What would you buy out of these options

[a22shady]

We dive (My G/F and I) Dive steel X-7 HP100's in the range your describing. And can do a very good dives we recently Started moving into Doubles (She did) which was another reason we went with the Steel 100's as for us the Had better weight/bouancy characteristics over the other tanks out there andf when doiubling them up it made a lot of difference.

We also dive with a Luxfer Al.40 as a pony. If you get a pony bottle I would get atleast a 30-40. This way if you are 80ft down and have an issue where you need to switch you will have enough gas to get you safely back up and most likely enough gas to do a proper safety Stop. Having a Pony is also nice because should another person have an issue you can always donate your reg get the situation calm and Hand off your pony bottle so you can both swim normal out.

 

[elmer fudd]

I dove with an HP119 and a 19 cf pony for a couple of years, (still occasionally do), but I've come to regard it as overkill for most of the diving that I do. I still use that combination for dives in the 100' range as it gives me a good combination of air capacity and redundancy. For dives 80' or less though I just don't feel the need for it any more. It's a lot of weight to lug around on the surface and a lot of mass and drag on your back under water.

 

[climbr1]

I don't really have any desire to go to doubles yet. Its purely a financial issue. My wife tells me once I sell some of my search and rescue, rock climbing, ice climbing, hunting, skiing, shooting gear maybe I can spend more for scuba. She makes a good point also that we live in a desert. I cant win that one. Maybe someday Ill do doubles but it will be a entire new BP/W setup.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Why would you have gone with LP85s? I am curious because I have a similar sort of situation in that I rent my tank(s) all the time and they are only 72s. Aluminum is out just because, HP80s are out because I am not hindered by tank length. It was suggested that I consider HP100s for the very reason that shops can more than likely give a complete HP fill where as boats may not, but it still leaves me with plenty of air for gas management planning.

Also 2 tanks, one for Nitrox, one for air? I can't imagine lugging around double 100's, but never say never.

The LP85's are really sweet cylinders as singles or doubles. I have mine doubled up. For single tank dives I use LP95's. I'm not a big fan of HP tanks since even some shops either short fill them or simply don't know how to fill an HP tank properly. I also use a set of double 72's rated to 2250 (2475 with a 10% overfill) and I usually pump them to 2800 which gives me 81 cu ft. The 85s pumped to the 3000 they usually get filled to give me the equivalent of a 95 without the extra bulk. And if I run into a shop that only fills to 3000 and there are still some that do I don't have to worry about short fills.

 

[mk706]

The LP85's are really sweet cylinders as singles or doubles. . . .

Jim, you beat me to the punch. LP85s are sweet little cylinders.

I plan to double up my HP100s eventually. Double Al80s hold plenty of gas, for now, and will make great stage bottles in the future.