Suggestions on good quality cold water BCDs
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fisheater
Contributor
A backplate setup will usually allow you to drop a couple of pounds, compared with most BCs, simply because the backplate and wing has nothing that floats. But cold water means lead, and there is no way around that. What a backplate rig will let you do is easily put five or six pounds of your ballast on your back, meaning that you don't have to figure out a way to put all 28 pounds into some kind of pockets or pouches, or a belt.
In Puget Sound, I dive with 29 pounds of ballast with a single steel tank. Five pounds is backplate; four additional pounds are in camband weight pouches. Twenty pounds sits on my waist in the form of a belt. This means my rig is much easier to move around on land (or on a boat) than it would be if I installed the 20 lbs in integrated weight pouches, which is something I really like. With a Deep Sea Supply backplate setup, you have the option of buying additional weight plates to bolt to the backplate, which can bring your total plate ballast up to 14 lbs. My husband does this and likes it; I like being able to take the additional four pounds off the rig for moving it around.
Tobin George is the owner of Deep Sea Supply. He will spend a great deal of his time helping you understand what you need in a backplate setup for your kind of diving. He annoys some people, because he won't just sell you what you ask for -- he wants to make SURE that what you buy from him is gear that will work for your particular applications. I love Tobin . . .
In Puget Sound, I dive with 29 pounds of ballast with a single steel tank. Five pounds is backplate; four additional pounds are in camband weight pouches. Twenty pounds sits on my waist in the form of a belt. This means my rig is much easier to move around on land (or on a boat) than it would be if I installed the 20 lbs in integrated weight pouches, which is something I really like. With a Deep Sea Supply backplate setup, you have the option of buying additional weight plates to bolt to the backplate, which can bring your total plate ballast up to 14 lbs. My husband does this and likes it; I like being able to take the additional four pounds off the rig for moving it around.
Tobin George is the owner of Deep Sea Supply. He will spend a great deal of his time helping you understand what you need in a backplate setup for your kind of diving. He annoys some people, because he won't just sell you what you ask for -- he wants to make SURE that what you buy from him is gear that will work for your particular applications. I love Tobin . . .
+1 on the BP/W
You didn't say what size you are, but since you're in Ontario and take 28 lbs of weight now, I'm guessing you're on the smaller side. My wife used to reluctantly dive locally once every few years because of the weight, her jacket BC, etc in our chilly So Cal 50-65° water. Since she started diving with a BP/W setup (Dive Rite Transplate) she willingly dives several times a year locally now (and happy to dive more in the tropics too).
My LDS sells both Dive Rite and Deep Sea Supply, and each has their proponents. The backplates have different contours, so you should try different brands to see which is more comfortable for you (DSS is flatter profile than DR). My wife likes padding on the backplate, while I'm fine with just the metal plate against my back. We both have the Translate harness, which has buckles and adjustments more like a traditional BC than the more purist continuous webbing often found on backplate setups. For recreational diving, I like the adjustments. We've also added weight pockets to the belt which we like
You might want to ask on the Ontario forum - Ontario - to see what others near you are diving with and get a chance to see their gear
Not sure where in Ontario you are, but Dan's (St Catharines) sells Halcyon and DSS (used to.... haven't been there in a long time) if you want to see one..... though I likely wouldn't buy there....... its a personal thing.....
they also carry HOG....
they also carry HOG....
tamas970
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I am also relatively new (have been diving for just a year). For starters I bought a full 2nd hand setup for cheap and started to dive as much as my time allowed. For BCD there was an old Mares piece in the package. Right now, after ~40 dives I was able to formulate my needs and started to replace pieces of the old gear.
As for BCD, I bought a BP/W, namely Beuchat Masterlift TEK. Also 2nd hand, but in a top condition. Kudos to the previous owner
Why?
What I learned from the jacket:
1. pockets were difficult to manage, with 3 finger gloves almost impossible. -> no advantage compared to a no-pocket harness system.
2. my venerable jacket was lacking D-rings. I am planning to swing a 4L pony - this would've been impossible on the old jacket.
3. The jacket is squeezing if inflated
4. The jacket was quite difficult to don, the wing seems to be a lot easier.
Being at the beginning of the learning curve, one might be scared by the modularity and is afraid of forgetting to buy a vital component.
However, decent outfits do give nice package deals on complete systems with all the whistles and bellows.
AND the surprise is: a top quality BP/W system is not more expensive than a good jacket!
As for BCD, I bought a BP/W, namely Beuchat Masterlift TEK. Also 2nd hand, but in a top condition. Kudos to the previous owner
Why?
What I learned from the jacket:
1. pockets were difficult to manage, with 3 finger gloves almost impossible. -> no advantage compared to a no-pocket harness system.
2. my venerable jacket was lacking D-rings. I am planning to swing a 4L pony - this would've been impossible on the old jacket.
3. The jacket is squeezing if inflated
4. The jacket was quite difficult to don, the wing seems to be a lot easier.
Being at the beginning of the learning curve, one might be scared by the modularity and is afraid of forgetting to buy a vital component.
However, decent outfits do give nice package deals on complete systems with all the whistles and bellows.
AND the surprise is: a top quality BP/W system is not more expensive than a good jacket!
Matt S.
Contributor
OP, here's my story. It's not uncommon.
I'm a cold water diver too. I did all my BCD research carefully, and I chose a Zeagle Ranger BCD when I was newly certified.
Well, it turned out that loading the pockets with all the weight I needed to sink my drysuit was not a fun experience. The rig was super heavy and hard to don. Trim in the water was just OK, but I was also a new diver at the time so I can't blame the BCD for that.
After a while, I tried a borrowed backplate and weight harness for one dive.
That one dive was all it took. The backplate system was just easier to use and more comfortable.
TSandM is right. Buy your second BCD first.
If you are a cold water diver there's a good chance SOME shop will have a backplate system for you to try on. Call around.
Good luck!
I'm a cold water diver too. I did all my BCD research carefully, and I chose a Zeagle Ranger BCD when I was newly certified.
Well, it turned out that loading the pockets with all the weight I needed to sink my drysuit was not a fun experience. The rig was super heavy and hard to don. Trim in the water was just OK, but I was also a new diver at the time so I can't blame the BCD for that.
After a while, I tried a borrowed backplate and weight harness for one dive.
That one dive was all it took. The backplate system was just easier to use and more comfortable.
TSandM is right. Buy your second BCD first.
If you are a cold water diver there's a good chance SOME shop will have a backplate system for you to try on. Call around.
Good luck!
DayBob
Registered
Use whatever you want.
When you ask about cold water I hear a few things...
1) There are a lot of BC's out there that have panels of plastic coated materials, there will get stiff, nasty and maybe even crack and fail in cold conditions. I'll contrast that with my Sherwood Avid that is a woven fabric (cordura?) with a urethane coating on the outside to make it impermeable. Unless water is frozen on it the Avid it pretty much feels the same at any temperature and nothing is getting stressed. I'm pretty sure a lot of Mares stuff falls into the class I'm concerned about here.
2) There is a weight issue and it falls into 2 buckets. Most jacket style BC regardless of air cell placement will have 2-4 pounds of positive buoyancy from padding and other buoyant creature comforts. To counteract this you need to wear an equal amount of lead from the get go. Now if you go with a common back plate and wing, that plate alone is usually on the order of 4 pounds. Together these 2 factors can probably shave 6-8 pounds from your belt. However remember that only the first part is a true benefit. The steel plate MOVES weight.
3) And to me this is the deal maker.... As a cold water diver you are probably starting out in a significant wetsuit. You may very well end up doing some of your dives in a drysuit with significant undergarments. On top of that you probably aspire to make some warm water dives through travel or even locally in the summer. A harness based system can best reconfigure to fit you from trunks to drysuit. My primary reason for settig that AVID aside was lack of room when diving dry.
For nearly any single cylinder diving a 30-35 pound wing is very adequate. In that range it will come down to brand offerings. Do not get a larger wing hoping to use it with doubles someday, it's a poor compromise.
Pete
1) There are a lot of BC's out there that have panels of plastic coated materials, there will get stiff, nasty and maybe even crack and fail in cold conditions. I'll contrast that with my Sherwood Avid that is a woven fabric (cordura?) with a urethane coating on the outside to make it impermeable. Unless water is frozen on it the Avid it pretty much feels the same at any temperature and nothing is getting stressed. I'm pretty sure a lot of Mares stuff falls into the class I'm concerned about here.
2) There is a weight issue and it falls into 2 buckets. Most jacket style BC regardless of air cell placement will have 2-4 pounds of positive buoyancy from padding and other buoyant creature comforts. To counteract this you need to wear an equal amount of lead from the get go. Now if you go with a common back plate and wing, that plate alone is usually on the order of 4 pounds. Together these 2 factors can probably shave 6-8 pounds from your belt. However remember that only the first part is a true benefit. The steel plate MOVES weight.
3) And to me this is the deal maker.... As a cold water diver you are probably starting out in a significant wetsuit. You may very well end up doing some of your dives in a drysuit with significant undergarments. On top of that you probably aspire to make some warm water dives through travel or even locally in the summer. A harness based system can best reconfigure to fit you from trunks to drysuit. My primary reason for settig that AVID aside was lack of room when diving dry.
For nearly any single cylinder diving a 30-35 pound wing is very adequate. In that range it will come down to brand offerings. Do not get a larger wing hoping to use it with doubles someday, it's a poor compromise.
Pete
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