Worthington X7 or X8?

[tangfish]

I've been diving some E7 80s, doubled. I'm changing to LP85s soon, for trim reasons. I love the short 80s for singles, but they make too much of a cube-like shape for doubles in my newbie opinion.

 

[lamont]

one good thing for cold water can be that the X7 is for the same size tank usually more negative empty, so you can use a bit less weight.

However the X7-120 is so darned long that when I rented one, it was hanging down to my knees (well it felt like that)

and agreed on the 130 vs 119 -- maybe 1.5 pounds in it.

I just got a set of double 130's but haven't dived them yet ...

my 119s are actually a little more negative empty than my 130s. i don't think that's a selling point either way, though, since you can 'fix' the 130s with a slightly larger v-weight if you want to. its slightly annoying having double-130s and double-119s though since there's about a 3-4# difference in the doubles. i'm considering doubling up my single 130s and splitting up the 119s into singles to keep things more uniform for my doubles.

 

[pescador775]

If you need that much air, hold out for double steel 100's. With these you can purchase the fancy valves with two outlets and a center shutoff. A strong man can even self don in an emergency. Singles are very light and handy. My buddy is 6'4"/270lbs. He dives single aluminum 100's, the eight inch monsters. I can't imagine slinging on a set of doubles like that. He places a single on the boat engine housing and sits down to struggle with the clusterflop straps, hoses and gauges. I just sling on my steel 100 and am ready to go. I pay careful attention to streamlining all my gear and tanks play a role.

 

[PerroneFord]

Thanks Perrone and Lamont. Sounds like the X8 130 is the way to go. Just out of curiosity, what's "wrong" with the 7.25" diameter? Is it just that it's not as common or widely accepted in the tech community as the 8", or is there something technically inferior with it?

Nothing inferior, just that most of the common steel tanks are 8". So if you decide to double up steels, you'd be locked into that X7 or stuck shelling out another $150 for a second set of bands. The 8" will work for 95s, 108s, 104s, 119s, 130s, 121s, etc.

 

[Whitelightnin]

I have been trying to find out which ones I like better also. Been working on it for the past year & a half. One good thing about owning a dive shop is that I can sell the tanks I don't like & still come out OK. After diving just about everything out there, I decided on the 130's. Hardly any difference in weight among the larger tanks. VERY simular with the LP 108's. If I don't want to carry that much gas, I can just fill to a lower pressure (not sure why I would not want to carry as much gas as possible but, I have that option). The longer tanks trim out better for me. With the shorter tanks, my diving is mostly nose diving.

James

 

[LG Diver]

I have been trying to find out which ones I like better also. Been working on it for the past year & a half. One good thing about owning a dive shop is that I can sell the tanks I don't like & still come out OK. After diving just about everything out there, I decided on the 130's. Hardly any difference in weight among the larger tanks. VERY simular with the LP 108's. If I don't want to carry that much gas, I can just fill to a lower pressure (not sure why I would not want to carry as much gas as possible but, I have that option). The longer tanks trim out better for me. With the shorter tanks, my diving is mostly nose diving.

James

I noticed that the LP108 and HP 130 are virtually the same tank. The LP108 is 1/2" longer (26" vs 25.5") but they're the same diameter and same empty weight. I almost wonder if Worthington is selling the same tank under two different names In any case, you're right, if for some crazy reason you only wanted to fill an X8 130 to 2440 PSI youd have an LP 108.

 

[Ben_ca]

X7-100's ... will be great for singles and also when you want to go doubles they will also work

The 120's are huge.... and also if you really want some there's someone in the east bay selling 2 pst 120's for 150 each

 

[LG Diver]

X7-100's ... will be great for singles and also when you want to go doubles they will also work

The 120's are huge.... and also if you really want some there's someone in the east bay selling 2 pst 120's for 150 each

Hmmm... I've heard a few people recommend 100's but it just doesn't seem like that much of an increase in gas to me vs the Al 80's I'm renting today. Perhaps somewhat of a newbie mentality on my part, but I'm figuring if I'm going to buy a tank, I want to buy a TANK! I can see that double 100's would be a nice package, but as I mentioned I don't see myself moving to doubles in the near future.

Which PST 120's are for sale? Per the TDL spec sheet, they have (had) three different flavors of 120's: 2400 PSI, 3440 PSI, and 3500 PSI. They all look to be longer than the Worthington X8 119 or X7 120.

 

[gt3073b]

Is there any contra-indication to diving the X8-130 in a wetsuit? What about in fresh water? Looks like most of you are from the left coast so I'm guessing you're diving either heavy wetsuits or drysuits. I'm using an XCEL 765 1-piece and a hooded vest and I'm 6'0" 210 lbs.

I'm either diving at the quarry or boat dives off the NC coast so I'm not going to have to lug it very far. I just finished my Nitrox cert, so the added bottom time would be really nice. My buddy on the boat last weekend was probably a bit peeved that I had to call the dive when he had a ton of gas left. I am convinced he's hiding gills somewhere.

This weekend, I saw everything from AL80 to LP131 (torpedo!) to double 120s, and quite a few pony bottles. The wide variety didn't help narrow it down any.

I know my low dive count (25) is a huge factor in my RMV but even when that comes down, I'd rather have more gas on my back.

What do you think?
Bryan.

 

[PerroneFord]

How much weight are you wearing? If the tank doesn't strip you of all ditchable weight, then I think you're golden.