Anyone here that has tried out SUBEA brand by decathlon or has seen its BCD firsthand?

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Hi, I am looking to buy my first scuba gear Mask + dive computer + BCD + wetsuit and I really underestimated this task considering the price and options available these days.
Mask and Dive computer are pretty much sorted (Scubapro solo + Aqualung 100). For BCD, it gets a little costly in India. However, I found this BCD by Subea Decathlon (Back inflated hybrid BCD). It appears quite a new brand, is exclusively on decathlon and reviews are only present on decathlon and almost all of them appear to be from instructors who received this BCD for promotion from the company. Most of the reviews are very positive and appear to be authentic though.

Wanted to ask if anybody has used them here or has seen someone using them during their dive trips and their impression about it?

Link - Scuba Diving Buoyancy Compensator with Back Buoyancy SCD 500 B (decathlon.in)
US Link- Subea SCD500, Wraparound Scuba Diving Buoyancy Compensator | Decathlon

This is a link for a thread previously created but went unanswered - SUBEA / Decathlon BCD jackets | ScubaBoard
Here is my review for this -

I just came back from a dive trip after using this.

From my recreational and a less experienced diver (30 dives only) POV, it worked great for me. It was very comfortable, had lots of rings and clips to attach things, size was a great fit as well. Upon inflating it fully, it wasn't pushing me forward that much even when I had weights clipped on the back of the cylinder. It has two weight pockets on either side and two small pockets on the cylinder strap which helped me to distribute the weight evenly. Also, it comes with another big packet to keep a backup mask as well. I felt great with it underwater as well and was able to move my hand freely and adjust my straps and/or re-attach anything that was dangling inside the water.

From 2-3 instructors POVs who were on the boat, it looked really well made for recreational diving and the quality felt good as well. For taking classes back inflation might not be the top choice but it looked good enough to stay on the surface comfortably as well. The lack of available sizes was the only issue that was pointed out. I bought the smallest one. Me being 5'9 and slightly chubby, it fit well but for most of the other guys, it was too big and there is a no smaller size available (at least on India store). Although, some of the instructors were interested in buying this in wholesale in 10-15 units for rental purposes for their shop as it is quite cheap and does what it says.

Overall, considering the price point, it's an amazing deal and there is no other brand that provides this kind of BCD at such a low price with no cuts on the quality front.
 
Decathlon is a popular sporting goods store mostly in Western European countries, but the company has been expanding to other geographical regions, they opened a store in California USA a couple of years ago from my understanding, and it would not surprise me that they have extended their operations to India and other areas of the Asian continent.

Decathlon sells a mix of their own brands and top name brand sports equipment. Over the past 2 decades their quality of their house brands has substantially and continuously improved. They have very good selection and their house brands offer good savings. They typically offer different levels of gear for each sport catering to a wide demographic, from those who are just entering a sport for the first time and don't want to invest a lot of money, to those who have more experience and are looking for more features and are willing to spend more money for a better product but are not looking for their wallet to get raped by big name brands...and of course they sell the big name brands as well. For instance, the Decathlon in Europe had their own brand of regulators but they sold Cressi and Mares as well.

The Subea brand is their house brand of dive gear. I have one of their DSMBs and am quite happy with it. Decathlon has a very liberal return policy (at least in Belgium they did), so if you have any problem with your gear, particularly if somethings materially fails, you should be able to take it back and either get your money back or an exchange.

Personally, my preference is a backplate and wing, but I would not hesitate to purchase a Decathlon/Subea BCD if I was looking to purchase a jacket style BCD and wanted to save some cash, in fact a small bunch of years ago I thought about purchasing Subea BCDs for my daughters but decided to go backplates and wings for them as well.

If the product has the features you want at a good price point, I recommend you go for it. If you have any problems, just take it back.

-Z
 
Hi, writing my review for the Scuba diving buoyancy compensator with back buoyancy scd 500 b:-

I'm just getting back into diving after about 8 years and after my first few dives decided to look for a reasonably priced BCD that I could tweak to my personal needs as opposed to renting from dive operators. I could only find 1 review on this online which was @Harshit Bajpai 's. Thanks for this.

I've bought a lot of my dive gear from Decathalon as most of their product quality is very good for the price. This includes mask, snorkel, fins, gloves, booties, SMB, pointer, DIN to Yoke adaptor etc. much of which falls under the Subea brand. Where I am, the items are high in demand and it is quite common for their dive section to sell out key items within a couple of weeks from restocking.

Subea as a brand is fairly new (2017) but Decathalon has been doing diving equipment since 1976. You can learn about their history here.

Product review

The product specs are available on the website linked so I won't go into that. Instead, I will review the use experience. I used the BCD for 5 dives in tropical waters off the east coast of Malaysia. Three of the dives were in calm to moderate currents and two were in slightly stronger currents (whale shark spotting).

Fitting
There were only 2 sizes available at the store. (L/XL) and (S/M). These are marked clearly on the back of the item. I bought 1 of each. My initial mistake was taking into account the velcro strapping around the waist. My correct fit was the S/M but with that size, the waist velcro doesn't get around by big round belly. I ended up tucking the velcro aside and just using the strap. It was perfectly comfortable. While not an absolute necessity, I have ordered separately a crotch strap. This is really a matter of preference and if you were to get this BCD, you should have no problem using it without the crotch strap.

Buoyancy
The biggest problem I faced was initial weighting and buoyancy control, even when diving with a rash guard and shorts. The back bladder is noticeably larger than your typical wing system. This coupled with padding on the back and straps makes the BCD quite buoyant. It of course did not help that I was using hard fins and am a bit overweight. Also to note, is that I did not have the opportunity to test the system out before my dives.

In my first dive. I attempted 4 kilos and couldn't; submerge at all. This was upped to 5 and still I got myself into an uncontrolled ascent while in shallower waters towards the end of the 2nd dive. After a bit of tweaking, I ended up using 7 kilos to get my buoyancy just right. That's the most I've dived with in any system.

Comfort
But between the 6 and 7 kilo weighting mark, I must say everything else about the BCD was perfect for me. It was extremely comfortable and had sufficient D rings for all my items (pointer, SMB etc.), It came with an extra pouch which I detached during dives. There were no sore points after the dives as there is good padding everywhere (waist, shoulders, back etc.).

Parts and warranty
The only two removable parts I think could be improved is the size of the rear weight pockets - which can hold 2 kilos but are snug; and the inflator hose that comes with it which is a little too long.

A huge selling point of this item is the return policy. They will replace any part within a 2 year period and will receive the item back, used or not, within a 1 year period. I'll be testing this policy out when I return the L/XL BCD which did not fit. This policy is applicable in all Decathalon outlets.

Would I recommend it?
There are certainly better systems out there. Prior to this, I had also dived with a DGX Custom and had a great experience. 3 kilos total weight and wonderful buoyancy control. That considered, for the price (RM1099=roughly USD260) and a fantastic return/replacement policy, I think this is a steal.

For those not wanting to break the bank just yet, this is a real option - if you can find one. They were sold out within a week of arrival at the store.

I may get another BCD (probably the DGX) as I progress down this scuba path but I'll likely keep this SCD 500B as a backup for years to come.


I hope this review helps anyone considering the product and I'll update if there are any new developments on future dives.
 
Hi, writing my review for the Scuba diving buoyancy compensator with back buoyancy scd 500 b:-

I'm just getting back into diving after about 8 years and after my first few dives decided to look for a reasonably priced BCD that I could tweak to my personal needs as opposed to renting from dive operators. I could only find 1 review on this online which was @Harshit Bajpai 's. Thanks for this.

I've bought a lot of my dive gear from Decathalon as most of their product quality is very good for the price. This includes mask, snorkel, fins, gloves, booties, SMB, pointer, DIN to Yoke adaptor etc. much of which falls under the Subea brand. Where I am, the items are high in demand and it is quite common for their dive section to sell out key items within a couple of weeks from restocking.

Subea as a brand is fairly new (2017) but Decathalon has been doing diving equipment since 1976. You can learn about their history here.

Product review

The product specs are available on the website linked so I won't go into that. Instead, I will review the use experience. I used the BCD for 5 dives in tropical waters off the east coast of Malaysia. Three of the dives were in calm to moderate currents and two were in slightly stronger currents (whale shark spotting).

Fitting
There were only 2 sizes available at the store. (L/XL) and (S/M). These are marked clearly on the back of the item. I bought 1 of each. My initial mistake was taking into account the velcro strapping around the waist. My correct fit was the S/M but with that size, the waist velcro doesn't get around by big round belly. I ended up tucking the velcro aside and just using the strap. It was perfectly comfortable. While not an absolute necessity, I have ordered separately a crotch strap. This is really a matter of preference and if you were to get this BCD, you should have no problem using it without the crotch strap.

Buoyancy
The biggest problem I faced was initial weighting and buoyancy control, even when diving with a rash guard and shorts. The back bladder is noticeably larger than your typical wing system. This coupled with padding on the back and straps makes the BCD quite buoyant. It of course did not help that I was using hard fins and am a bit overweight. Also to note, is that I did not have the opportunity to test the system out before my dives.

In my first dive. I attempted 4 kilos and couldn't; submerge at all. This was upped to 5 and still I got myself into an uncontrolled ascent while in shallower waters towards the end of the 2nd dive. After a bit of tweaking, I ended up using 7 kilos to get my buoyancy just right. That's the most I've dived with in any system.

Comfort
But between the 6 and 7 kilo weighting mark, I must say everything else about the BCD was perfect for me. It was extremely comfortable and had sufficient D rings for all my items (pointer, SMB etc.), It came with an extra pouch which I detached during dives. There were no sore points after the dives as there is good padding everywhere (waist, shoulders, back etc.).

Parts and warranty
The only two removable parts I think could be improved is the size of the rear weight pockets - which can hold 2 kilos but are snug; and the inflator hose that comes with it which is a little too long.

A huge selling point of this item is the return policy. They will replace any part within a 2 year period and will receive the item back, used or not, within a 1 year period. I'll be testing this policy out when I return the L/XL BCD which did not fit. This policy is applicable in all Decathalon outlets.

Would I recommend it?
There are certainly better systems out there. Prior to this, I had also dived with a DGX Custom and had a great experience. 3 kilos total weight and wonderful buoyancy control. That considered, for the price (RM1099=roughly USD260) and a fantastic return/replacement policy, I think this is a steal.

For those not wanting to break the bank just yet, this is a real option - if you can find one. They were sold out within a week of arrival at the store.

I may get another BCD (probably the DGX) as I progress down this scuba path but I'll likely keep this SCD 500B as a backup for years to come.


I hope this review helps anyone considering the product and I'll update if there are any new developments on future dives.
Little update to this. Figured out the buoyancy issue. There is some amount of air trapping that doesn't get released until you do almost a full roll. This led to the overweighting. I've managed to reduce the weight to 4 kilos after doing a proper surface buoyancy test.
 
Subea is an in house brand for Decathlon (there are plenty as they create a brand for each activity). Sorry not to agree with some comments here but most of the in house brands for Decathlon are oriented toward the price but with quite a low quality. A few years ago you could find many good quality products in the Decathlon shops, not really anymore. Of course we are not always looking for the best products all the time and a good price could be important but if you really want a product of quality, do not buy a in house brand for Decathlon... Unfortunately now you mostly find in house brands products at Decathlon. I seldom go there anymore (but it is crowded by families who want low price products)
 
I would not buy anything from them without checking the quality first.
Quality various.
Price is low but........
 
Decathlon's business model is to sell quality items slightly cheaper than mainstream competition.

So that $150 BCD, whether good or bad, would be about $190 from a mainstream brand.

I've purchased things from them over the years and found their higher-end lines to be the best value.
 
Except that their $150 BCD will not be of the same quality of the $ 190 from a mainstream brand (I am not even speaking of repairs if needed)
 
There are EIGHT of them in HK!
No matter what time of the day(during office hrs), there are a lot of peoples browsing and purchasing(from my limited observation). I have talked with some of my mates and yet to hear a bad word from them.
In the consumer market of HK, they are doing pretty well even under the dark cloud of Covid.

Quality, reliability etc etc is up to the customers to decide.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

Back
Top Bottom