I literally just don't understand.. You went through all the trouble to ship tanks to what
@The Chairman and others call "The Diving Capital of The World." No shortage of dive shops and tanks in that area.
Here's the original rationale:
* I use more air than most divers. While my air consumption has moderated with experience, I still have a SAC rate of about 0.6 on most dives. This is mainly due to muscle mass -- I go to the gym, and I'm a big guy.
* My overall experience across many dive charters, when asking for oversized cylinders, is poor -- both in the Keys and elsewhere. In nearly all cases, what I am given is an AL100 that is filled to 3000 PSI, giving me 90 cf of usable air. I have also been given an overfilled AL80, by one operator outside the United States. I anticipated that my HP120s would be short filled, but that I would still get 100 cf of gas.
* A short-filled AL100 is fine, for me, for a shallow reef bimble. It is limiting, for me, for deep dives, especially on Nitrox, especially in current.
* I wanted to dive the Spiegel Grove on this trip, and wanted to have enough gas to properly enjoy the dive.
* I have 7 HP120s in my garage. They are typically what I use for local dives. I like the way they trim out. I am accustomed to them. They are DIN and match my regulators. I have shipped cylinders many times when purchasing or selling them.
* We had to ship some items ahead anyway because we did not believe we could count on having enough baggage space in our rental car for the 2-hour drive from MIA to Key Largo for 4 people including a week's worth of clothes and 3 sets of scuba gear.
* I am not aware of any operators in the Key Largo area that would rent me two HP120s (or any other cylinders that would hold at least 100 cf of gas at 3000 PSI) for a week. If there are some, let me know who, and I'll use them next time.
* There are a handful of charter operators that will provide HP100s that are actually full. There's one in Tavernier that I have used before. Because they charge for a guide, and have slightly higher base rates, it would have cost $525 more (plus tax) for me to use them, compared to Rainbow Reef. They were also quite a bit farther away from our lodging and we would have spent, over the course of five trips, another three hours in the car. And they have a less favorable cancellation policy.
* Round-trip shipping was around $100 per cylinder for an estimated total of $200.
* My crystal ball was on the fritz and I did not know that UPS was going to sell one of my HP120s at the next "unclaimed frieght" auction rather than, you know, delivering it to the address I gave them.
One tank get lost in the process so now it's essentially going to cost you even more money.
I typically pick off HP120s from craigslist or ebay for a delivered in-service cost to me of around $250-$300. I am also out the wetboots that I stuffed in the same box, but then again I didn't have to pay the return freight for the lost cylinder. Strictly from a dollars and cents standpoint, I'm still a few dollars ahead compared to using an operator that offers HP100s but charges more per trip.
It just seems like a lot of trouble for very limited benefits when you could have just chosen another dive shop that rents HP100s and slung a pony. I guess it makes sense that you will not be repeating that experiment again.
Keep in mind that I would have had to get the pony and its regulator to Key Largo and back. My choices would have been to check it as baggage and pay for a VIP (total round-trip including the VIP of $70), or send it via UPS and just pay for a fill (total round trip roughly similar).
To add insult to injury your tanks were not filled to capacity so as you stated yourself you only had an HP103 at that point. I'll give them that, they are used to filling AL80s so they might only keep their banks at 3400psi or something. I would also disagree with your assumption that short fills are common. Certainly this is NOT my experience anywhere else in the United States. In Florida, pretty much all of New England, North Carolina, California, New York/New Jersey they can all manage to fill my rental or owned tanks to ~3500psi just fine.
It has been my experience that I can get good HP fills from retail dive shops if I leave the cylinders overnight and check them with a tank checker when I pick them up. They will fill them, allow them to cool, and top them off. Every place I've used occasionally forgets to top one off or doesn't allow them to cool long enough, so I have to check them when I pick them up. Every place I've used has been happy to top them off again if they're below 3400. I have not found anyone who will fill them to, say, 3900 in anticipation that they will cool to 3442.
Charters that routinely handle HP steels -- like Aldora in Cozumel and the aforementioned operator in Tavernier -- have also given me good fills.
Without going through my log, I can think of three charters (two of them in Florida) -- in addition to Rainbow Reef -- that could not deliver proper HP fills when I asked them to do so.
I'm not going to get into it about Rainbow Reef on this forum as there is very heavy bias here. Needless to say they are my least preferred dive shop anywhere, not just in Florida. I'm glad you had a good time with them (and let's face it..it's hard not to have a good time diving in Florida with family) but I implore you to explore other dive shops the next time you're in the area. I did read your other thread so I do understand the reasons why you choose Rainbow Reef in the first place..
All the criticism I've heard of Rainbow Reef is from experienced, independent divers who wanted to be granted greater discretion to dive as they saw fit. If you want to dive solo, or incur a deco obligation, or plan to use your stage as an integral part of your gas plan, or breathe your back gas down to 300 PSI because your pony has your reserve, etc., then they are probably not the operator you want. I did my research and knew that going in.
