Lollipops or not?

[Chilly_Diver]

If you bungee them behind the first stage like a deco bottle, you have to pull the whole tank down and away to read your pressure. If it's on a 6" or 9" hose routed down, you just reach back and bend the hose out to read.

If your tanks are so far forward that you can read your SPG's that are bungeed behind your first stages, your tanks are not rigged correctly, and are too far forward and down. They should be back and high, basically behind your armpits, in which case your SPG's shouldn't really be visible.

This works with AL80's and steels of all types.

Not neccessarily true. You will never get your tanks far behind your arm pits with a ring bungie system.

 

[tbone1004]

Not neccessarily true. You will never get your tanks far behind your arm pits with a ring bungie system.

@Kristi@CCDS would Jon like to weigh in on that statement?

@Chilly_Diver the key is to not listen to Lamar who I argue doesn't know how to dive his own invention. He says to adjust the straps from the backplate side which keeps everything far too forward. Lengthen the distance between the ring and the d-ring and it will sit back just fine

 

[soggybadger]

I don't use lollipops. I use the tiny little button gauges on my deco bottles. My reasoning is that I don't want to look down and and mistake a deco bottle spg for my back gas. Granted, if you have two/three gauges near each other, it should be easy to figure out which one is which (e.g. the two 3k ones should be the deco bottles and the one that reads 2.7k is likely your back gas). But add some task loading and a little narcosis and I'm not 100% confident that I would always make the correct assessment in a quick glance.

I plan my deco gases for the dive I'm doing; I should have plenty in reserve, such that looking at a gauge on my deco bottles isn't an absolute necessity. On a recent dive, I lost some of my 50% O2 deco gas. I knew I had lost gas, but not how much. During deco, I just swung the 50% bottle around and verified on the button gauge that I was way lower than planned, due to the lost gas. I had two contingencies in place for this lost gas and all worked out fine. The button gauge just gave me a heads up to plan for my contingencies before the tank went dry.

With that said, I'm not a cave diver. Depending on the kind of diving you do, YMMV.

Thanks for the reply. I mostly shore dive east coast of the UK ( Norfolk). I am putting my spg on six inch hose bungeed to hold them up against the first stage. Side mount is mostly about logistics and comfort for me so no penetrations or snag problems. Also redundancy as I mostly dive solo and can't easily reach the valves on bmd due to being a numpty on a bike and wrecking my shoulder and neck. So I see that it is a matter of personal preference and specific needs. Thanks guys for clearing that up for me.

 

[Chilly_Diver]

@Kristi@CCDS would Jon like to weigh in on that statement?

@Chilly_Diver the key is to not listen to Lamar who I argue doesn't know how to dive his own invention. He says to adjust the straps from the backplate side which keeps everything far too forward. Lengthen the distance between the ring and the d-ring and it will sit back just fine
View attachment 472348

With this configuration, do you have any issues reaching the rings to clip on? I typically dive in a drysuit and dry gloves and don’t think I could comfortably don the cylinders with them this far back.

 

[tbone1004]

With this configuration, do you have any issues reaching the rings to clip on? I typically dive in a drysuit and dry gloves and don’t think I could comfortably don the cylinders with them this far back.

reach over with your other hand and pull the ring down. The ring ends up in the same position as a loop bungee so if you can reach the loop, you can hook the ring

 

[Chilly_Diver]

reach over with your other hand and pull the ring down. The ring ends up in the same position as a loop bungee so if you can reach the loop, you can hook the ring

Did you use quick links to extend the ring at the front where it attaches to the d ring?

 

[The Chairman]

I use transmitters now, no analog SPG's.

Me too. Never know when those BrassnGlass SPGs will break. I don't trust 'em.

 

[tbone1004]

Me too. Never know when those BrassnGlass SPGs will break. I don't trust 'em.

it's the damned spool o-rings and HP hoses that are my issue. The gauges themselves never give me problems, it's getting the gas to the gauge that's always an issue.

 

[Scuba_Aaron]

Thanks for the reply. I mostly shore dive east coast of the UK ( Norfolk). I am putting my spg on six inch hose bungeed to hold them up against the first stage. Side mount is mostly about logistics and comfort for me so no penetrations or snag problems. Also redundancy as I mostly dive solo and can't easily reach the valves on bmd due to being a numpty on a bike and wrecking my shoulder and neck. So I see that it is a matter of personal preference and specific needs. Thanks guys for clearing that up for me.

I am right there with you soggy! I like the redundancy but couldn't reach my valves in back mount doubles due to a back injury.

I used to lollipop my spgs but felt that it would be too easy to getting them banged up when getting in and out of the water.

 

[The Chairman]

it's the damned spool o-rings and HP hoses that are my issue.

I was posting that tongue in cheek. Have you ever thought of changing those 004 o-rings on a yearly basis? Hey, you can go all in and spend a dollar on the whole spool with two o-rings already on it. Just add some lube and stuff it in the tube like a boob! Most people who work on regs, pros and amateurs alike, forget to do that on the yearly service.