SMACO Mini Scuba || Gear Review + Safety 

This is an extremely well produced, presented and narrated video chock full of essential information and warnings! These are Chinese knock off's of the original Spare Air and HEEDS 3 systems deliberately being marketed for a purpose that they were never designed for, leisure scuba diving for completely untrained people unfamiliar with the lethal risks involved in misusing these devices. When one's health and life is dependent on an oxygen system, why on earth would you trust it to an uncertified Chinese knock off of the original device?

Found my way here after looking at videos about the scorkl and your attention to safety and professionalism is just mind blowing in comparison to the people hocking that product. I especially love that you make sure to tell us that you’ve used multiple sources of air whilst filming so that people don’t get the wrong idea about how they might expect to use the product.

Great job kid. I am a retired Dive Master Instructor and I couldn't have done a better job. I always kept a Spare Air on my gear as a back up but you are exactly right. Its not a toy and one should get certified if one wants to SCUBA dive. If its a Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus then its SCUBA folks so get trained. That said a couple of uses you didn't cover are using it on land. For example I always kept one next to my bed in case of waking during a fire. If you wake up and the room is filled with smoke it helps to have a fresh air source to use while you help your family get out of the house or if they need a fresh breath. This is one of many uses for these bottles above that water that make them invaluable. Another is checking the prop on a boat or clearing a line when you need to stay under a bit while you work but don't want or have a full dive rig. Cheers and keep rocking it lil brother.

Finally someone with a level head and appropriate cautionary approach on these micro cylinders. Your presentation was spot on great work. The one thing to point out these small cylinders in no way even come close in capacity to honestly be considered for any good as a reserver for a SCUBA diver, these cylinders are simply too small on capacity. If you're a trained SCUBA diver a bail out pony tanks starts at 19 cf and larger. These little guys have no real business for SCUBA divers as an emergency air supply as they provide a false since of capability due to their small capacity and in most out of air emergencies the swimmer or diver will suck though that gas like a high school boy burning rubber out of a parking lot! Cheers, #SeattleRingHunter

I have no experienced and no knowledge in diving and wanted ti buy this... thank god i watched this video. Now I'll learn first!

Thanks for the balanced view. This was a great video helped my son decide on his purchase. Like you, he is open water certified and is looking for something that is easy to use at our local lake.

This is absolutely the best review on RU-vid ..wow !!!!

Thank you for a good informative video, pointing out the dangers involved. Keep on the good work!!!

Nice informative vlog a great veiw!thanks for your efforts in capturing this!✌🙂

Bro great video, keep the vids coming I think you could crush it on youtube

thank you for this. this sounds like the perfect thing to bring while snorkeling shallower waters and you want to retrieve something a little too deep before immediately surfacing

Totally useful product. The diving community bashes on them just because of the marketing to non-certified citizens as a toy. These are really useful for backup emergency air, dip diving for scouting spots, boat maintenance, and quick recovery of lost items in marina area. I want one for lightweight dip dives from kayak and as emergency offshore tank. I’m trained in scuba.

I don’t dive but this is an excellent video since it highlights fairly simply the pitfalls and dangers for untrained people who may be interested in exploring recreational “scuba” diving.

A excellent veiw thanks for your efforts and time! A great job thanks so very much! I Got a couple of them coming after your accurate informative vlog!🙂✌

you've earned a subscriber with this well-done review

That's definitely Alexander springs in the intro. Love that place

As a certified scuba diver and snorkeler, I can definitely see a place for this if used properly. I am thinking about getting one for my snorkeling in shallow depths. 3m or less. It would give me more time to pop down and take a better look at something or possibly spend some time digging out something buried. I often get asked to retrieve stuff that people lost at boat launches and docks. Setting up scuba gear for 10 minutes underwater is not fun and snorkeling in murky water with having to go up and down constantly hinders any searching. If I had basically a buddy bottle to pop down for 10 minutes and do what I needed to do, that would be a perfect in between from snorkeling to scuba.

Excellent review dude, well balanced. I was looking at this as maybe a breath or two extra for spearfishing. (I am PADI certified) as I want the freedom from all the scuba gear while doing so. I know it's not going to have very much air (obviously the same amount of air just pressurised, you know what I mean) not many breaths. I'm wondering if it can just make a difference to a 10M or so dive as just to overcome the CO2 build up on the way down, could give an extra minute or 2 at that depth. What are your thoughts

Thank you very much i want one of those and i think im going to take a Scuba diving class

I use s 1L tank similar to this for freshwater diving. I am yet to have a problem with it and it works well for what I use it for.

Its a reacue device. I have one, used it maybe twice but its on me when i spearfish, or bedside for use in a fire indoors

Very professional Video keep going 🔥

Good vid, thanks. I’ve bought one for exactly the usage you said. Cleaning the bottom of my sailing boat, the propeller has taken ages up & down up & down. But with this as long as I breathe out before coming up I should be ok wouldn’t you say?! I will not hold you to it. But as with all tools, be it a drill, saw or this scuba tank there is an element of danger. But using a tool sensibly is the idea. Warren s/y Legend

For cleaning the bottom the ship, that is exactly what I thought it was for and could not get my head a round the happy images of people exploring the ocean floor, product = innovative and fairly well made at a very low price, advertising = deaths somewhere.

Sick!

Vary nice video , cool product!!

Excellent review, many thanks

Awesome video. You should do more videos of diving with this. Out of curiosity - what’s your breath hold time?

Ayyy 300th subscriber🤩

Now come to think of it, This would be cool to use in a shallow pool

i am a scuba diver so i wanted the mini one to so thanks for saying

Thank you for that review. I was very close to buy this but 25 minutes of pumping for 10 mins staying underwater is not what I like :D. Guess I have to stick to training my lungs

Great review. Good balance between safety (correctly pointing out that it isn't a toy) and product information. Just two points: what is the cost of these mini-tanks and how do they compare in price to say a 3-litre pony bottle, and how heavy are they? Do you get jaw-ache with it hanging from your mouth. Keep up the good work.

Don’t worry about having to have long surface time because using a hand pump makes you pump for 30 minutes

Super work kid!! I have just gotten into shooting photography in the water and was thinking of picking up one of them to get a minute or two under the water. This wee vid is very well presented. are you on Instagram ?

Thank you I I’m 14 and bought mine this week just to swim in my pool under water longer this helped a lot thanks agen

you said it great. those little tanks should only really be used for a back up emergency little tank in shallow water. or maybe fun in a swimming pool or shallow pond. nothing more for amateurs. for professionals it should be just something fun to have or for a quick emergency use apparatus.

So only use in shallow water and use it with a filter when refilling it to prevent any moisture and possibly mold

Hey man awesome review! Any new videos in the works? It looks like it’s been a while.

I just purchased scuba tank 6.0 cu i am not scuba certified i only use near shore not go under 10 feet so i can use it right? And i know what i am doing with my tank

I wanna get one of those and use it to look for my gopro under a small cave waterfall. Depth is around 8m. Im not a certified scuba diver. I reached the bottom with single breath but cant hold long enough to keep searching. Is it a good idea?

Informative

I'm padi qualified and understand the dangers & limitations of this but it seems ideal for boat inspections etc. An alternative to a hookah system.

Question.. recreational diving...more or less snorkeling for spiny lobster in 10..12ft of water. Returning to the surface every 2 mins constantly. Could this be used without worry? Just want a few breaths while grabbing the lobster. Your opinion on this?

How long can you hold your breath?😱

Would one of these be suitable to drive down and fish out some crayfish? Small downtime, shallow depth, just to get a breath or two to make sure you get the catch?

Nice cool info filled video . I liked it ,good job

If you don't have any desire to use high pressure tanks and only wish to use a hookah diving devices do these risks get lowered?

Hi! Can You say is there any quality different between Smaco and DiDeep? I would get Dideep with 30$ cheaper, but is it worth it...

I never been scooby diving before I have no experience, would it be safe to buy this for my local river just for a bit off fun ?? Like going 5 meters deep , thanks

I'd like to know about its life time usage. I'm a commercial diver and interested in getting one of these because regularly dive between 15-40m and it's always good to have a third redundancy.

Can you use this just as a backup /emergency for freediving? (In case of air running out on the 10-15m) to allow me to come back up or will that explode my lungs (breathe out CO2 and nitrogen) then take s breath from the smaco

I have a question and i hope ill find the answer im a freediver will it be safe to dive with that thing and go to 20m and taking breaths from time to time?

Hello there you scared me a bit but I wanted to ask this question let’s say I’m a beginner in scuba diving all I wanna do is get this tank for pools and like waters 0-7 ft deep would it be ok to get this?

I'm posting this before I've watched your video. The problem with products like these is that they pretend that they are NOT scuba equipment. SCUBA: Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus ~ Little tanks like these are SCUBA tanks, but the marketing tricks people into thinking that they can operate these things (safely) without any scuba training. This is false. In truth, the customers have no clue what the risks are explicitly because they are not scuba trained, while certified scuba divers who do know the risks know better than to buy these things. P.S. I'm an open water scuba diver.

Hey guys, is it okay to ascend AFTER exhaling and not inhaling immediately back? Like holding your breath with your lungs empty! This in shallow waters (Max 15 feet)

Do you know how deep clean the tank or maybe do also a video cause I don’t find anything on the internet thanks

I allready have 50 sea dives and about 100 lake dives with a regular Scuba Set! I want to buy a Smaco Mini tank as my Emergency Tank! I dive approximately between 10-20 Meters! Would u say i can use the Mini Tank also for that kind of deep dives? Greetings from Austria! I hope for a response;)

Subscribing cause I see a huge potential here :)

Awesome video John! Just wondering about the alternatives to a hand pump and pumping straight from a larger dive tank. Can you use a regular air compressor to fill these up?

What a couple are going to be the first? or has been the first?

I'm only 13 and I will soon be getting my scuba certification

Please review for mantus scuba too

Do we have to do this in like a 5ft pool do go back up slowly or no? I'm almost 12 when I'm 13 I'm gonna scuba dive I just want to know.

So you dont go more than 15ft, that's good. Because I waterfall I wanted to dive is only 13-15 max. In hawaii so people lose a lot of stuff. Plus I have a small metal detector which having this small tank would be nice. I am (newly) scuba certified so I understand the dangers

Very nice...how much one each..

What do you think about using a smaco for underwater pool patching by a non padi certified person?

I bought mine from a 12 year old and he was tellimg me if I hold my breath it will last longer. DONT HOLD YOUR BREATH EVER ON A TANK! I was thinking I probably saved that kids life buy buying this. Only used 2 times lucky for him, for it for $200 today. I just want to clean my sailboat bottom, or inspect the hull for damage or cut rope in the prop. I think it will work great. Just have to know the dangers. I'm not a certified diver yet but plan on getting certified soon. And I'm not new to diving as my buddy is a dive instructor. Don't hold your breath!

Hello there I was wondering let’s say I get this scuba tank I am padi certified now. But my question was how can I avoid decompression sickness if I don’t have a diving computer is it safe at 10ft?

Would it be safe for me to buy it I am only planning to dive around 4foot I have been diving before in the sea and I know the risks and how to reduce the risks. Btw whenever I dived it was about 3 years ago all I remember is how to equilize the pressure.

I need a tank that can go 20-30 feet below water and at least hold for 10-20 mins. $80 or less. Am going to go to Florida to swim in the ocean. Please give me any suggestions for tanks. Please reply. Edit:am not gonna dive am just gonna swim under for a while. And swim in a pool. This will be my first scuba tank. Can this tank do all of this?

Why do you recommend a maximum of 2 meters? In scuba diving everything above 5m is considered very safe, the safety stop is at 5m and the NDL of 5m is easy longer than even the filling of a regular bottle can last. Even repetitive drives of less than 10 min have very short surface time to get back to A status. I would thus imagine that it's petty safe to use this for short drives up to 5 m, or did I have wrong thinking there?

the most dangerous thing with this product i also see......is it is most important to check and know constantly how much air you have while using.......and where is the gauge ? .....where you cannot see it while using it !.....on the opposite side out of view without removing the unit from your mouth while using it

That's Alexander springs right?

SMACO has passed ISO 9001, BSCI, TUV, certification. Products have the appearance & invention & practical patents of China, EU, Australia and the United States etc. It has passed the professional certification of CE, ROHS, DOC, FDA,PPE and so on. What most people are failing to realize is that All tanks holding compressed gas are certified in North America to required regulations. Mini tanks like these are in a different category from scuba tanks but its the only way these can be sold, think of SpareAir (40+ years and still selling). The scuba industry does not regulate any tank manufacturing, it is DOT in USA or TC in Canada that sets the requirements. I did check before doing this video and the tanks are certified for sale in North America and around the world. Believe me. These tanks are as safe as the Boeing 737 you take when you go on vacation.

What fins are you using?

U should review the mini dive

This type of dive does not even make it onto PADI dive table. What is the risk of bends?

I wanna get one for my pond. I am a OW certified diver

I live in kentucky so I’m gonna use these in 5 meter deep creeks I can just swim up if I run out of air heard you can explode ur lungs if u don’t breathe out

But if I already have my mask, fins, and snorkel, and can't afford to shell put $500+ for an open water certification course, I'd say 15 or 20 feet max is a good limit for an uncertified (by an agency like PADI, NAUI, etc.) but medically fit diver, since SNUBA hookah divers also goes no deeper than this to avoid decompression sickness. But like you said, here is just a few things to know as you said. So, like how SNUBA and Nemo BLU3 gives a medical fitness questionnaire and waiver as well as a free, brief course on how to dive properly with their products, so should these companies making these mini scuba tanks. However, for the video demonstrating why you never hold your breath while diving with anything that has compressed air, you should of used a video of Christian Wedoy's expirement of that, which is here on RU-vid instead of Adam Freediver's short that you used. Wedoy's expirement was done in a pool and the air ballon pops within just a couple of feet of ascending. That really shows that even in a shallow swimming pool, you never hold your breath while breathing compressed air. Adam, on the other hand, his balloon didnt pop until it went like 10+ feet up. I am interested in getting SCUBA certified but I personally don't like the idea of having a bulky tank on my back with lots of complicated gear as much as the idea of tankless diving. But for the time and depth of what I'll get from any Mini tank less than 1 Liter, I can might as well skin dive with just my mask, fins, and snorkel and train to hold my breath longer underwater, as I have when I swim underwater.

Guys. Would you recommend this for scuba diving to a depth of 15 feet for a short time of max a minute or minute and half? Is it ok to do so? With free dive i can do 20 feet no problem but when searching for lost jewelry the effort it requires lessens the available work time at that depth. So that is what I would use such equipment. Thanks for advices.

U diserve more subs

Free diver John now that in certified I realize this is not a toy and now I know this can’t be a primary tank which the ads try to get coustomers that are in experiences like I was but really this is a back up air supply that you don’t really need. So I wanted a small tank do you know any 1 liter tank that’s good because all I want are about 15 minuets dives

Any new videos soon?

i see those tanks advertise on facebook and instagram targeted to people with no scuba training witch is extremely dangerous and shameful. The amount of air is also to low if you are looking fo a backup pony bottle to scuba dive with. Only good to mess around with in shallow water.

I understand the concern. But saying only professionally trained divers should use this is like saying only experienced and licensed shooters should shoot a gun. It’s possible to be safe and responsible without professional training.

Know nothing about diving, but if you want cheap air why not just get a hand held air compressor, fill it up as much as you can & turn the knob pressure all the way down. Then with a leaver attachment just open it up & squeeze the air into your mouth. Maybe I'll try this later this summer, & I'll make sure to breath out.

i think there is missing a clip or link at 2:08

Nice place, where are located?

lit video

You Never said Why No Free Diving after Diving???...

U scared me away from this. I don’t want my lungs to go pop

I am only looking to use this in in about maximum 5 1/2 possibly 6 feet to just stay under longer at like a pool and I would use to take a breath when running out of air since I hold my breath for a while about 42 seconds. I do exhale before surfacing no mater what Is this a good product for me Edit) I have decided to stick with snorkeling

it doesnt make a sense... hard to fill or use scuba cylinder, but who borrow/fill you cylinder without certification :)) Hard to check air. As John mentioned - there are only limited use cases but really this is not a toy :X and you should be certificated for your own safety. Please save your money and enjoy loooong real diving with some basic diving course (after few dives you can stay one or two hours under water instead five minutes)

5:10

Short dives in shallow water is what these tanks are for

Can you spear fish with this on

Whold a hand pump work

300bar on a Chinese and probably uncertified bottle with questionable quality control. Yes sounds like a good idea for me.