What do you or your lady friends use as BCD and regulators please?

[Divedoggie]

My wife is around 5'4' 110, and uses a Zeagle Zena for everything from travel/tropical to cold water/drysuit. She swears by it. I tried to convince her of the pleasures of a backplate/wing, but her buoyancy and trim, stability and comfort are absolutely perfect with her Zena. She loves her Mercedes and doesn't want to trade for a BMW.

 

[RockRover]

Another Zena user here (well the wife does!). LOVES the fit, and rear-inflation. Super streamlined.

 

[Jax]

I found it hard to find a standard BC that fit, and I'm about your wife's size. You can tell her from me that she will be much happier with a backplate and continuous harness, where she can adjust it so it works perfectly. For tropical travel, I use a DSS Kydex backplate, and when I dove wet, I used the 17 pound travel wing, which is as small, and packs as light as anything you can use to dive, I think.

+1 on DSS Kydex Plate and wing

However, I learned in the Tusa Selene jacket BC -- My STEEL BP/W weighs 2 ounces less than the Selene.

She should re-think her adamency. Also, make sure she looks at XS Scuba Highland scuba shorts ---

 

[soltari675]

I personally use the Ladyhawke. It doesn't have a lot of stuff in the way. Only one pocket. It's back inflate and it fits me great. I use the scubapro M17/A700 reg set because I know it will work great both in cold and warm water. If you plan to only dive in warm water, there are really good, cheaper choices out there.

 

[spectrum]

My wife loves her DSS singles rig.

She's content with her Sherwood Blizzard.

 

[RTee]

Mty GF went from a traditional BC to a Zeagle Express Tech with a 35 lb bladder that she uses for both local (cold water) diving and travel (warm water) and she is very happy with it.

 

[kpetro]

I love the AquaLung i3 Pearl, it doesn't compress any girly bits and is super comfortable. I would think she could get an XS, as I wear a small at 5'4 140 lb and it's a little big for me. Very light too, as long as I remember to take the weight pockets out

I also have a Mares Rover reg set-up, no knobs to mess with, very easy breathing.

 

[Felipe Telles]

My fiancee uses a halcyon aluminum backplate with a hollis wing. We own the same regulator, a Mares Abyss. It's a metal reg, and tough she was problems with her jaw getting sore because of sleping issues, the regulator was never a problem, the only thing we adjusted was the mouthpiece which we exchanged for a more comfortable one.

 

[Blue Sparkle]

I feel a little wrong answering, because you did say your wife is not interested in a backplate. OTOH, I had a lot of fit issues with the many BC's I tried on, and then found that a backplate fit me really well. I'm taller than your wife, at 5'5" but I'm really short waisted, so I'm probably more like a 5-footer when it comes to BC's. Even with women's S/XS BC's I was having the problem that with the cummerbund fastened, the shoulders were up around my ears.

If your wife can find a BC that fits (and it sounds like there may be more female-specific ones now to choose from) then it sounds like that is what she wants. However, if she can't find one with a fit she likes, then it might be nice to know there is another option.

The DSS size Small backplate is the shortest production backplate I found, and it fits me well (in fact, if it were any shorter it would be too short). I found that I love the whole setup (after frustrating dives in BC's that did not fit).

Again, sorry to horn in with talk of backplates when you specifically said your wife was not interested. But, as I mentioned, I just wanted to tell you my experience in case she cannot find a "regular" type BC to fit. If she can find a "regular" BC to fit, I see that is what she would prefer.

Blue Sparkle

PS: Forgot about the regulators part: I use a Zeagle Flathead VI, although I don't feel that there is anything female-specific about it. I did have one shop show me an Aqualung Mikron back when I was getting (re)certified, and if she likes small/tidy/cute then it might appeal to her. It is a physically smaller regulator (second stage anyway) and comes in a couple of colors (pink being one of them). I did some reading on them and I saw that most people seemed very happy with them although some mentioned more bubbles across their field of vision - presumably because the smaller second stage has a narrower exhaust tee. I never tried one; only looked at it in the display case.

I did find that the mouthpiece on the Zeagle felt way too large for me. I had gotten used to the Comfo-Bite mouthpiece on snorkels and so I bought them separately and put them on my Zeagle regs (I believe Aqualung regs come with them already).

 

[Ulfhedinn]

Zeagle Zena BC

XS Scuba Seaair Tri-Metal Reg