I am new to diving and only have about 10 quarry dives since I've got my OW cert. I have gotten the bug pretty bad and have been reading and thinking about it non-stop for the past few months. I have started to purchase equipment and have a question about a bc I just bought.
It is a divetek "monotek" which is a back inflate design. There is no information about them online but some friends of mine have had them for about 6 months and spoke highly of them and I liked the design as well so I went and tried one out today in a pool at the LDS. It felt so much better than any of the rental jacket style I had used, it fit well and was comfortable and I liked it a lot.
Here is where the problem comes in and I am wondering if I let myself get screwed. When I went by at lunch to see what they had, the sales lady showed me two models, one for $300 and one was $400. When I went by after work to get in the pool with it she gave me the $400 one and off I went. As I said, it was great and I wanted to buy it. Then she said that she had the price wrong and that it was $400 and $500 for the two models (I was wearing the one now quoted as $500). She then said the only difference between the models was the straps were a bit different and the more expensive one had more d rings and a bit more lift. I got out of the pool and went back into the store to fit the cheaper one and check it out. As she said, the straps were different but it felt the same (the straps were in the same location) so I bought it. When I got home I noticed that unlike the more expensive one (and every other bcd I have seen) this one didn't have an extra dump valve and this concerns me. While I wasn't happy with the price change (and told her so) I still really really liked it so I let it go without making that big of a deal about it, but now that I noticed the missing dump valve I am starting to feel that she pulled a bait and switch and in effect selling me on the nicer one and charging the same amount for the lesser one when it was all said and done. The reason I went through all of this back story is I didn't want it to sound like I just picked one off the shelf and brought it home, it was just that I didn't think to look for the dump valve as I had already checked it out on the other one (and she didn't mention it not being there)
now here is my question
Is not having a dump valve a bad thing?
I thought part of the reason for it was safety in the unlikely event that the low pressure inflator got stuck or that someone needed to dump your air during an out of control accent.
If it isn't a big deal then overall I am still happy with it but I don't think I will buy anything else there since it didnt feel right, if it is a big deal then I need to take it back before I use it.
I would really like to support the LDS and all that but I have already bailed on the shop I got my certification from as they kept pushing me to buy a crappy package deal they had and never seemed interested in getting the reg I wanted in stock and now I don't see this one working out any better. Anyway any info would be appreciated.
It is a divetek "monotek" which is a back inflate design. There is no information about them online but some friends of mine have had them for about 6 months and spoke highly of them and I liked the design as well so I went and tried one out today in a pool at the LDS. It felt so much better than any of the rental jacket style I had used, it fit well and was comfortable and I liked it a lot.
Here is where the problem comes in and I am wondering if I let myself get screwed. When I went by at lunch to see what they had, the sales lady showed me two models, one for $300 and one was $400. When I went by after work to get in the pool with it she gave me the $400 one and off I went. As I said, it was great and I wanted to buy it. Then she said that she had the price wrong and that it was $400 and $500 for the two models (I was wearing the one now quoted as $500). She then said the only difference between the models was the straps were a bit different and the more expensive one had more d rings and a bit more lift. I got out of the pool and went back into the store to fit the cheaper one and check it out. As she said, the straps were different but it felt the same (the straps were in the same location) so I bought it. When I got home I noticed that unlike the more expensive one (and every other bcd I have seen) this one didn't have an extra dump valve and this concerns me. While I wasn't happy with the price change (and told her so) I still really really liked it so I let it go without making that big of a deal about it, but now that I noticed the missing dump valve I am starting to feel that she pulled a bait and switch and in effect selling me on the nicer one and charging the same amount for the lesser one when it was all said and done. The reason I went through all of this back story is I didn't want it to sound like I just picked one off the shelf and brought it home, it was just that I didn't think to look for the dump valve as I had already checked it out on the other one (and she didn't mention it not being there)
now here is my question
Is not having a dump valve a bad thing?
I thought part of the reason for it was safety in the unlikely event that the low pressure inflator got stuck or that someone needed to dump your air during an out of control accent.
If it isn't a big deal then overall I am still happy with it but I don't think I will buy anything else there since it didnt feel right, if it is a big deal then I need to take it back before I use it.
I would really like to support the LDS and all that but I have already bailed on the shop I got my certification from as they kept pushing me to buy a crappy package deal they had and never seemed interested in getting the reg I wanted in stock and now I don't see this one working out any better. Anyway any info would be appreciated.
