bottle, PST made the E7-120's in 3442 as well but that one is definitely skinny neck 300bar only. Also fwiw, I absolutely love those offset valves for singles use, gets the first stage a bit farther off center so you are less prone to hitting your head.

 

[stuartv]

I expect to do some warm water fly-and-diving with rental tanks, so I would want a yoke reg for that. But, those trips will be at most a few times a year. The rest of the year, I expect I will do some diving in colder water, where I drive to the dive site. For those dives, it would (obviously) be handy to have my own tank(s). It seems to me that a $20 DIN tank and an $80 yoke-to-din conversion kit would not be a bad way to spend my money, given that the need to change my 1st back and forth would only happen relatively infrequently. Even less if I can arrange for DIN rental tanks.

I could save a little money by buying a DIN reg and a DIN-to-yoke adapter to use, but since I was already touching my head during training, I think I'd rather spend a little more money to keep that to a minimum.

So, if I get a chance, I will pursue that HP80.

 

[tbone1004]

pursue that and the HP120, you can easily get your money back out of both of them. Din to Yoke conversions can be done in about 5 mins and many of us do that regularly.

 

[tursiops]

I had a pair of "HP80"s, actually E7-80s, that I was happy to sell. No more gas than an AL80, harder to maintain, and harder to get filled. I had gotten them for a set of doubles for my wife, but she decided not to go tech...that is another thread!

 

[Vegan Shark]

Where do you see those for that price? I just had a quick look on LP and the DC3 is $165 by itself and the 212 is $195 (w/o a hose).

DC3-212 - Dive Right in Scuba

Other shops are selling for the same price, Dive Addicts, etc.