Since you are a big guy, and new, I would suggest a Zeagle Ranger B/C as your first. You can graduate to a BPW later.
In a perfect world, you would be buying a Deep Sea Supply BPW, but I have no idea if you are ready for that yet.
This makes no sense. Why recommend someone buying one brand to learn on and then spend more money to graduate into something else? Why would he not be ready for a bc? Other than making sure it is adjusted there is nothing special about a backplate.
Someone else here says they should get an instructor to teach them how to use a backplate. Maybe its just where I dive here in So Cal, but a large percentage of divers are in plates, and many of us mentor newer divers. Many of us know more about the gear than many instructors. There is even really good directions for getting it close in one pass here on the net.
"a backplate can make you go face down in the water" only if you over inflate an oversized wing, while having all your weight on your weight belt around your belly.
A jacket bc can keep you half out of the water and save your life in your unconscious
if you are unconscious, how are you going to inflate it? Sorry to tell you but even a life vest can still have you floating face down in the water. Any BC can have you face down.
The Mk2+ can go much deeper than 45 feet. Don't even worry about that, but as a new diver, I KNOW your going to keep it in recreational levels anyhow.
As far as gear goes, it is very hard to buy bad quality anymore. If you stick with major brands (stay away from the annual sale at Costco) you will be safe. I agree with whatever you buy, make sure you can have it serviced locally.
Mares: IMHO look pretty cool, absolute crap quality and customer service. I needed parts for a customers reg, and there was a 2-3 month lead time for the parts (and normal parts not a freak breakage) I ordered a bunch of parts, they shipped what they had, charged me shipping, got more parts in 2 days later, shipped and charged for that, and a few weeks later shipped more parts. I damn near paid more for shipping than I did for parts! And who the hell names a reg ICE because of the color but not have it designed for cold water with a name like that!?!
