Worthington or Faber, what is the better choice?

[smorneau]

I did some work for my LDS and they now owe me some gear in trade. I was thinking about getting a couple of new tanks. I can't decided between Worthington HP X7-100 or the Faber 100's. I am curently diving cold water with a drysuit with about 38# of ballast with my thickest undergarments and plan at some point to band these up to use a doubles for some tec classes in the future. What would be a better tank and why?
Thanks

 

[Superlyte27]

Worthingtons are heavy as hell. Fabers are not.

 

[mblazer]

Worthingtons are heavy as hell. Fabers are not.

Not sure where you get that. Worthington (I have 2) weighs 33 pounds empty, versus 38.7 for the Faber. Buoyancy characteristics are -2.5/-10 empty/full for the Worthington, and -7.26/-14.76 for the Faber. I have a buddy with a Faber and you can definitely notice a difference. With all that said, they are both good tanks, and either way it allows you to shed a bunch of lead.

 

[Danseur]

LP Fabers are typically lighter than the Worthington. The Mid Pressure Fabers though, they are very negative. Just between the two you mentioned, I'd go X7s since you need the ballast.

 

[Wookie]

I have both, and I have both doubled. I dive my Worthingtons as daily divers, and my Fabers are if I need a second set if I'm diving off of someone else's boat. I don't really notice any difference except at hydro time. The Fabers seem to stay cleaner under the doubles bands than the Worthingtons do. That is, they don't rust as badly. My single Worthington has rusted far worse under the STA bands than the faber, but that isn't really a fair comparison, because the STA doesn't sit on the Faber 24/7.

 

[Insta-Gator]

Go with the newer Fabers, the FX series.

 

[cbrich]

I had Worhy cylinder, but now I all I have have are Fabers.

 

[Hatul]

Go with the newer Fabers, the FX series.

View attachment 127036

From the chart it looks like the XS has better buoyancy chars than the Faber. It will save you almost two extra pounds in lead over the Faber. Esthetically the Fabers are nicer looking tanks, if that means anything. Also the Fabers are taller.

 

[halocline]

Not sure where you get that. Worthington (I have 2) weighs 33 pounds empty, versus 38.7 for the Faber. Buoyancy characteristics are -2.5/-10 empty/full for the Worthington, and -7.26/-14.76 for the Faber. I have a buddy with a Faber and you can definitely notice a difference. With all that said, they are both good tanks, and either way it allows you to shed a bunch of lead.

Those are not the special permit 3442PSI fabers; you're describing the old 3AA fabers. Big difference. The SP fabers are very similar to the other 3442 tanks in terms of buoyancy; I think the fabers are listed as 1 lb less negative empty, dry weight is about the same. The big difference is the fabers are painted and the worthingtons are galvanized.

Edit: the chart insta-gator posted might not be accurate IME, it could be that one company lists empty buoyancy w/out valve, the other with, I don't really know. I do know that with a small AL plate and 3 mil suit, no lead, I have no problem staying down with the faber, and my suit has got to have a couple of pounds positive buoyancy at least.

 

[MrsBBC]

If you work for the dive centre that sells them, surely you could do a handful of dives in them, sit down, stand up, walk around, trim them out, and see what you prefer.

Nic