Pony bottle vs. Spare Air?

[jepuskar]

...see what I mean.

 

[DandyDon]

Pirate Dave, this is one of the most controversial subjects on the largest cyber scuba community in the world, so you wil continue to see posts on this for days, I think. And none of us ever change our minds.
> Sure spare air is fine.
> No way, carry a real pony and reg.
> Why bother with a 6 foot pony, a 19 ft is more dependable for about the same money and weight.
> Work on your buddy skills.
> Go for doubles.
> Why would you ask this question?

I am stil bothered that Spare Air company offers those two other models. :silly:

 

[scarefaceDM]

I gave a slight comparison..

 

[shoredivr]

...see what I mean.

Absolutely! Jimmer answered the OP's question in Post#2....

Welcome to SB, Pirate.

 

[Grey_Wulff]

IMHO I would go with a 19cft pony. Easy to mount on a single tank, not very heavy, just about enough gas to get you up from 130ft in an emergency and totally redundant to your main tank.

I nearly always dive with one, I even took it to Cozumel last year - had to take the valve out for travel of course. Good job too, one guy got himself into 11 minutes of deco on one dive, got low on air and I was the only one who had enough gas to stay with him and let him breath off the minutes. Two years go had to deploy it again when a colleague on an underwater mapping exercise lost track of his air consumption. Definately worth the money!

Grey_Wulff

 

[DandyDon]

IMHO I would go with a 19cft pony. Easy to mount on a single tank, not very heavy, just about enough gas to get you up from 130ft in an emergency and totally redundant to your main tank.

That's what I dive, but the bottle, reg, spg all together is an extra 15 pounds I have to check or carry-on traveling and I have to climb the ladder with every time I dive with it. I do it, but it is what it is.

I nearly always dive with one, I even took it to Cozumel last year - had to take the valve out for travel of course. Good job too, one guy got himself into 11 minutes of deco on one dive, got low on air and I was the only one who had enough gas to stay with him and let him breath off the minutes. Two years go had to deploy it again when a colleague on an underwater mapping exercise lost track of his air consumption. Definately worth the money!

Grey_Wulff

I use mine on all dives planned below 60 ft as well as the shallow Coz dives. I didn't bother so much in Coz until I got pulled off the top of a wall down to 100 ft, alone, wishing my pony was with me instead of on the boat. :11:

I've used it to bail myself out once and others out a few times.

 

[Pirate Dave]

well i appreciate all the answers guess and now i guess it has all to do with how much air there is not really anyhting else
glad to be apart of such a well functioning forum

 

[diverDano]

Here's how I see it. There's a couple of things happening here. One, people don't know what they don't know. Another is a realistic and practical approach to a problem/situation. I don't know about any of you out there, but I have been involved in a few out of air dives, not because of lack of planning, or reckless dive practice, but because of that damn murphy dude. Regulators fail, air2's leak when scootering, people don't check their pressures often enough, things get exciting sometimes and the air fly's away. Whatever the case may be, do you really want to embark on a dive with just enough of what you might need, or would you like to have a bit of a safety buffer?? Wouldn't it be nice, if for some reason, you happen to get low on air, and instead of having only a breath or two to get you immediatley to the surface, you just convienently reach for your pony reg(i dive a hp40-the same size as an al 19) and finish up your dive nice and relaxed like, including your safety stop and any other time needed to do whatever. You can't be prepared enough. Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.

I recommend at least a 30cuft. because you might want it when you go to 100-130 ft., and having spent any kind of time at that depth you'll want to come up slow. I recommend the extra 1st stage and second stage as backups. There are many scenarios that would suggest that having a totally redundant system would make so much sense. better to be safe than sorry!!

just my experience and 2 pennies

 

[PvtStash]

Someone earlier mentioned going with a set of twins instead of spare air or pony...

with the twins, are they linked so you effectively have one Large tank (which I think would defeat the purpose), or are they redundant... (3 total 2nd stages or 4?)

 

[OH-JJ]

Someone earlier mentioned going with a set of twins instead of spare air or pony...

with the twins, are they linked so you effectively have one Large tank (which I think would defeat the purpose), or are they redundant... (3 total 2nd stages or 4?)

With Current Twin tanks, there is an isolator valve in between the two tanks. And you can have fun if you are filling the doubles for a friend. simply close the valve when you get to your fill pressure and then fill the one side with about 50 psi more. then stand back when you friend checks the valve and air the hiss of the tanks equalizing... Because they will think you only filled the one side..