Back inflate or wrap around BCD??

[ezadel]

Haha. I was just watching you tube videos and reading posts about this. I think thats where I am heading but now I just bought a new rig less than a week ago let me enjoy it before I dump it for SM... unless you know a way for me to modify it....I am def willing to try it if someone would let me

 

[MichaelMc]

Do people object to to posts of ‘The ABC BC is ok, but I really like my LMN BC from XYZ, here is why.’?

To me, the BP/W is a streamlined ’brand' of back inflate that is made by many franchises —
OxyCheq, Hollis, Halcyon, DeepSeaSupply, OMS, DiveGearExpress, XDeep, and many others.

It has a wide price point range, lots of options and colors, different warrantee plans, good replacement availability. I can almost always buy a replacement wing from a different franchise, and I can mix and match 2” webbing accessory pouches as I want. And it works really well, particularly as you can change it to what you want.

It keeps coming up because a lot of people bought that brand and really like it.

 

[ronscuba]

....
What I can't really stand is the condescending attitude shown by some BP/W divers over jacket user!!!

I can't stand it either and I am a BP/W diver. It's not just BCD's. You will see similar attitudes with other equipment like fins and dive computers.

It is one thing to try to be helpful but there is still a little of the old DIR condescending attitude around. Fine if you are headed in the tech direction but really annoying in the new and recreational diver threads. It is nice to make suggestions and offer advice but some people have difficulty doing that without being insulting.

 

[Neilwood]

I look at this purely from a personal point of view.

I did my OW cert in a jacket type BCD and loved the diving. My only issue was that due to my shape the jacket type BCD needed to be cinched down tight to prevent it riding up. Because of it needing cinched up as tight, any time I needed buoyancy from it such as start of a dive to offset the air or on the surface at the start or finish I ended up with my breathing feeling constricted.

I would probably still be diving a jacket type BCD had my instructor not been wearing a BP&W set up. I took a good look at it and discussed it during our SI. Ended up going to buy one a few weeks after.

Had a crotch strap arrangement been available for the jacket type that would have kept it down, I would not have needed it cinched down as hard, breathing in it would have been easier and I would probably have bought one. Strange though that the one thing I hated about the jacket type (the tightness required to stop it sliding up) is the very reason some people love them (they feel secure with it tight around them).

 

[paulithepin]

I started diving with a jacket style BCD when I was renting gear-because that was all that was available. When I was ready to purchase my own gear, I went with BP/W and never looked back. I understand the fear of being put face down but have never personally experienced that phenomenon. I still dive my original BP/ W to this day and love it! I do use a jacket style rental BCD on occasion when traveling, and I am quickly reminded that I need to get a travel worthy case for my own gear!

 

[BDSC]

I need to get a travel worthy case for my own gear!

Suitcase works just fine.

 

[paulithepin]

Suitcases are a whole different topic, lol. I'm looking for a used Pelican case with wheels.

 

[BDSC]

Suitcases are a whole different topic, lol. I'm looking for a used Pelican case with wheels.

Just checked. Several on E-bay.

 

[Bob DBF]

To the OP, try them out and find out what you like. I would add that you might try a BP/W (what the back inflate emulates) and any other configuration you find as you might like something you are not looking at now. There is no magic, you can be a good diver in any BC.

The first time someone tried to talk me into a bp/w with a crotch strap I was brand spanking new and it sounded strange and unlike anything I had seen in the dive shop I had learned from.

Had a crotch strap arrangement been available for the jacket type that would have kept it down, I would not have needed it cinched down as hard, breathing in it would have been easier and I would probably have bought one. Strange though that the one thing I hated about the jacket type (the tightness required to stop it sliding up) is the very reason some people love them (they feel secure with it tight around them).

Crotch straps were standard on jacket BC's until the wrap around jacket with the elastic cummerbun was made. The earlier jackets looked like a sport jacket that filled with air, no wrap around air cell.

last weekend I did an additonal 5 dives sat/sun and I love my BC boyancy improved so much and i went from 14 lbs of weights to 4.

Depends, new divers usually shed weight if they were initially overweighted and work at fixing it. If you had 14# on the jacket, 5# are still in your BP and you no longer have the approx 5# of inherent lift left in a wet jacket, so you were most likely weighted properly in the jacket, assuming the same tank.





Bob

 

[Coztick]

Maybe skip trying the back inflate in favor of a BP/W as the former is a poor substitute for the latter, trying to combine simplicity and function.
I base this opinion on owning a ranger.
If they properly emulate a BP/W, then might as well sm.
I actually considered booking fewer dives over a vacation because of a sore neck and back...loved diving, hated being uncomfortable. *"$#&+¡!" What to do!
Buy either and try sm if and when you get the chance.

Cheers, Kevin