Okay, quick update on everything if anyone is interested. I see there are quite a few topics coving these tanks so I won't waste too much bandwidth.
To summarize they are great tanks. Priced well and relatively quick shipping considering the distanced covered to them to my door. My tank arrived with a manufacture date of 11/2020. I ordered fist of December 2020, so I though that was reasonable.
I ordered the tank and valves as a set. The valves are for the most part high quality. There is a little cheap plastic on the DIN filling station parts, but the valves appear to be quit accurate.
They are rated to be used at 300 BAR which is obviously below the 4500PSI that I saw many carbon bottles rated too. Still trying to figure out if this is just these bottles for if all the bottles are this way. Irregardless, I have the 6.8L bottle which as best as I can tell is is somewhere in the 415 Cubic Inches range, which is somewhere in the 73-75 cubic foot range, SO I should get plenty of top offs on my 450CC 250 BAR Brocock bottle. Side note I saw on another page on AGN where they equated the 6.8L closer to the 65 cubic foot range, but based on my calculations it's close to the mid to low 70's. It's not apples to apples, but it's in the ball park. Like I said, don't really care, it's a lot of air.
That being said, now that I have the tank, whiles it not huge, it's more of a pain to lug around than I anticipated. I always planned on getting a pony bottle to tote around with me. What I wish I would have done was get the 9L tank for stationary situations and the pony bottle in addition too. Don't miss understand. I knew I wasn't going to be lugging around the 6.8L out in the field, I just didn't anticipate the perceived effort to lug it around for bench shooting and practice. Putting in the car, carrying it to the bench, etc. I was trying to compromise on the 6.8L because I thought it would feel substantially smaller than the 9L. I now realize that it wouldn't have taken that much effort to lug around the 9L to the same spots so I should have just gotten the 9L.
I also picked up the Acecare rubber boots to protect the top and bottom of the bottle. The rubber boot on the bottom also allows you stand the bottle which is a huge convince. In addition the boots I also grabbed the sling style tank specific tote they sell. Both items are well made, reasonably priced and do the job they were intended to do. The tote is very well padded and you can put the tank with the rubber boots on into the bag. I was a little surprised how easy it was to tank the tank into and out of the bag with the rubber boots on. I really thought they would snag going into and out of the bag. Anyway, nice addition.
The valve and fill station themselves are well machined and solid. Gauges are in MPa, but it's an easy conversion to BAR. BTW the red part on the DIN filling station is not a valve. It's just a gauge.There is a male foster quick connect on the filling station and it comes with a hose that has female quick connects on either end. It's a pretty slick setup. I like that you can easily take the hose and DIN filling station on and off. Makes for easy transport. The male quick connect also make for easy filling using the compressor. (I also purchased a Tuxing air compressor and have written extensively about that in another thread)
The tank valve also has a gauge so you always know the pressure remaining in the tank. The valve does not have a restrictor so you have to be careful when opening. It can be done just takes a little effort to open VERY slowly.
Lastly, and probably a "duh" for most people, but I'm new to all this. The o ring in the DIN valve was not installed when I received the unit. Couldn't figure out why I couldn't get the DIN to seat and seal against the tank valve. Again, DUH. Easy fix.
Summary. Happy with the tank. Would buy again.
