"Spare Air" - Experience in its use

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I would be curious to know what others have found in testing it, but PLEASE - I really don't want arguments for and against use of pony tanks!
shoredivr:
Eleven years ago when I didn't know any better, I bought a Spare Air. It made sense at the time, a redundant source of air, etc. etc. Then I tried it out from a depth of 90 ft in a controlled and calm situation. It breathed harder than my reg, and was close to empty at the surface.
Now, I may have missed it an earlier post, but it appears that we got all the way to post #80 before the specific question in the OP was actually answered. The discussion has been good, and quite 'animated' at times. And, I comfortably reside in the camp of, 'get a pony bottle for redundancy / OOA situations'. But, in fact, I am now curious to try a Spare Air myself, just to be able to say that I have.
 
You seem to have misunderstood everything I wrote. I do not carry a Spare Air, nor do I propose that other divers, most particularly inexperienced divers, should do so. My comment focused on the tendency of many inexperienced divers to stay farther from their emergency air source (buddy) than they should.

When you wrote, "I don't carry a spare air, but...." and then wrote about inexperienced divers straying from their buddy, it sounded to me like you were suggesting that the spare air (which is what this thread is about) would be useful in that situation. You can see how I would have surmised that, can't you? That's why I asked if that's what you meant. It's the word "but" that gave me that impression.
 
When you wrote, "I don't carry a spare air, but...." and then wrote about inexperienced divers straying from their buddy, it sounded to me like you were suggesting that the spare air (which is what this thread is about) would be useful in that situation. You can see how I would have surmised that, can't you? That's why I asked if that's what you meant. It's the word "but" that gave me that impression.

Thanks for clarifying. I can see how the phrasing might have caused some misapprehension of my intended message. In that case, the word "but" had to do with the relevance of the post to me personally. The part about carrying a Spare Air was not as important to me, because I don't use one, but the observation regarding distance to emergency air source is very relevant for any diver.
 
Spare Air is and does exactly what it claims to do. That is to give the diver a margin of safety which exceeds not having it. In response to the divers who want a 13 cuft pony or a 40cuft stage bottle, hey why not dive doubles? The fact is, most divers will ascend with at least 500psi still in their tank. After all, that is what we were taught to do.

Why then carry a Spare Air? It gives one the extra time to get to their buddy if sharing air is the only alternative to making a safe ascent.

Divers should, with proper training be able to make a safe and controlled ascent from a non strenuous dive at 30 ft on a single breath, while exhaling the entire way up. Many seasoned divers can make this ascent from a depth of 80ft or more. Of course this omits the safety stop, but years ago, we never heard of safety stops.

The bottom line, a Spare Air is better than nothing. I would rather make an unassisted, independent ascent, than rely on a buddy ... especially one the boat captain just happened to assign for the day.

Most of us travel to remote dive sites and dive on charter boats.
These trips may involve flights with 2 or more change of planes.
There is no way I'm going to be able to do this in today's world with a 13 cuft or larger pony/stage bottle. I know I can place a 3 cuft Spare Air in my checked luggage, so long as it is not pressurized.

No arguments here. I carry a Spare Air all the time. I've NEVER needed to use it. I have experimented and found it quite adequate to make a controlled ascent from 80' without a safety stop. Having dove conservatively, this does not create a problem. Please, don't hit me over the head. I am not preaching to omit safety stops .... I am saying that if can be done if you must. And, if you do, you might want to omit diving the rest of the day. That's your decision.

For you die hards who like to carry a 13, 30 or even a 40 cuft redundant supply, remember, you're sucking more air and working harder dragging this around. There are times I'll nest a 40 between my twin 120's but we all know that's not the norm.


So get real, this guy has made a conscious decision and should be applauded for it.
 
Spare Air is and does exactly what it claims to do. That is to give the diver a margin of safety which exceeds not having it. In response to the divers who want a 13 cuft pony or a 40cuft stage bottle, hey why not dive doubles? The fact is, most divers will ascend with at least 500psi still in their tank. After all, that is what we were taught to do.

Why then carry a Spare Air? It gives one the extra time to get to their buddy if sharing air is the only alternative to making a safe ascent.

Divers should, with proper training be able to make a safe and controlled ascent from a non strenuous dive at 30 ft on a single breath, while exhaling the entire way up. Many seasoned divers can make this ascent from a depth of 80ft or more. Of course this omits the safety stop, but years ago, we never heard of safety stops.

The bottom line, a Spare Air is better than nothing. I would rather make an unassisted, independent ascent, than rely on a buddy ... especially one the boat captain just happened to assign for the day.

Most of us travel to remote dive sites and dive on charter boats.
These trips may involve flights with 2 or more change of planes.
There is no way I'm going to be able to do this in today's world with a 13 cuft or larger pony/stage bottle. I know I can place a 3 cuft Spare Air in my checked luggage, so long as it is not pressurized.

No arguments here. I carry a Spare Air all the time. I've NEVER needed to use it. I have experimented and found it quite adequate to make a controlled ascent from 80' without a safety stop. Having dove conservatively, this does not create a problem. Please, don't hit me over the head. I am not preaching to omit safety stops .... I am saying that if can be done if you must. And, if you do, you might want to omit diving the rest of the day. That's your decision.

For you die hards who like to carry a 13, 30 or even a 40 cuft redundant supply, remember, you're sucking more air and working harder dragging this around. There are times I'll nest a 40 between my twin 120's but we all know that's not the norm.


So get real, this guy has made a conscious decision and should be applauded for it.

Bolding all your text is like trying to shout out your opinion. Just because you're loud doesn't make you right. We can hear normal text just fine.
You're an instructor and applaud someones choice to use a spare air and justify your own use because you might not be near enough to your buddy? With over 3000 dives?
Honestly, how hard do you work slinging a 30? I do it all the time and don't even notice it's there.
 
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<snip> For you die hards who like to carry a 13, 30 or even a 40 cuft redundant supply,<snip>

"die hards"....good choice if words. For those who make the safer choice of the available options, it will be harder to die.:D
 
Spare Air is and does exactly what it claims to do. That is to give the diver a margin of safety which exceeds not having it.

And I'd bet that wearing a couple of thick sweat shirts would increase the level of protection your clothing provides against bullets. So by your logic those sweatshirts give you a margin of safety that exceeds not wearing them!

Now where the problem really is: The false sense of security that inexperienced divers may get from having the spare air (as it's marketing is rather aggressive in it's claims) which can lead the diver to make unsafe decisions they wouldn't otherwise make.

So get real, this guy has made a conscious decision and should be applauded for it.

Sure and I'll also applaud you for deciding to now wear 2 extra sweatshirts as protection against gun shots. Will that applause protect you when someone is shooting at you?
 

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