2L Mini Diving Tank, Is It Worth It?

Thank you for covering many of the basic aspects of diving, i.e. "don't hold your breath as you ascend" or "you use twice as much air at -10m as you do at surface." I'm completely new to diving, so I appreciate you delivering critical safety tips along with your opinion of the SMACO 2 liter tank.

Probably a good gear to do underwater repairs or inspections of your boat. In this use case, you stay close to the surface, are attached to the boat with a lifeline, but have your hands free to work, and the dive time is more than sufficient. I would consider one if going on a blue water cruise.

He now has a heck of a story to tell his kids, of how he survived the 2L mini diving tank

But isn’t it dangerous to use your own compressor instead of a certified one? The smallest impurities can become toxic once you’re diving a bit deeper.

I would use this as a self-contained emergency air system for my main system. Being a wreck diver you find yourself in situations without a direct ascent. I had an o-ring blowout on my main while deep in a wreck. But my dive buddy was right there, so after I grabbed his second/emergency regulator we attempted to diagnose the issue. Failing that we made our way out and a safe ascent. With this small bottle, it will give the diver an emergency air system in case their buddy was several meters/yards away. Overall it is for peace of mind.

2 liters in a bottle at 200 bar pressure (2900 psi) is 400 liters of air Basically the human breathes on the surface between 12 to 20 times per minute for a capacity of 2.5 liters in calm weather and 5 liters in effort time. By spanking an average say 15 breaths per minute for 3 liters (15x 3= 45 liters per minute) and therefore 400 liters / 45 this gives 8.8 minutes of air on the surface At 10 meters divided by 2 or 4.4 minutes and at 20 meters by 3 or 2.9 minutes. Must not have tress otherwise more air. Even use as a backup for a stop of 3 minutes at 5 meters the bottle is not sufficient It will be empty well before because the breathing of the divers will be more important due to the stress of the end of the dive. This type of bottle is dangerous for divers It is fine for those who snorkel. Response from a scuba diving instructor

Please wait 24 hours before flying after diving.. generally accepted rule

You guys are very safety. Safety. Safety. Im certified as well but to me this has a specific utilitarian use which is routine boat and anchor inspections. As sailors we have to frequently check props, inspect hulls, check anchors. This is routinely no more than 3m. Holding your breath in a sea state while trying to unwap a founled prop is a hassle, and coming up nearly out of breath you risk bumping your head etc. I would use this w a SOP onboard that states no more than 3m and 10 min. At that point the risks are less than using snorkel gear since depth and duration are not even factors.

Like he says in the video I would get training also since, not only do you learn a lot, you run through a multitude of emergency procedures and experience in a pool and open water. If you don't have it and something goes wrong you will most likely panic, or have to think what to do which wastes precious time. Furthermore, with training you are far less likely to end up in a situation anyway. It happened to me when I was in training, my mouthpiece detached from the regulator and I took a second to discover what was wrong, being new at the time, I naturally tried swimming quickly to the top but the weight belt made it slow since I was still learning to maintain buoyancy. Fortunately I quickly put in my seondary regulator and re-surfaced. Although I am not the sort of person to panic, it is still scary and being inexperienced and ill-educated makes your insticts take over, which for something like SCUBA diving, can be fatal.

Thanks for the review man. I’ve heard people use toothpaste for keeping goggles from fogging up so that’s probably what that’s from.

A nice and concise (yet, detailed enough) review. Thank you!

I am impressed. I thought it would be less minutes. Thank you for posting your video. Now I am interested in purchasing one of these. Thanks again

big thanks for the explaining. i bought it and i used it in my pool aswell! love your videos, keep the good work up.

I need this and a weight belt so I can clean the bottom of my pool! And your pool bottom finds are much nicer than what I find ( dead frogs and lizards)

Talking about decompression sickness using 2L tank is so much fun :D Having open water diver certificate, you would not have any sort of decompression training anyway. But, go and do the OWD training. There are another dangers awaiting in the water. And after training with propper gear you would not play with such toys anymore if you love your life.

An enjoyable video. Beware there are some serious experts in the comment section. The guy was in a swimming pool, not down next the the titanic.

Am glad to see you posting vids again, will be very interesting to see you compare tanks with people with no diving experience

Not bad, but I think that for similar price you could get a stage cylinder with a regulator.

Nice I’m thinking about buying one

15 minutes. 1/2 of the claimed dive time. Make sure you have a filter on your compressor. Also make sure you're compressor is oil less . I don't think it possible to get 2600 psi without a 3 stage compressor.