Pony or Nitrox??

[gareth webber]

Hi,

I generally do my recreational diving in warm water, but train in the UK. (Training generally in lakes but with occaisonal trips to the south coast).

I own a pretty good basic set of kit: wet and dry suits, BC, light and 2 cylinders. I have been given a voucher for a dive shop as a leaving gift and I was thinking of two options for spending it.

1) Get a pony (to add some safety on my occaisonal sea trips and in case I start instructing but too heavy to take abroad)

2) Do a Nitrox course and use the money on an analyser (which I can also use on holiday).

Any thoughts on which way to go?

Thanks

Gareth

[Mark_H1]

Hi,

I generally do my recreational diving in warm water, but train in the UK. (Training generally in lakes but with occaisonal trips to the south coast).

I own a pretty good basic set of kit: wet and dry suits, BC, light and 2 cylinders. I have been given a voucher for a dive shop as a leaving gift and I was thinking of two options for spending it.

1) Get a pony (to add some safety on my occaisonal sea trips and in case I start instructing but too heavy to take abroad)

2) Do a Nitrox course and use the money on an analyser (which I can also use on holiday).

Any thoughts on which way to go?

Thanks

Gareth

I'd like to suggest a third option.

I would say that as you do most of your recreational diving in warm water (and so not taking the pony) the nitrox course is the way to go. However I see little point in spending the money on an analyser (I'm guessing that as you don't have a nitrox ticket you certainly aren't blending your own gas); anywhere that you get a nitrox fill will either lend you an analyser to test your own gas or analyse it in front of you.

Assuming your nitrox course is the BSAC one it's not going to cost you a huge amount so I would suggest save the money on the analyser and put it in the pony fund.

There are other considerations as well though. If you're doing the BSAC combined nitrox course (lets you use any mix up to 50%)I believe you're supposed to have an independent gas supply (i.e. pony). Do you have access to one for the course - does your club have any or if it's a BSAC school do they lend you one for the course? If you're only doing the basic nitrox course (lets you use 32% and 36% only) I don't think you need a separate gas supply (might be wrong there though).

Just my ideas,

Mark

[John Williams]

Hi,

I generally do my recreational diving in warm water, but train in the UK. (Training generally in lakes but with occaisonal trips to the south coast).

I own a pretty good basic set of kit: wet and dry suits, BC, light and 2 cylinders. I have been given a voucher for a dive shop as a leaving gift and I was thinking of two options for spending it.

1) Get a pony (to add some safety on my occaisonal sea trips and in case I start instructing but too heavy to take abroad)

2) Do a Nitrox course and use the money on an analyser (which I can also use on holiday).

Any thoughts on which way to go?

Thanks

Gareth

Thjat very much depends...and it's a question I fear that you will not be able to answer until after you do the nitrox course (and decide whether or not to get a nitrox deco pony)

Which nitrox course are you planning on attending?
Basic Nitrox - you just get to dive nitrox 32 /36 and have no option to use nitrox 50 to deco
....so there is no scope for a deco pony - but there is always scope for the additional safety offered by a separate source of gas for use as a safety bale-out within anyone's kit configuration.

I would not recommend the Basic Course...almost everyone who I have taught it to has regretted it and gone on to the advanced course almost immediately. Just do a Combined Course...it gives you all the options you need and is a much more cost-effective way to do it. (However some have opted to simply dive nitrox on air tables to add safety to their diving - a strategy possible after the Basic course)

If you intend the /Combined/Advanced nitrox course - then you'll probably want to dive nitrox and deco on a richer mix too (bringing in the need for a nitrox 50 pony)

Before you decide please look at the August edition of BSAC Talk
(linked below)
There the Coastguard and the BSAC are highlighting the benefits of an independent second source of gas over an octopus rig.

If it were me I'd consider a pony more important than nitrox - BUT I'd ensure that whatever pony I got was compatible with nitrox (so that when I took the course I had already got a cylinder that could cope with whatever decision I took after the course - and did not need to borrow kit to complete the advanced course.)

HTH

John

[nick kay]

Hi Gareth

I agree with John - you're in a catch-22 position (but nice to have the money to have the problem)

Therefore, my suggestion would be:

1. From a safety perspective, it has to be the pony:
1a. Provides redundancy
1b. Provides an AAS thats safer than an Octopus - see John Williams' references
1c. Get used to diving with the pony before you take the Nitrox course

2. Do the Nitrox course

3. You don't say whether you have a Nitrox computer?
3a. I could argue that should be purchase before the Analyser
3b. Yes, I know all gas should be analysed at the point of purchase AND before the dive, but there may be other members of your club that alreay have an analyser - you can possibly share/borrow that - you can't do the same with a computer...

[David Walker]

1) Get a pony (to add some safety on my occaisonal sea trips and in case I start instructing but too heavy to take abroad)

2) Do a Nitrox course and use the money on an analyser (which I can also use on holiday).


Personally I wouldn't worry about an analyser early on. Almost all dive shops will analyse the mix before you leave and often make you sign it as correct, so you'll always know whats in. Abroad people without analysers will be the norm, so again you shouldn't have a problem without one.

Nitrox however is very useful, both here and abroad, especially once you start getting to ~30m when your bottom times reach the point where deco is the primary limiting factor, rather than air supply.

With a pony, although you can't easily take it abroad, it is very good from a safety point of view. Its something that if you don't own, chances are you won't use it - very different to an analyser.

My advice. 1) Do the nitrox course. 2) Get a pony. And if you really want to, get an analyser afterwards.

You could of course always do the nitrox course, and then save the money you would have spent on an analyser for something else later :O)

David

[Dave]

To make a good assessment, what do you class as recreational diving? Depending on the diving you are doing/planning to do would affect my suggestions

Dave

[Nigel Hewitt]

To make a good assessment, what do you class as recreational diving? Depending on the diving you are doing/planning to do would affect my suggestions

Good point but the trouble is it is a moving target. At first you don't need Nitrox as the SPG calls time long before the tables. As you get more relaxed the breathing rate drops and no-stop time becomes a pain so bumping the oxygen in the mix saves cutting the dive needlessly short. Then you discover that a good percentage of your diving is taking you to deeper sites, it's always wrecks in the UK as that's where things live so everybody is happy. The surface looks a long way away now and a real alternative gas supply appeals to the coward in you (stand next to a 30m tall building some time).

It's all recreational. You'll end up with all of them and more. The real question to ask is which one comes first.

[Gareth Webber]

Firstly: thanks everyone for your responses. Think I have ruled out analyser.

Generally I wasn't thinking about going too deep - just using Nitrox as an extra safety factor on training dives.

Looking forward 30m this year maybe 40m next year if a interesting wreck called. I don't see myself going as far as Trimix but for anything beyond 30m I want a completely independent air supply.

I have to admit to not thinking about Nitrox as a deco gas but probably should do. With that sort of diving - as I can hold onto the voucher is a twin-set a better idea than a pony?

Gareth

p.s. Have a Suunto Vyper.

[darren woodward]

Hi,

I generally do my recreational diving in warm water, but train in the UK. (Training generally in lakes but with occaisonal trips to the south coast).

I own a pretty good basic set of kit: wet and dry suits, BC, light and 2 cylinders. I have been given a voucher for a dive shop as a leaving gift and I was thinking of two options for spending it.

1) Get a pony (to add some safety on my occaisonal sea trips and in case I start instructing but too heavy to take abroad)

2) Do a Nitrox course and use the money on an analyser (which I can also use on holiday).

Any thoughts on which way to go?

Thanks

Gareth

Easy, get a pony.

If it all goes wrong one day (fingers crossed it never will), a pony could get you out of the mess.

Nitrox, while nice, which will allow you to extend your bottom times etc still leaves you without a fully independent redundant system. As to the weight issue, I regularly take my pony on holiday to the Red Sea and never have a problem.

I would still recomend a nitrox course, the BSAC courses work out cheap and you can manage without an analyser for a while. The pony can also double up as a deco stage as your diving progresses.

Just my opinion, but I hope it offers food for thought.

Cheers

Darren

[raymond peck]

Hi Gareth
Club is looking at purchasing pony cylinder to try out and twinset bands also for club kit.
Hang on to voucher until then
#
Firstly: thanks everyone for your responses. Think I have ruled out analyser.

Generally I wasn't thinking about going too deep - just using Nitrox as an extra safety factor on training dives.

Looking forward 30m this year maybe 40m next year if a interesting wreck called. I don't see myself going as far as Trimix but for anything beyond 30m I want a completely independent air supply.

I have to admit to not thinking about Nitrox as a deco gas but probably should do. With that sort of diving - as I can hold onto the voucher is a twin-set a better idea than a pony?

Gareth

p.s. Have a Suunto Vyper.