Tank for Beginners in Cold Water?

[goldenwar]

HP100s are good versatile steel tanks. Should be plenty of gas for most dives. The strategy of getting LPs and overfilling them doesn't really buy much in my opinion. Even if you can only fill an HP100 to 3000 PSI then you'll still have 87cuft of gas.

@Tokenwiz
thanks! so you would pick HP-100 over FX-100? any reason?

 

[goldenwar]

HP100s. Use them when I travel to socal. Also use them locally. Will use them with everything from a set of swim trunks all the way up to a drysuit. Also use them in sidemount and could use them in doubles if I wanted. So there is plenty of life in them to advance. Yes, get a pair. Not cheap, but worth it.

@broncobowsher
thanks! any reason why you picked hp-100 over fx-100?

 

[RyanT]

@goldenwar, the FX tanks are HP tanks. Are you referring to Faber's M100 as the other tank?

 

[goldenwar]

@goldenwar, the FX tanks are HP tanks. Are you referring to Faber's M100 as the other tank?

@RyanT
yea that's what i meant. FX-100 is 3442psi. http://www.indianvalleyscuba.com/se...ction/information/CYLINDER SPECIFICATIONS.pdf

this comparison chart shows it as Faber HP-100 and psi at 3180+10% so when other people in this thread said to get HP-100 i'm guessing it's FX series with psi at 3442.

sorry for such a noob question.

 

[RyanT]

@goldenwar, no worries, tanks can get confusing! Personally I would go with the the FX100. The M100 is a good tank, but if you don't get the + stamp after it goes through it's first hydro test, then you are technically limited to a 3180 psi fill. This will give you only about 90 cf in the tank. Now the reality is that most shops won't pay attention, and I'm sure you'd get a full or nearly full fill just about everywhere. On a positive note for the M100, it is a little heavier in the water so you'll take a little more lead off compared to the FX100. If the 24 lbs you are wearing now is with an AL 80, I think you'll be happy with the lead reduction on the FX100 anyway though (4-5 lbs).

 

[goldenwar]

@goldenwar, no worries, tanks can get confusing! Personally I would go with the the FX100. The M100 is a good tank, but if you don't get the + stamp after it goes through it's first hydro test, then you are technically limited to a 3180 psi fill. This will give you only about 90 cf in the tank. Now the reality is that most shops won't pay attention, and I'm sure you'd get a full or nearly full fill just about everywhere. On a positive note for the M100, it is a little heavier in the water so you'll take a little more lead off compared to the FX100. If the 24 lbs you are wearing now is with an AL 80, I think you'll be happy with the lead reduction on the FX100 anyway though (4-5 lbs).

@RyanT

thanks! now i have a little better understanding!

 

[runsongas]

the faber m100 also does not double as well, which limits the demand if you end up selling them as a pair later on. if you get a pair of tanks now, the resale on the fx100 is better.

 

[goldenwar]

the faber m100 also does not double as well, which limits the demand if you end up selling them as a pair later on. if you get a pair of tanks now, the resale on the fx100 is better.

@runsongas thanks for the input! i will go with fx100 or little bit bigger capacity since bigger one seemed to be little bit shorter.

 

[RyanT]

To follow up on what @runsongas said, I have two Asahi HP 100s. These are very similar to the Faber M100s. I originally had them as a set of doubles. I felt like I had a battleship anchor strapped to my back. As a pair, they were just way too heavy to dive safely. So I split them up as a set of singles. Personally, I don't like tanks larger than the HP 100s. If I were doing dives where I had to have the gas, I would suck it up and dive a bigger set of tanks. But for the dives I do, a single 100 or a set of 100 doubles is perfect. Going larger entails either a bigger diameter 8" versus 7.25" or a longer tank (e.g. the long 120s). Everyone's mileage varies, but I just find anything bigger to be not as comfortable.

 

[goldenwar]

To follow up on what @runsongas said, I have two Asahi HP 100s. These are very similar to the Faber M100s. I originally had them as a set of doubles. I felt like I had a battleship anchor strapped to my back. As a pair, they were just way too heavy to dive safely. So I split them up as a set of singles. Personally, I don't like tanks larger than the HP 100s. If I were doing dives where I had to have the gas, I would suck it up and dive a bigger set of tanks. But for the dives I do, a single 100 or a set of 100 doubles is perfect. Going larger entails either a bigger diameter 8" versus 7.25" or a longer tank (e.g. the long 120s). Everyone's mileage varies, but I just find anything bigger to be not as comfortable.

@RyanT

double tank is still a long shot for me but i'm currently looking at 100 or 117 since there wasn't much weight difference and 117 is shorter since it's wider.

thanks!