Pony bottle vs. Spare Air?

[Thalassamania]

Yeah, it has a homey, familiar kind of feeling.

 

[Boxcar Overkill]

This is the way I think of it:

In an emergency, a pony bottle will get you to the surface.

In an emergency, spare air will get you to your dive buddy, buy you time to transfer to their alt-air system, and from there you both go to the surface.

I think spare air can be justified in that context. It's just enough air to help get your buddies attention and transfer to their backup.

In a perfect world one would always have perfect dive buddies who were keenly watching your every move. But in the real world, I think I would feel a bit safer knowing a had an extra minute or two, just in case my buddy was focusing on snapping that photo of the turtle while I was in need.

 

[fisherdvm]

I think the I would trust the spare air alot more if it had a pressure gauge.... I still think it can get you from 100 ft to the surface at close to 60 ft / min. Even if it didn't, you can still cesa the rest of the way.

 

[DandyDon]

I think the I would trust the spare air alot more if it had a pressure gauge.... I still think it can get you from 100 ft to the surface at close to 60 ft / min. Even if it didn't, you can still cesa the rest of the way.

It costs as much as a real pony setup and doesn't have a gauge?! :11: Oh good grief.[c]

[/c]
I'm still pretty insulted that they sell an O2 clean model that they expect to be filled with blended Nitrox.

 

[ahava]

I think the I would trust the spare air alot more if it had a pressure gauge.... I still think it can get you from 100 ft to the surface at close to 60 ft / min. Even if it didn't, you can still cesa the rest of the way.

I have a pony and a spare air. Have ascended hand over hand on a ascent line and have had enough air to make to the surface from 70 ft without a safety stop w/spare air. Just testing the unit. Of coarse this was a no stress situation.

 

[fisherdvm]

Spare Air Tank Pressure Gauge, at primescuba.com

Spoke too soon. There is a pressure gauge for the Spare Air device ! ! ! You just have to buy it separetly.

 

[Lowrider Steve]

This is the way I think of it:

In an emergency, a pony bottle will get you to the surface.

In an emergency, spare air will get you to your dive buddy, buy you time to transfer to their alt-air system, and from there you both go to the surface.

I think spare air can be justified in that context. It's just enough air to help get your buddies attention and transfer to their backup.

In a perfect world one would always have perfect dive buddies who were keenly watching your every move. But in the real world, I think I would feel a bit safer knowing a had an extra minute or two, just in case my buddy was focusing on snapping that photo of the turtle while I was in need.

My feelings exactly. SA does not belong in your dive plan, but if you have an equipment malfunction, it will get you to your buddy or even to the surface better than nothing. Obviously in an OOA situation, the more air the better, as long as you have the pony on every dive. SA is simple to strap on the BC and leave it. It is automatically on every dive.

 

[FiveK9Two]

Dive with the equipment that is right for you. Know your equipment, practice with it, practice with your buddy on your OOA plan, seperated diver plan, gas management plan (I check with my buddy on his gas state every couple of minutes, but that's me). Spare Air might work for you, might not, depends on what type of diving you do and how you plan use it. ScubaLabs did testing with the SpareAir and other bailout bottles, so click here for real facts instead of opinions:

Bailout Bottles - Scuba Diving Magazine

A pony set up gives you more air in case of emergency but adds weight and bulk. Either way, neither one should be a substitute for watching your air!!!! There is more than one way to dive and you need to make a decision for yourself on what works for you. But flaming people for their set ups is pointless. If you have a point, make a factual argument and let people decide for themselves, the ScubaSnob attitude just turns people off.

As a new member of this forum it's a little disheartening to see so many shoving their diving style down others throats. As a community we should be sharing info, not ridiculing people. Anyhow, dive and dive safely, it is afterall still a RECREATIONAL sport is it not?

 

[DandyDon]

As a new member of this forum it's a little disheartening to see so many shoving their diving style down others throats. As a community we should be sharing info, not ridiculing people. Anyhow, dive and dive safely, it is afterall still a RECREATIONAL sport is it not?

Welcome to SB! It's really a pretty well ran site with a wide variety of opinions posted and allowed - including yours there, of course. I don't know if you're experienced with discussion boards, but such discussion posting often runs this way - except for the narrow minded site that allow only their approaches.

For more info, see: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/whine-cheeze/223684-changing-light-bulb.html

and: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/non-diving-related-stuff/222761-how-behave-internet-forums.html

:lol2:

 

[DwayneJ]

30CF/Z2/Pony Helper to hand off bottle