Pony bottle

[OE2X]

The biggest factor in my decision was the "unknown buddy problem." When I travel and dive, I am always by myself. (My wife travels with me, but is unable to dive for a variety of reasons.) It is simply impractical for me to reject buddies I don't know...I would never make a dive at all. And as many of us know, it's often the superficially impressive buddy who makes the bonehead mistakes.

What really decided me were some experiences in Key Largo with a couple buddies who basiclaly breathed themselves in an OOA situation, in spite of my checking with them every few minutes to determine their air status. If I can't depend on a buddy, I had better take every step I can to reduce the risk.

If you were checking your buddies guage every few minutes, why weren't you aware of their gas consumption and somewhere around 1000 psi start getting shallower? Having a buddy breath themselves into a OOA when you are aware of their situation is as much your fault as is theirs.

Though I generally oppose the the use of ponies I can completely accept the use of them for buddies of circumstance. In the event that you have a mechanical failure and they are not aware then it is wise to have a backup. Unfortunately you may well be solo diving and having the redundancy of a pony (if you aren't using doubles) is wise.