Zeagle pony system. Advice anyone?

[zamboone]

I'm looking for some advice from anyone that has some experience with the Zeagle pony bottle system. I have used Zeagle bc's since I started diving. I like the "streamline" look of this system tucked on your side next to the wing. My local DM thinks it moves around to much, but he uses a 30 attached to his tank. I do not intend to use the pony to extend my bottom time, only for additional safety. It looks like they have two sizes a 6 and 20. I do not deco dive and most dives are not much deeper than 80'

Thanks for any help
Rob

 

[rectecjim]

HI Rob~

I always dive with a pony bottle when diving with a single tank! I have found out most of my dives turn solo at one time or the other so I used a elastic mounting system on my "Zeagle Tech BCD" .. the pony bottle slides into two elastic bands that attach to the main air tank. I always have used this system and it works great! I also dive much of my dives with a Zeagle 911 with double bladders which I use for my doubles...

 

[possem]

I almost always dive with a pony and I prefer a 40 as I find anything smaller is pretty much a waste. Think about it for a minute, if you are doing an 80' dive and need the pony, you have plenty of air to do your asent and still do a good safety stop all on your own. If you ever plan to do any nitrox diving I use it for ean40 on my way out. I find the 40's are all around the best bottle. I tryed a smaller bottles and a 6 is useless at 80' for anything better then a couple breaths.

If you plan to side mount the pony (thats what I gathered from post) you won't even notice a 40. I side mount an 80 on deco dives and once in the water its like its not even there. hope this helps a bit. Stay away from the really small bottles unless its for a drysuit argon application.

Just my 2.5 cents worth, hope it help

Mike

 

[Web Monkey]

I'm looking for some advice from anyone that has some experience with the Zeagle pony bottle system. I have used Zeagle bc's since I started diving. I like the "streamline" look of this system tucked on your side next to the wing. My local DM thinks it moves around to much, but he uses a 30 attached to his tank. I do not intend to use the pony to extend my bottom time, only for additional safety. It looks like they have two sizes a 6 and 20. I do not deco dive and most dives are not much deeper than 80'

This works really well and should run less than $15.

DIR-diver.com - Stagebottle rigging

Terry

 

[paulwall]

I'm looking for some advice from anyone that has some experience with the Zeagle pony bottle system. I have used Zeagle bc's since I started diving. I like the "streamline" look of this system tucked on your side next to the wing. My local DM thinks it moves around to much, but he uses a 30 attached to his tank. I do not intend to use the pony to extend my bottom time, only for additional safety. It looks like they have two sizes a 6 and 20. I do not deco dive and most dives are not much deeper than 80'

Thanks for any help
Rob

I use that system with an al30 for most dives below 80'. Very stable when clamped in. My only caveat is that the pony bottle length be approximately the same as the main bottle length. If it's shorter, it could pull your tank over when sitting upright.

Very easy to install, even on a rocking boat. I had a LH valve put on my pony, so I can reach the valve easily (pony mounted to left of tank).

that being said, I also have a pony with the DR sling setup that I'll be experimenting with...

 

[FritzCat66]

It sounds like you're mostly asking about how the Zeagle pony system mounts. I can't help you with that, as I dive a traditional BC. However, I can give you some feedback on the combo valve/first stage that Zeagle uses on their ponies.

I recently assembled a pony system for use as an emergency bailout using a Luxfer 19cf cylinder and the Zeagle Razor valve/reg combo and have been very pleased with it. It makes for a very streamlined setup (note that I'm not using the Zeagle second stage, got an XS reg for that).

Zeagle will sell you a yoke fill adaptor for the Razor and they have a transfill adaptor as well so you can fill it from another tank. What they don't mention, however, is that a shop can fill the Razor tank without an adaptor at all if they happen to have a fill whip for paintball guns, which many dive shops do. Fits perfectly. Make sure the air is coming from the same system used to fill scuba tanks, but chances are that's true.

Also note that H2Odyssey uses a very similar valve/reg on their pony systems. I'm not sure who the OEM is, but both of them must come from the same place.

>*< Fritz

 

[zamboone]

Fritz,
Are you mounting your pony to your tank or to your bc? I was thinking of the mount system Zeagle has that you attach to your bc. It attaches right under the wing. If you google "zeagle pony system" you can see the mount I'm looking at. I would post a link but I guess newbees to the board have to wait.
Rob

 

[zamboone]

Paul,
I was thinking of the Zeagle mount that attaches to the bc in front of the wing. What do you do if your on a full dive boat with the typical side by side tank holders. Do you have to take the pony off before you place your rig in the holder?
Rob

 

[zamboone]

Jim,
What size pony do you use?
Rob

 

[diveandclimb]

I sling a 30cf from my Sea Elite Tek-X and really like the setup. I used to have 19cf pony with the zeagle integrated valve/1st stage but I didn't like filling that type of setup so I switched to a standard valve with normal reg. You should really get at least a 30cf bottle b/c slinging it makes it feel like it's not even there and a really small bottle isn't even useful at 80ft for anything but argon.