SlugLife
Contributor
No is the short answer.
The mini-diving cylinders are essentially useless. Since you're not certified yet, your only option for filling is with the hand-pump. And it requires hundreds of pumps for a couple minutes of a shallow dive. If you want to exhaust yourself that much on barely "diving" you're nuts. Next, any tank that small almost useless as a redundant air source in a real dive. 13cu will typically be enough to prevent drowning, but with some decompression sickness risk. Generally, 19cu is a fairly safe bet for a redundant air-source. You'll end up wishing you spent your money on something else, and yes, I have a 3cu spare-air that's collecting dust, and only used a couple times.
Whatever practice you think you're getting in a pool won't translate well to diving in full scuba equipment. There are also dangers involved that you may not be ready for.
My advice is to be patient and wait until you finish your class. Then buy a full sized tank, and possibly some actual scuba equipment.
I'm happy that you're excited to go diving, and wish for you to retain that enthusiasm, so don't take my strong "no" the wrong way. You did the right thing by asking here before going off and buying equipment, or doing something a little silly or dangerous.
The mini-diving cylinders are essentially useless. Since you're not certified yet, your only option for filling is with the hand-pump. And it requires hundreds of pumps for a couple minutes of a shallow dive. If you want to exhaust yourself that much on barely "diving" you're nuts. Next, any tank that small almost useless as a redundant air source in a real dive. 13cu will typically be enough to prevent drowning, but with some decompression sickness risk. Generally, 19cu is a fairly safe bet for a redundant air-source. You'll end up wishing you spent your money on something else, and yes, I have a 3cu spare-air that's collecting dust, and only used a couple times.
Whatever practice you think you're getting in a pool won't translate well to diving in full scuba equipment. There are also dangers involved that you may not be ready for.
My advice is to be patient and wait until you finish your class. Then buy a full sized tank, and possibly some actual scuba equipment.
I'm happy that you're excited to go diving, and wish for you to retain that enthusiasm, so don't take my strong "no" the wrong way. You did the right thing by asking here before going off and buying equipment, or doing something a little silly or dangerous.
