ScubaLab Field Test: Spare Air
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 พ.ย. 2020
- Billed as a diver's parachute, Spare Air is a miniature scuba system that gives divers a backup breathing system in the even of an out-of-air emergency. But how long does it really last underwater and does it provide enough air to get divers to the surface or to their dive buddy? To find out, ScubaLab tested the Spare Air 300 and Spare Air 600 and Blue Grotto Dive Resort in Central Florida.
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Love how everyone hates on these but you know what, I would def spend 3-4 hundred for the peace of mind of knowing that in the rare situation of being out of air, I had an additional 20-50 breaths to ascend. These are not advertised as mains; for what they are advertised for, they do an excellent job.
For 3-400 dollars you can get a side slung 40cu pony with a decent first and second stage
@@willsmooth45 that may be true but you cant get it in as portable and as small a package. Again, spareair does what it advertises very well
You could also take a 30-40cf pony bottle and have plenty....
It doesn’t do at all what it advertises 😂😂😂keep smoking whatever you’re smoking seems to be some good stuff 😂😆
@@willsmooth45 I bet if you were down 70ft with no o2, you still wouldn't use it...Not sure you you're drinking but It sounds like haterade hey but don't worry, we'd be better off bud
Great video, thanks for uploading!
Its's a great tool to use when you have a panicked diver attacking you for air; hand the Spare Air to them and get away! I've never needed it myself, but have handed it to others 2x.
Thank you for the review. I already have the 300 and was considering getting the 600 for some time now.
Just go sidemount instead, for true redundancy. Or become better at monitoring your gas supply and at team diving. This should never be needed and if it does your team should be right there to help you. Cluttering up your gear on every dive for the very rare time you completely forgot to check your SPG is not the way to go in my opinion, and I'm a cave diver.
@@Yggdrasil42 twinset is also nice, if you dive in cold water with thick gloves and you don't want to deal with boltsnaps
This is not a fair test. The diver is sat stationary and obviously very experienced. The diver is taking on average 8 breaths a minute, the normal resting breathing rate is 12 to 20 breaths per minute. you have a SAC rate of about 10 litres per minute, the average diver has about 20l per minute with normal activity. if you went to 30 metres the 300 would last you for 2 minutes, and the average diver about a minute, under calm conditions. Running out of air isn't a calm experience, you realise you're out of air, so now you are not breathing, now you have to find, unhook and prepare your spare air, maybe 10 seconds if its a practised skill, but all those 10 seconds your not breathing and you are starting to panic. tunnel vision and perceptual narrowing set in and you become solely focused on getting the spare air in your mouth. you're not controlling your buoyancy anymore, you haven't started swimming up yet. now your breathing rate has doubled and a tank that should last you a minute now lasts 30 seconds, and what they don't tell you in the video is the regulator is unbalanced so at depth, they are harder to breathe from than your reg, so yes, you're getting air but it feels restrictive and will feel like you're not getting enough all the while, your brain is screaming "get to the surface now". Can you make it to the surface? maybe, you would have to swim pretty fast. But what condition will you be in when you get there, will you be able to inflate your bc? would you even be aware of what's going on? Assuming you stayed conscious and stayed aware you are now on the surface alone struggling to breathe, stay afloat and keep your face out of the water with no one to help you. Your buddy isn't going to know what's happened to you, you were there one second then you were gone, they do the lost diver procedure, search for one minute, then ascend. you will be fighting for your life alone for 5 minutes minimum. Ask any Divemaster who has been used as a victim on a rescue course and they will tell you that just pretending to panic for only a minute or 2 is exhausting. Is this a worst-case scenario? yes, should you always plan for the worst-case scenario? yes! What the spare air does is it creates a false sense of security, makes a diver think it's ok to do up to their limits, I can relax a bit with checking my air, or I don't need to swim so close to my buddy because "I have my diver's parachute with me". All these problems that the spare air "solves" wouldn't exist with proper training and executing that training. It encourages bad diving practices. If you feel that your buddy is too far away that you can't make it to them on your last breath, then talk to them and tell them they need to stay closer, if that doesn't fix it, find a new buddy. Always knowing how much air is in your tank, checking it every few minutes, if you really want to spend your money on something get a computer that has a transmitter that you can set an alarm when the pressure reaches a certain level. Yes ok, a transmitter won't solve the problem of equipment failure, but even if the main o-ring blows towards the end of the dive you have about 30 seconds of air to get to your buddy, if you can't get to your buddy in 30 seconds then there is an underlying problem that needs to be addressed before your next dive.
Looking into this for my paramotor as well in case you land in water and strapped to 80lbs of gear, every minute helps to get out of the harness and get to the surface.
For cleaning my sailboat Hull de 600 is just perfect.
I am thinking about getting one. I help out at my Gyms pool retrieving stuff from the deep end. There are 5 lanes. Sometimes I have to cut underneath several lanes.
Now we know, thank you
Would you recommend the 6cu spare air for a bailout system when you're diving between 30 an 80 feet?
at ~66 feet, you'll get half the breaths they got at 32 feet. it will surely be a last resort. with the 600, you'll have about 4-5 minutes for surface to air. remember as you're using this, you're also ascending, so you are not going to get 30 breaths and that's it. it's just every breath at 60 feet will consume twice as much as you would at 30 feet.
Thank you! @@sofloemir
What was the depth ?
That makes sense that the # of breaths would be halved every 30ft. Remember your dive tables people....
No, it gets / by +1 for every 30 ft.
10m = 1/2 but 20m = 1/3 not 1/4
What was the depth you were testing it at ?
32 feet. or just about 10 meters
wow, four minutes at 30', doubt you'd see 60 seconds at 70 to 100'
An experienced diver staying perfectly still...Instead of these "factory specifications" divers should know their own sac rate and use it to calculate how much time a spare air will give them. 3 Cubic feet at 32 feet for 4:15 is a sac rate of 0.33CF/min. That is extremly low, most new divers are close to triple that, maybe 5 times that in a high stress situation. That cuts your time down from 4:15...to a minute, and thats only at a very shallow depth of 32 feet.
But one minute of extra air supply is more than enough for a controlled ascent from 32 feet. What would you rather have? Another minute of air, or none at all? BTW I agree that the results here do not accurately reflect a lesser experienced, potentially panicked diver. That was some serious calm and controlled breathing they were doing, knowing full-well they had a full tank on their back
@@j.richard2059 For a 30 foot dive it works. But why carry a pony for a 30 foot dive? If you have a free flow you have enough air to swim up. If you have a complete first stage regulator failure you can do a CESA. Spare air gives you false sense of security for deeper dives. For myself I use a 40CF pony for cold water dives deeper than 60 feet. Wikipedia has a nice chart for pony bottles, but to sum it up if you take a sac rate of 1CF you need 29 cubic feet to reach the surface from 130 feet. I believe that spare air isn’t enough air deeper than 60 feet, and above 60 feet isn’t really required (although redundant air is always good).
These aren't meant to be used while staying at depth. Use them in conjunction with an emergency ascent. Good test though to show a reference point for these.
I wouldn't call 30ft 'depth'. It's their idea of an average depth during an ascent from something like 60ft to the surface. I wish they'd shared their SAC-rate at rest and during stress. I imagine a diver in a real OOG event will have a higher SAC-rate than the diver shown in the video.
@@Yggdrasil42 absolutely... these things have a very narrow use case...
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this is NOT a toy for the untrained. have had one for years, and have never had the need for it. proper training and planning usually "saves the day"
i think every Firetruck should carry these in case of a submerged vehicle that is JUST under the surface
We carry scba, bud! Train with it and familiarize yourself with its abilities and limitations. Works great underwater to 10 ft or so, especially tethered on a rit line with no air cylinder.
Now try it at 60ft
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For a properly educated diver this is a completely useless piece of kit.
100% agree
To a certain degree I agree but there can always. Be an undetected leak but if you are a well educated diver that checks their gear then I agee
@@carlhuppmann5899 Undetected leak which will drain your tank within minutes? You must be kidding. Besides that, I don't need and additional air to ascend from 10m. Proper training, dive planning, and checking pressure gauge makes such an expensive gadget obsolete.
@@tmfmikro the test was not done with an ascent from 10m in mind. The 10m was taken as the average depth during a typical ascent which based on the 10m test depth would probably be from around 20m which is quite a different proposition.
@@tmfmikro Proper training, planning, and maintenance routines make parachutes obsolete too.....
Milkin' the next inhale....