S80 12 lt tank + 7 lt stage bottle for dives alone or with friends

[Tonyscuba1]

Just stay away from the smaco bottles and all that nonsense they have going around these days. Might seem like a cheap alternative with an all in one solution, but the bottles are manufactured in China, and I am guessing you may have issues finding a dive shop willing to fill them. And I personally wouldn’t want to attempt to fill them myself off a tank or using a compressor ...

 

[Sifossifoco]

If it's a tank that you are going to use a lot, then the 'luxury' of buying a new one may be well justified. At the very least you will not have to worry about servicing it for 4 years (but when you buy the tank check the date it was manufactured. You don't want a tank that has been sitting in the shop for three years...). As for the material, most people love steel because of the way the tanks behave in terms of buoyancy. You may find easier to deal with a tank that doesn't become too buoyant at the end of the dive.

 

[Sbiriguda]

I use a 12.2L steel with a 5 or 7L steel tank for redundancy.

If I understand well that would be a recreational dive, with a 5 o 7 L tank like you say for redundancy in case something goes wrong.
I don't know exactly why but it seems that here S80 11.1L aluminum tanks seem to be very popular for decompression dives

EDIT

S80 are 11.1L and not 12L thanks Searcaigh

 

[Searcaigh]

Just so you don't make an error in gas planning, the AL80 tanks are 11.1L.

 

[Sbiriguda]

You may find easier to deal with a tank that doesn't become too buoyant at the end of the dive.

Being overbuoyant at the end of the dive is the absolute evil... that's the moment when you have to make the deco stop LOL. Anyway if the weights are correct and the dive is well planned nothing bad should happen
PS
I'm not sure but I guess you are a fellow Italian "S'i fossi foco, arderei lo mundo" etc. Nel caso ciao

 

[Sifossifoco]

You spotted it right, I was born in Italy, but I left more than 30 years ago. Still love the country, the people, the food and the diving there. I haven't been back for more than two years, but hopefully 2021 will bring a chance. Diving in the Caribbean turned me I to a softie though, and i am not used to cold(ish) water anymore. Last time I went to Ponza in September I was diving in a dry suit... Ciao!

 

[ATJ]

If I understand well that would be a recreational dive, with a 5 o 7 L tank like you say for redundancy in case something goes wrong.
I don't know exactly why but it seems that here S80 11.1L aluminum tanks seem to be very popular for decompression dives

EDIT

S80 are 11.1L and not 12L thanks Searcaigh

I use that combination at my favourite dive site. It is a drift dive where you get in at one spot and exit around 400m away. It is not easy to get out at the entry so once in you are more or less committed. The depth at the start of the dive is 20-22m so deco is a possibility. I do sometimes drift into deco if I go slowly. Having redundancy means I wouldn't have to surface immediately if I had a failure in either tank/reg setup.