Air buddy bottle

[carjack97]

I see that this is a very discussed topic. If this particular device has been covered before...sorry. I searched for it and nothing came up.

Has anyone seen/ used this rig?

A Pony Bottle for Scuba Divers

 

[Tassie_Rohan]

You ever seen/been a really stressed diver? There they/you are, exhaling like mad, producing a spa bath of bubbles.


Do you expect, under those conditions, that not having an exhaust outlet on your redundant air supply will make things better? I don't.


Asking a stressed OOA diver to effeminately sip air from one of these and exhale into the water, while ascending, managing buoyancy and holding onto the buddy, is gold-standard buffoonery.

Breathing is a big control on panic, and not being able to breathe naturally just when you need to most is inviting a full-on hullabaloo.

Best dive in a way that you don’t run out of air.

If you really, really must have a pony then at least have a decent amount of air in it (13 or preferably 19 cft) and a half decent reg.

Cheers,
Rohan.

 

[bamamedic]

I've never used one...

...but I'd be a little bit worried about the increased task loading. You're taking a very stressful situation and adding even more additional stress. You're putting yourself in a situation where you're having to breathe off of a device which works differently than any other regulator, plus you're still having to control your buoyancy and ascend safely. The one thing an OOA diver does NOT want to do is take a working regulator out of their mouth. It seems that unless you're going to exhale out of your nose (which may fog up your mask and cause it to leak), that the only way to exhale using this device is to take it out of your mouth. Plus, it seems that for you to be able to reach the mouthpiece, you've got to hold the bottle in your hand, which creates even more task loading (and if you dropped it...oops!)

Another thing to consider, is that a lot of divers carry a pony bottle so they can hand it off to an OOA buddy, instead of having the buddy breathe of their octo. If you're using the device mentioned, you won't be able to hand it off to an OOA buddy, because said buddy is going to be completely unfamiliar with the device and may panic when faced with having to breathe off it.

At the very least, if you're going to use it, make sure to practice with it frequently, to where breathing off it requires no thought at all.

 

[carjack97]

Thanks guys - Good points. It does seem like a very odd piece of equipment. I had not noticed the mouthpiece requires for you to bite down to regulate the air flow... the harder the bite, the stronger the flow. I can see that being a disaster.

 

[Scared Silly]

I would agree with the above two posts. Someone is out of air and you hand them that they are going wonder what the heck it is then take the reg in your mouth. In an OOA situation you want to give them a reg that they are familiar with. They will not care what brand or color as long as it has one of those mouth pieces firmly attached and when they suck in it provides fresh dry air and when they exhale they make pretty little bubbles.

One thing many people do not realize with the valve/reg used on these systems is that they are always on.

BTW if you remove the hose-mouth piece and replace it with a BCD LP inflator hose you have what many people use for an argon system for inflating their dry suit.

Argon-06-Fill : Tech Diving Limited, a subsidiary of Scuba Training and Technology Inc.

 

[Graeme Tolton]

Kinda reminds me of this homemade rig I heard of. A guy made a scuba setup out of an old fire extinguisher, an acetylene regulator, some fuel hose and a tire valve. I am sure that he would be envious of this setup if he hadn't died using his own rig.

What happens if someone really chomps down on the mouthpiece in a panic? It just keeps on forcing air into their mouth? This sounds like an accident waiting to happen!

 

[Tassie_Rohan]

A lot of people describe the Spare Air as a device that lets you drown twice: once when you go out of air, the second when it runs out of air.

Finally, designers have come up with a device that betters than the Spare Air: The Air Buddy (TM) allows you to drown not twice but three times! First when you run out of air, then while you attempt to control your exhalation and inhalation while bitting down on the device, then finally when the 6 litres run dry.

I'm sure it's the hottest item on the internet for drowning enthusiasts.

 

[TBURKE]

Your emergency air supply should work exactly the same as your normal air supply. During an OOA emergency is no time to be breathing like a stoner sucking on a bong.
Your pony second stage should be right where your octo was. Under your chin or in the center of your chest.
And its too small. 13 to 19cu.ft should be the minimum.
Other than that, their reasoning for using a pony over an octo or your buddy's air supply is right on.

 

[Nemrod]

I have made entire dives to 130 feet, one cave dive at the Blue Hole at Itchetucknee (stealth mode) and a few others on my Air Buddy high performance nitrox model. Piece of cake. This is my Air Buddy on a MkV first with button type spg. This is the rig I did the Blue Hole with a 19cf bottle, right at 90 feet max depth.

It is actually a good reg for shallow explorations, retrieving the anchor and a quick look see type operations. I use a piece of tire tube and run my weight belt through it and then stick the 19 through the tire tube and twist it making a tank holder on my right side. The Air Buddy either comes straight up to me or around my head DIR style. I have since removed the spg and installed it directly to the first as I can easily look down with my mini rig to check pressure. My side mount mini rig probably still needs some refinement, the inner tube keeps wanting to untwist.

What I am thinking of now is something that slips onto the weight belt for the waist strap and then a second strap around the thigh/crotch to stabilize the rig. Wear it like a six shooter holster, hey, that's it--The Six Shooter! Six cubic feet and sixty feet!

I just rebuilt the first stage, all set for nitrox or even O2, good to go, smooth breather. I need a overpressure valve, I cannot find the box I threw mine in long ago so may need to purchase a new one.

Seriously, if you are going to use something then learn to use it, if you follow.

N

 

[RICHinNC]

I guess I take a different philosophy. I dont look at my pony bottle as something to hand off. If someone needs air that is what my octo is for. My pony is not to extend a dive either. It is just as the nickname....bail out bottle....implies for me. Others think differently and that is just fine.