Do you actually see people diving with pony bottles?

[Ayisha]

Yes, fairly common here in cold water diving for redundancy in case of a catastrophic loss of gas, like a free(ze)flow. Mine is a 19 cf. Doubles are also common, back- or side-mounted.

 

[scubafanatic]

I almost never see them.

Agreed, exceptionally rare, and totally impractical for anyone who has to fly commercial airlines for their dive vacations. I'm very much a scuba gear-head, and even I don't bother with the travel weight/hassles involved.

 

[dhaines429]

I dive with a 30 cf pony when diving single tank. It makes me more comfortable having my "buddy" attached to me if something goes wrong, self rescue is the name of the game. I will also go solo occasionally so the pony becomes a necessary piece of gear at that point.

 

[guruboy]

If I'm diving solo single tank I'll use one.

If I'm diving with people I trust on vacation, I don't bother.

 

[Russjstewart]

I have rarely used a pony when diving in cold to temperate waters 11-17C.
I have carried a slung pony more often in warm water, read tropics, as the diving can be deeper. I normally take the mounting hardware and a regulator, and use whatever tank is available, even if it is an 80 CU FT.
This might be an indication I am getting soft if my cool water dives are becoming shallower and shorter

 

[billt4sf]

I think @billt4sf in Bali dive with one. To me it is pain in the rear when you travel overseas and have to remove the valve off so the security / custom officer can see inside to make sure you are not hiding anything inside the bottle, not including the extra baggage weight that you have to worry about on top of the rest of heavy & bulky diving gears & camera. It's not worth the hassle of traveling half around the world with it IMHO.

I do. It IS a hassle. The alternative for me is short dives where I have to constantly be concerned about my air -- swimming higher than others, go back early (and often alone), etc.

I have seen quite a few people use ponies here in Indo. Many of these dive solo, or semi-solo (in a group but not following closely).

- Bill

 

[Bert van den Berg]

Always take my pony. Dive op requires it for solo diving. I usually carry the pony and spares bag onto the boat first trip when carrying the gear to the boat. When asked about the pony by other divers, I jokingly say "I don't use much air"!

 

[KevinNM]

Agreed, exceptionally rare, and totally impractical for anyone who has to fly commercial airlines for their dive vacations. I'm very much a scuba gear-head, and even I don't bother with the travel weight/hassles involved.

I fly with a 19. Not a big deal.

 

[EricTheDood]

I fly with a 19. Not a big deal.

Ditto.

I max out my check-in luggage @ 50 lbs a piece.

If I had to, I could easily go lighter - plastic bp/w, move the pony regs to my carry-on, etc.

 

[Freewillow]

Never seen one in 900 tropical water dives, but rarely dived in America. I believe it is an US thing.

Now, for solo diving, which I do not practice, it would be another story? But then I would dive with a double tank or a single with double exits .

Having said this, I carry some times a deco bottle for planned deco dives.