Pony Bottle / Spare Air

[QatarDiver]

As noted before, there is nothing quite like the spare air debate (or should that read rant?) for getting people steamed up and abusive!

I still maintain that, if you want to mitigate a first stage (or O ring associated with it) failure, and you're diving at recreational depths (i.e. no masive deco obligations), some form of fully redundant air supply, be it a spare air or a pony, is useful. It will either get you to your buddy, or give you x minutes (depending on SAC/depth) to surface. Unscrew the the valve and you can fly with it, buy a transfer whip and you can fill it from the first 2 tanks you hire.

If you want to mitigate a first stage failure at greater depth, increase the size of the pony. One advantage of a pony v spare air (apart from capacity) is that you can buy the same reg set as your primary one, then you have both a 'save a dive' complete reg set, and if you progress to twinsets, you've already got 2 matching reg sets.

There, not too contencious is it?

 

[Tanked]

oh, yes, i have a minor issue with a divemaster telling me - an instructor - my decision to use a spare air is akin to that of a new diver and i don't know any better.

If mattboy were to read my initial explanation as to why i bought one, it is reasonable.

Going above your rank, experience and knowledge base is not.

You've been learned, mattboy.

sir yes sir!

 

[SkimFisher]

Gee, Jonny, I didn't realize we were in the military here, but if it will make you happy, I'm willing to salute your "rank" and your spare air with an appropriate gesture of respect:HHGTTG:

:mooner:

 

[muddiver]

You stated:

Traveling [meaning by air] makes owning a pony useless, as no airline will let you check in a pressurized tank. Which leaves the Spare Air. [Doesn't apply if your area is local...]
I travel around Japan, Asia and the Pacific for my diving.

Which lead me to believe that you think that you can take a pressurized cylinder (i.e. SpareAir" with the valve screwed in, on to an airline in the U.S.

Then you contidict that by saying I am wrong:

So, muddidiver, your point is moot, correct?

Sorry, I don't buy your logic.

 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

Johnny Special,

Every piece of gear has an operational envelope. In the case of SA, that is rather limited. You seem to have considered it and if you are comfortable with it, then by all means enjoy. I made a different decisions for a larger pony and others will want double of what I have and others will choose to always have a good buddy next to them.

We dive differently, we plan differently. The only real purpose for these threads is to keep new divers from buying a SA or pony for the wrong reasons. We tend to all be gear junkies and need to support each other in times of weakness. Sometimes that support is critical, I have been on both ends.

What I think you have done is made some incorrect statements in you quest to justify your decision.

- Traveling with a larger pony is not any different than a SA. The typical security person only knows it is a compressed air bottle. They are all treated the same and yes, they all have screw in valves. I base this on my international traveling experiences and that of many other divers on SB.

- Cleaning a live abort boat hull with a SA dangling from your mouth is ludicrous. If you need to do such a thing, you just grab a full size tank from the boat and do it right.

- If you wish the SA was larger, then go buy an H2odessy. It is 2X the size, same general setup but with a better regulator. Also the option to put a hose on it if you want to use it like a very small pony. I have one, but am not recommending it as a great tool because for me, it is still on the smallish size with a limited envelope.

 

[Atomic_Diver]

Dang all this trouble just to take a tank with you on an aircraft?... I don't even want to start to think of the problems Rebreather divers have with TSA when they take their Rebreathers on vaction.. I decided once to take my Regulators as "carry on" besides x-raying it twice they took pads and did a full chemical test, before allowing me to proceed, thats when I realised what a big deal TSA makes out of every little thing, lord knows what tests where done on my gear in my checked bags.....

 

[awakefie]

Gee, Jonny, I didn't realize we were in the military here, but if it will make you happy, I'm willing to salute your "rank" and your spare air with an appropriate gesture of respect:HHGTTG:

I like to dive with a bandoleer full of 3cf Spare Air bottles. 27 to be exact and then I just use them and lose them along the dive. I don't even need a tank on my back. Its super sweet!!!!

 

[idocsteve]

Well, actually, you bought a spare air because, like most new divers, you didn't know any better, and somebody was 'kind' enough to convince you that it would make diving safer for you. It will not.

Gotta love it when people post like it's "their way" or the "highway".

No, "Divemaster" Matt, a Spare Air in fact can and does make diving safer because it can provide you with up to 30 breaths depending on where you are and what you're doing when you need it.

And no matter how you look at it, any extra gas is better than none.

"IF" a diver (new OR experienced) chooses to carry a Spare Air, and subsequently modifies his or her dive and is more reckless or careless because s/he's carrying the cylinder, that's on them, and the product is not to blame.

 

[halocline]

Gotta love it when people post like it's "their way" or the "highway".

No, "Divemaster" Matt, a Spare Air in fact can and does make diving safer because it can provide you with up to 30 breaths depending on where you are and what you're doing when you need it.

And no matter how you look at it, any extra gas is better than none.

"IF" a diver (new OR experienced) chooses to carry a Spare Air, and subsequently modifies his or her dive and is more reckless or careless because s/he's carrying the cylinder, that's on them, and the product is not to blame.

We could go back and forth about this forever, I suppose. I am 100% convinced that carrying a spare air while scuba diving increases risk, and I'm not alone. And the bitter truth is that the primary market for spare air is new divers who don't really understand what they're getting, sold to them by misleading and/or incomplete information. I meant no insult to the OP.

I do not agree that "any extra gas is better than none." The very fact that someone is concerned enough about running out of air unexpectedly to spend hundreds on this device, thinking it's a solution, is an indication that the diver needs to better understand OOA situations and safe diving practices. Now if that sounds like "my way or the highway" I'm sorry about that. SB is full of opinions, mine is just one.

 

[BodenseeDiver]

what is a Spare-Air? for which one needs this??? We all have 2 first and 2 sec. Steps ( 2 Regs. )
is a toy in my eyes